TCM Diagnostic and Therapeutic Methods

Ⅸ-2Traditional MedicineZhoukoushichuanhui, HenanBatch 4 (2014)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

The Mai family's external-treatment method of Chinese medicine is a traditional Chinese medical therapy originating in Chuanhui District, Zhoukou City, Henan Province. Renowned in eastern Henan for its exquisite medical skill and distinctive efficacy, its sphere of influence extends to Fuyang City in Anhui Province and radiates to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Hunan and Hubei, and North China, and it has a history of more than 200 years to this day.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Mai family's external-treatment method is based on the theories of Chinese medicine, relying mainly on external treatment with internal treatment as a supplement; it has the characteristics of being simple, convenient, empirically effective and inexpensive. It mainly treats surgical diseases such as sores and ulcers, swellings and toxic infections, gangrene of the digits (thromboangiitis obliterans), breast diseases, furuncles, nameless swellings, dabei sores (cellulitis of the back), lumbar fistulas (deep abscesses of the lower back), bone-adhering tumors (osteomyelitis), pain of the neck, shoulders, waist and legs, cancer pain, and various tinea conditions. It has relatively rich clinical experience and relatively mature diagnostic and treatment protocols. Here, the external-treatment method differs from the internal-treatment method in its route of administration, causing the medicine to act directly on the skin and mucous membranes, which absorb it and thereby produce the therapeutic effect. In addition, the externally applied medicines selected by this method undergo special processing and preparation that removes their toxicity while retaining their potency, so that medicine can be used in place of the knife; anesthesia is not required, and the patient's pain is reduced to a certain extent. Fully grasping the essence of “fostering pus to generate flesh”, it has introduced the concept of moist wound healing into Chinese medicine and applied treatment based on pattern differentiation in clinical practice, achieving good efficacy. The processing and preparation techniques for Chinese medicines adopted by the Mai family's external-treatment method are feasible and scientific. Using purely Chinese medicines, it prepares pills, powders, ointments, elixirs, medicated plasters (soft plasters and hard plasters), fumigation-wash preparations, liniments and medicinal bath preparations. It has clear requirements regarding the selection of medicinal materials, processing standards, processing times, the choice of auxiliary materials, methods of preparation, storage conditions and application techniques. The Mai family has deep roots and luxuriant leaves, with a thriving membership; talents in Chinese medical technique have emerged in every generation, and the art has been transmitted through nine generations to this day.

Applied plasters

Soft and hard plasters laid directly on the lesion so the drug acts through skin and mucous membrane.

Drawing out pus and growing flesh

Pus is brought out and new flesh grows under a dressing, bringing moist healing into practice without the knife.

Compounding pills, powders, ointments and pills

Drugs are combined into pills, powders, ointments, plasters, washes, liniments and bath preparations, with rules for timing, excipients and storage.

Drug in place of the knife

Sores, abscesses and gangrene are managed without the knife, using drugs processed to keep their sting but lose their poison.

Inner and outer treatment together

External care leads while internal medicine supports it, so the wound heals while the whole body is brought back into order.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The Mai family's external-treatment method began in Chuanhui District, Zhoukou City; with its approach of being simple, convenient, effective and inexpensive, it opened up ground in the area of eastern Henan, spread eastward to Fuyang in Anhui, and radiated north and south to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Hunan and Hubei, and North China. The Hui Muslim Mai clan lives together as a kin group, valuing good faith and the coexistence of righteousness and profit, and heeding the maxim that “in compounding no one is watching, yet heaven knows what is in one's heart” — the four characters shiye qihuang (the family profession of medicine) carved on the stele of the Jiucai Temple mosque at Shabei, Zhoukou, are the local people's assessment of the Mai family's medical ethics. Transmitted down to the generation of Mai Jianxiu, the art has spread outward beyond oral and personal instruction within the family through academies and schools, academic exchanges and lecturing, with disciples found throughout Henan and beyond.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

At present, many members of the Mai family are devoting themselves to the transmission of Chinese medicine and of this heritage project. Successive generations of Mai transmitters have adhered to the old family maxims that a physician should take healing and saving lives as his duty and must not disregard human life for the sake of monetary reward, and that one should value good faith and harmony among people, put righteousness first, and let righteousness and profit coexist; they have fostered the self-discipline embodied in the saying that in compounding no one is watching, yet heaven knows what is in one's heart. The four characters shiye qihuang (the family profession of medicine) in the inscription of the stele of the Jiucai Temple mosque at Shabei, Zhoukou, are the public's praise and affirmation of Mai family medicine. The Mai family's external-treatment method has the advantages of convenient administration and rapid effect, is inexpensive and markedly effective, and has socio-economic value. Mai Jianxiu (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): male, of the Hui ethnic group, born in December 1962, from Zhoukou City, Henan Province. From childhood he studied medicine under a master, inheriting the family learning. He is mainly engaged in clinical work, teaching and research on diseases such as sores and ulcers, breast diseases and the healing of chronic difficult-to-heal wounds, advocating the clinical concepts of combining disease identification with pattern differentiation, holistic pattern differentiation with local pattern differentiation, internal treatment of Chinese medicine with external treatment, and multiple external-treatment methods of Chinese medicine. He is a representative inheritor of the item Traditional Chinese Medical Therapies (Mai Family's External-Treatment Method of Chinese Medicine) in the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. He has consistently carried out inheritance activities and cultivated successor talent. Since 2006 he has repeatedly conducted academic exchanges and lectured within and beyond the province, teaching more than eighty class hours a year and transmitting the art to more than three hundred disciples.

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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