Traditional Herbal Processing Techniques

Ⅸ-3Traditional MedicineChengdu, SichuanBatch 2 (2008)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

Chinese medicinals derive from plants, animals, and minerals of the natural world.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

China's traditional medicinal-material resources reach 12,807 kinds, but in the clinical application of Chinese medicine and the manufacture of prepared medicines, raw drugs are generally not used; instead, the processed and prepared products - prepared slices (yinpian) - are used. Chinese medicinal processing is a special technique of processing raw drugs according to the theory of Chinese medicine and the different requirements of medical treatment, compounding, and storage, as well as the properties of the materials themselves, using methods such as trimming and purifying, water processing, fire processing, and the addition of auxiliary materials. Its origins can be traced back to the cultivation, collection, or rearing of the medicinal materials, among which stir-frying, dry-frying with liquid adjuvant, scalding, calcining, and roasting, along with fire-based methods, are the most commonly used - hence the name "processing" (paozhi). The purpose of Chinese medicinal processing is to reduce or eliminate the toxicity and side effects of drugs and to moderate or change their nature, thereby improving efficacy and facilitating compounding, storage, and administration; its core is reducing toxicity and enhancing effect. Sichuan enjoys the laudatory titles of "Land of Abundance" and "home of Chinese medicine, storehouse of Chinese medicinals"; the province holds more than 5,000 kinds of Chinese medicinal resources, accounting for about 75 percent of China's Chinese herbal varieties, of which more than thirty are famous genuine regional or principal medicinal materials. The use of Chinese medicinals and prepared Chinese medicines is the principal means by which the people of Sichuan prevent and treat disease. Chinese medicinal processing is a pharmaceutical technique adopted in accordance with the theory of Chinese medicine, in line with the need for pattern-based (syndrome-differentiated) medication, the properties of the drugs themselves, and the different requirements of compounding and preparation; it is a major characteristic of Chinese medicine and pharmacology. There are a great many processing methods, such as steaming, stir-frying, dry-frying with liquid adjuvant, calcining, explosive roasting, refining, boiling, boiling down over fire, burning, cutting into pieces, grinding, filing, pounding into paste, washing with wine, decocting with wine, boiling with wine, water soaking, washing with hot decoction, scraping the skin, removing the core, removing wings and feet, and removing hair. Chinese medicinal processing plays a considerable role in the theory and practice of Chinese medicine. First, it can improve the effect of clinical treatment: physicians can, according to the different causes, pathogenesis, syndromes, and health conditions of patients, select appropriate processed products in a targeted way, enhancing the accuracy, reliability, and practical efficacy of formulas. Second, Chinese medicinal processing can fully ensure the safety of clinical medication: it can reduce or eliminate the toxicity and side effects of drugs, thereby safeguarding patients' lives.

Wine washing, wine decocting and wine stewing

One idea, three methods: light washing to lift the herb, decocting to draw the wine into the juice, stewing to cook the herb soft in the wine.

Soaking and washing in water

Rhizome drugs are soaked or washed in hot water and scraped before they reach the pot, so mud and water-soluble impurities stay behind.

Calcining, roasting, refining, boiling, simmering

This family of fire methods answers different drug natures: some make the material brittle for grinding, some soften toxicity, some insist the qi must be retained.

Trimming away non-medicinal parts

Cutting, filing, pounding and the removal of pips, wings, legs or hair belong to trimming: what is not medicinal is removed before the formula is assembled.

Processing enters the classroom

Chengdu University of TCM has written the craft into textbooks such as Processing of Chinese Materia Medica; Hu Changjiang alone has supervised over thirty doctorates and master's students.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

From ancient times to the present, the Chinese medicine profession has accumulated extensive experience in medicinal processing, summarized complete sets of theory, invented numerous techniques, formed many schools, and compiled a large body of works; Chinese medicinal processing technique has become one of the important components of Chinese materia medica.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

After the reform and opening up, the state vigorously promoted the development of Chinese medicine; toxic drugs were abandoned and technically difficult varieties were avoided, and many of Chengdu's unique techniques for preparing Chinese medicine formulas were gradually eliminated. At the same time, most of the older generation of technicians who in folk circles held the formulas, preparation methods, and preparation equipment for such preparations have passed away, and those still living are advanced in age; the Chinese medicinal processing technique urgently needs rescue and protection. Hu Changjiang (from the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born November 1952, from Daxian, Sichuan Province. Representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage project Chinese Medicinal Processing Technique. Professor and doctoral supervisor; an expert enjoying the special government allowance of the State Council. Engaged in medicine and clinical practice for more than forty years, he has accumulated rich clinical experience, uses medicinals distinctively, and achieves notable efficacy, being skilled in the diagnosis and treatment of common and frequently occurring diseases. He serves as director of the Key Research Laboratory for the Quality and Efficacy Evaluation of Chinese Medicinal Formula Granules under the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. He has presided over more than twenty national, provincial, and ministerial-level research projects, published more than one hundred academic papers, authored Chinese Medicinal Processing and Clinical Application, served as chief editor of three textbooks including Chinese Medicinal Processing and Clinical Chinese Medicinal Processing, and participated in the compilation of more than ten textbooks. He actively carries out technique transmission activities and has trained more than thirty doctoral and master's students.

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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