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Traditional TCM Preparation Methods

Ⅸ-4Traditional MedicineZhongguozhongyaoxiehuiBatch 1 (2006)Newly Added Item

01 · Historical Records

Pill coating was invented in the Jin and Yuan dynasties, and in the Ming dynasty there was the new technique of "cinnabar coating." Li Shizhen of the Ming dynasty was the great synthesizer: he summarized the methods of medicinal preparation before the sixteenth century and recorded more than forty dosage forms.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Traditional Chinese medicine preparation is the processing of Chinese medicinals as raw materials, under the guidance of Chinese medicine theory, into medicines of specified standards that can be used directly to prevent and treat disease. The most representative traditional dosage forms are pills, powders, ointments, and elixirs (dan). For thousands of years, in the medical practice of physicians across successive dynasties, traditional Chinese medicine preparation has accumulated rich experience and developed distinctive preparation techniques; it is an important component of the treasure house of the motherland's traditional medicine. As far back as the era of Yu the Great of the Xia dynasty, the ancestors discovered the effects of wine through brewing and made medicinal wine, and at the same time discovered ferment preparations (quji). By the Shang dynasty, decoctions were already in wide use. By the Eastern Han dynasty there was already understanding of pharmaceutical theory and rules of preparation, as stated: "Some drugs by their nature suit pills, some suit powders, some suit water decoction, some suit wine steeping; some suit more than one form, and some should not enter decoction or wine - in all cases follow the nature of the drug and do not transgress it." This emphasizes choosing the dosage form according to the nature of the drug. On the basis of decoctions, pills, powders, ointments, and wines, Zhang Zhongjing additionally created more than ten dosage forms, including suppositories, purgative preparations, washes, ear drops, syrups, and organ preparations. Moreover, the preparation methods were relatively complete, with clear usage, dosage, and indications. Ge Hong of the Jin dynasty pioneered making pills using the drug's own binding force, as well as dosage forms such as lead plasters, wax pills, concentrated pills, lozenges, strips, and moxa cones. With advances in modern science and technology, new dosage forms, new processes, and new techniques for Chinese medicinals have continuously emerged, enriching the range of Chinese medicine preparations.

Kneading the honey-pill mass

Whether the honey is soft or firm decides how the mass kneads: firm honey suits warm-natured medicines, soft honey suits cold ones, and the drug then releases slowly inside the pill.

Grinding fine ingredients and blending by the shade method

Musk, borneol, bezoar and antelope horn are ground alone to extreme fineness, then folded into the coarse powder shade by shade in a mortar until the colour is perfectly even.

Superior, authentic and clean materials

Three conditions at once: the material must grade superior on inspection and meet pharmacopoeial standards, come from its authentic region, and be stripped of every non-medicinal part.

Sealing pills in wax

After the gold leaf or coat, a wax seal keeps out damp and allows long storage, which matters most for pills carrying volatile aromatic ingredients.

Developing modern formulas from component combinations

Zhang Boli and colleagues developed modern formulas from combinations of components and established methods for optimising those combinations, moving the sovereign-minister-assistant-assistant hierarchy from habit to verifiable design.

Syndrome typing and staged treatment

Large clinical surveys mapped how stroke syndromes and warning signs evolve, after which treatment is staged across the plateau, fluctuation and decline phases, making the link between pattern and course graspable.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The same set of methods for pills, powders, ointments, and elixirs took different shapes in different regions: Beijing's Tongrentang was known for honey pills coated with gold and sealed wax pills; the Taigu Guangsheng Pharmacy and the Darentang lineage established themselves on large honey pills hung with gold and on the boiling down of paste formulas; Suzhou's Songfentang and Shanghai's Leiyunshang each excelled in the compounding of fine materials and the emergency treatment of epidemics; and Tianjin had an additional tradition of ointments, soft pastes, and medicinal wines running in parallel. These practices originally each guarded their own house, circulating within the pharmacy trade through oral master-apprentice transmission. After industry organizations such as the China Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine and academic research institutions became involved, the traditional regional experience was brought onto the same table of modern research for comparison: how dosage forms affect onset and efficacy, and how formulas prove the rationality of their combination under modern indicators, have both been incorporated into the research on key scientific questions of formulary science presided over by scholars such as Zhang Boli.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

However, traditional preparation techniques have faced unprecedented challenges and shocks. Apart from decoctions, which remain the preferred dosage form in Chinese medicine clinical practice, "pills, powders, and ointments" are still widely used, but some traditional dosage forms and techniques have already been lost or are being eliminated, among them no small number of traditional techniques. It is therefore necessary to protect them so as to achieve inheritance and development. Zhang Boli (from the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born 1948, from Ningjin, Hebei. Zhang Boli applies modern scientific and technological means to explore the modernization of research on the material basis of Chinese medicinals, the modernization of the evaluation system for the efficacy of Chinese medicine preparations, and the modernization of Chinese medicine dosage forms, and has long engaged in research on cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and on the fundamentals of Chinese medicine. He has published more than 120 papers. Representative inheritor of the first national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage project Traditional Chinese Medicine Preparation Methods; president and professor of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine; academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He has presided over systematic research on vascular dementia (VD), presided over the formulation of VD syndrome-type classification standards and a treatment scheme based on the three stages of plateau, fluctuation, and decline; proposed the method of benefiting the kidney and resolving turbidity, with notable effect in the treatment of VD; and created a cerebrospinal fluid pharmacology method, revealing the mechanism by which Chinese medicinals protect nerve cells. Using large-sample clinical epidemiological methods, he for the first time clarified the dynamic patterns of evolution of stroke syndromes and premonitory syndromes in Chinese medicine; established a comprehensive treatment scheme; presided over Research on Key Scientific Questions of Formulary Science, created a new model for developing modern formulas by combining components of Chinese medicinals together with a combinatorial optimization design method, and won the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award. He has trained more than one hundred doctoral and master's students, currently undertakes the 973 project Research on the Laws of Formula Combination, and the subproject he presided over won the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award; to date he has won three National Science and Technology Progress Awards, one National Invention Award, 20 first and second prizes of provincial and ministerial science and technology awards, and holds 16 authorized patents.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Traditional TCM Preparation Methods (Zhongguozhongyaoxiehui) · China ICH Official Project Archive
  2. Zhang Boli · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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