TCM Diagnostic and Therapeutic Methods

Ⅸ-2Traditional MedicineShe, AnhuiBatch 4 (2014)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

The Xiyuan laryngology art is a traditional Chinese medical therapy founded in the fiftieth year of the Kangxi reign (1711) by Zheng Yixian, the twenty-fourth-generation ancestor of the Zheng family of Zhengcun, She County, Anhui Province. Because the Zheng family's ancestral residence was named Xiyuan (West Garden), the art is commonly known as the Xiyuan laryngology.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Zheng family lived for generations in Zhengcun Town, She County, Anhui Province. In its early days practitioners saw patients mainly in the old family residence at Zhengcun; later, patients seeking treatment came from all over China and also in great numbers from overseas, and the influence of the Xiyuan laryngology art expanded accordingly. The Xiyuan laryngology art treats diseases of the pharynx, larynx and oral cavity. In mild cases, medicinal pills are taken internally, supplemented by the methods of washing, application, insufflation and holding in the mouth; in severe cases, the knife, needle, cautery, fumigation and branding are applied together, with insufflated medicines emphasized in treatment. The insufflated medicines are varied in properties and numerous in kinds. Based on the family's stored materials, the insufflated powders prepared by the family over the generations and selected from secret formulas number more than 280, from which the best have been chosen with constant refinement. The insufflation therapy consists in grinding natural Chinese medicinal materials into extremely fine powder, mixing and preparing it according to the formula, and then blowing the powder directly onto the lesion in the throat, so that it reaches the site of disease directly; the medicine is light but its effect is powerful. This external treatment method has marked efficacy, is safe to use, and has the advantages of economizing on medicine and producing few side effects. For the thirty-six great winds and thirty-six minor winds of laryngology, the Xiyuan laryngology art has 259 different formulas, each containing from as few as one ingredient to as many as seventy-eight. For example, Xinwu Powder is specifically for severe swelling of the mouth and throat with a surfeit of phlegm and saliva; Zixue Powder is specifically for all kinds of painful swelling of the throat and for severe palatal swelling and swollen tongue; Tuiche Powder is specifically for dental abscess and guzao feng (osteomyelitis of the jaw); and Bixue Powder is specifically for obstruction of the throat with a surfeit of phlegm and saliva. There are also many secret formulas for internal use, applied to aphonia (including vocal nodules, vocal polyps, vocal cord hypertrophy and vocal cord leukoplakia) and to early-stage laryngeal cancer, with repeatedly remarkable results. In dosage form it relies mainly on the traditional powder, but quicker and more convenient tablets and liquid condensates have also been developed, such as the specialized medicines Xiyuan Laryngology Powder, Xiyuan Houbao Lozenges, Xiyuan Houbao Liquid and Xiyuan Compound Huisheng Ling.

Blowing medicinal powder

Finely ground herbs are mixed by formula and blown straight onto the lesion, light of dose yet reaching the site.

Xin Wu San

A family powder for swollen throat with copious phlegm, prescribed narrowly alongside Xin Xue San and Bi Xue San.

Lozenges and internal remedies

Mild cases take pills internally alongside washing, application, blowing and lozenges; secret internal formulas address hoarseness and early laryngeal cancer.

Cutting, needling, cautery, fumigation and cauterization

Severe cases combine cutting, needling, moxibustion, fumigation and cauterization, still with blowing as the mainstay.

Formulas separated by the thirty-six wind patterns

Thirty-six large and thirty-six small wind patterns each have their own formula, 259 in all, ranging from a single drug to seventy-eight.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The Xiyuan laryngology art is based in Zhengcun Town, She County; at first patients were seen in the old residence at Zhengcun, but later those seeking treatment spread throughout the country and in great numbers overseas, forming a pattern of medical attendance with She County in southern Anhui as the source and extension into the other provinces. Laryngology has long had a market locally: the villagers customarily regarded the throat as a vital point and, when afflicted, went straight to the Zheng family. Transmission shifted from family inheritance to taking on outside apprentices, and with the help of the Huangshan Xiyuan Laryngology Medicine Research Institute the works and clinical notes of successive generations have been collated, and the orally transmitted formulas scattered within the clan compiled into books, giving this craft — noted for its insufflated powders — a documentary basis that can be consulted.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The Xiyuan laryngology art is a hereditary medical practice transmitted within the family; it has been handed down for more than three hundred years, and famous physicians have emerged in every generation. Today, on the basis of carrying forward the therapeutic theories and clinical practice of its ancestors, the Xiyuan laryngology art insists on taking traditional secret formulas as its core technique, uses purely natural medicinal materials, and through repeated practice and constant exploration draws on the strengths of many schools. The Xiyuan laryngology art occupies a distinctive place in the history of medicine, and has certain historical, cultural and research value. This art combines hereditary secret formulas with many years of clinical practice, using purely natural Chinese herbal medicines to prepare various drugs; it relieves patients' suffering from diseases of the pharynx, larynx and oral cavity, has made a definite contribution to the public, and has economic and social value that cannot be underestimated. Zheng Duo (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): male, of the Han ethnic group, born in October 1936, from She County, Anhui Province. In 1960 he attended a study class at the Anhui College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, systematically studying Chinese medical knowledge. In 2003, together with his children, he founded the Huangshan Xiyuan Laryngology Medicine Research Institute and its outpatient department, collating the successive generations of Xiyuan laryngology works and recording a large number of clinical notes. He is a representative inheritor of the item Traditional Chinese Medical Therapies (Xiyuan Laryngology Art) in the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. He has continually developed new dosage forms, has won multiple provincial and municipal science and technology achievement awards, and has trained a number of inheritors of the art.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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