Zhongyao Herbal Processing Craftsmanship

Ⅸ-3Traditional MedicineWuyi, ZhejiangBatch 4 (2014)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

The history of the Wuyi Shouxiangu Chinese medicine processing technique can be traced back as far as Ye Fashan, a Daoist of the Tang dynasty, whose secret prescriptions were secretly transmitted in the Wuyi area and exerted a certain influence on the formation of the processing technique. Later, Li Jinzu, founder of the Shouxiangu Pharmacy, invented and mastered distinctive traditional techniques for collecting, semi-wild cultivating, and processing Chinese medicinal materials, together with dozens of techniques for processing and refining Chinese medicinals, initially forming the Wuyi Shouxiangu Chinese medicine processing technique.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Wuyi Shouxiangu Chinese medicine processing technique is transmitted in Wuyi County, Zhejiang Province. The danxia landform area centered on Shouxiangu in Wuyi County is extremely well suited to the growth of medicinal herbs and has been a natural treasury of Chinese medicinal materials since ancient times. At present, the technique comprises more than one hundred methods of processing Chinese medicinals, including semi-wild potted cultivation, fengdou processing, steaming of fleeceflower root (shouwu), brine processing of eucommia bark (duzhong), grinding of sanyeqing, and extract refining of tiepi shihu, and it has formed production workflows for the collection, cultivation, processing, formulation, and decoction of Chinese medicinal materials. The technique involves numerous process steps, with special requirements in the selection and making of raw materials and implements and in the control of the craft; it is distinctly characterized in selecting, washing, soaking, steeping, bleaching, cutting, baking, calcining, simmering, stir-frying, steaming, and boiling. Adapting the method to the particular medicinal and emphasizing efficacy, it has developed new highlights and features in seed breeding, semi-wild cultivation, harvesting, cell-wall breaking, extraction, and fermentation. The Wuyi Shouxiangu Chinese medicine processing technique has been passed down from generation to generation through oral instruction and personal example, and has been continuously improved and refined. Today it has taken on the character of traditional processing techniques coexisting and blending with modern technology, vividly reflecting the development of the cultivation, processing, and preparation of Chinese medicinal materials in Wuyi since the late Qing dynasty. In addition, the contemporary inheritors of the technique have established semi-wild organic bases for national medicinals and developed intensive and deep processing technologies, ensuring that the products are natural, effective, and pollution-free, thereby enriching the cultural content of the Shouxiangu Chinese medicine processing technique. Its semi-wild organic cultivation of Chinese medicinals and intensive processing technologies such as cell-wall breaking of ganoderma spore powder have played a role in promoting economic development in related fields and increasing the income of medicinal-material farmers.

Archival record of process steps

The technique involves numerous process steps, with special requirements in the selection and making of raw materials and implements and in the control of the craft; it is distinctly characterized in selecting, washing, soaking, steeping, bleaching, cutting, baking, calcining, simmering, stir-frying, steaming, and boiling.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The Wuyi Shouxiangu Chinese medicine processing technique is an important component of China's traditional Chinese medicine culture and a testament to the outstanding wisdom and creativity of local practitioners of Chinese medicine. With a long history and an emphasis on therapeutic efficacy, it has played a positive role in promoting the health of the public.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

This Chinese medicine processing technique has now spread to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Jiangsu, and other places, and Shouxiangu national-medicine specialty stores are found throughout Zhejiang Province and its radiating regions. Li Mingyan (recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): male, of Han ethnicity, born in April 1960, a native of Wuyi County, Zhejiang Province. He is a representative inheritor of Chinese Medicine Processing Technique (Wuyi Shouxiangu Chinese medicine processing technique), a project of the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. He is a research professor, an expert enjoying the special government allowance of the State Council, and a national model worker. He studied the Chinese medicine processing technique under his father, Li Haihong. In 1990, he was selected by the State Science and Technology Commission to pursue advanced study at the Japan International Agricultural Exchange Center. In 1997, he founded Zhejiang Shouxiangu Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. In 2003, he took over the Shouxiangu Pharmacy and renamed it Shouxiangu Pharmaceutical. He has devoted himself to the selection and breeding, cultivation, processing, development, and utilization of authentic medicinal materials. He led the formulation of two international standards: ISO 21315:2018 (Traditional Chinese medicine — Ganoderma lucidum) and ISO 21370:2019 (Traditional Chinese medicine — Dendrobium officinale). He has led more than sixty national- and provincial- or ministerial-level research projects, and has won nine second prizes of the National Science and Technology Progress Award and nine provincial and ministerial science and technology awards. He was named a leading science and technology talent under the second batch of the national 'Ten Thousand Talents Program.'

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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