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Traditional TCM Preparation Methods

Ⅸ-4Traditional MedicineZunyishihonghuagang, GuizhouBatch 2 (2008)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

Liao Yaoyin, the founder of the Liao family's Huafeng Dan, drawing on the rich medicinal resources of the Dalou Mountains in Guizhou and the convenient transport of the ancient town of Banqiao, inherited the family profession of practicing medicine to aid the world, and in the seventeenth year of the Chongzhen reign of the Ming dynasty (1644) developed 'Huafeng Dan' (Wind-Transforming Elixir), which has the functions of subduing wind and unblocking the collaterals, calming fright and expelling phlegm, and opening the orifices and rousing the mind. In 1710, the Liao family formally named this medicine 'Liao Yuanhe Tang Huafeng Dan.'

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Traditional Chinese medicine preparation refers mainly to pills, powders, ointments, and elixirs (dan); in addition, there are wine preparations, lozenges (dingji), gelatins (jiaoji), and so on. Each dosage form has its own set of traditional preparation techniques, and in combination with certain products there are also some special methods of production. With the development of the times, the production of ready-made Chinese medicines (patent medicines) has undergone many reforms and innovations, greatly raising production efficiency; yet traditional preparation methods have not all been eliminated, and some of them remain the best choice in the production of patent medicines — especially famous-brand patent medicines, patent medicines with secret formulas, and patent medicines containing precious and rare medicinal ingredients, which are often still produced by traditional preparation methods in time-honored brand enterprises. Traditional Chinese medicine preparation methods retain certain features of ancient workshop production: materials are selected with precision, ingredients are fed in an orderly sequence, and the techniques are distinctive; the packaging and instruction slips are imbued with a traditional cultural atmosphere, and are deeply trusted by physicians and patients. In its process, the technique borrows from the fermentation and cellaring process of white liquor: the core drugs are processed into the 'medicine mother' (yaomu); the other fifteen medicinal materials are processed by different methods and then ground together with the medicine mother into powder, which is made into pills; a mixture of cinnabar water and ground musk is then applied evenly to the surface of the pills, and after it adheres the pills are dried, completing the process. Huafeng Dan is a vermilion-red pill; its cross-section is yellow-brown, and its taste is pungent. It has specific efficacy against the miasma of the four seasons, hemiplegia from wind-stroke, convulsions from high fever in children, epilepsy, and facial paralysis. Because its efficacy is definite, its reputation rose rapidly by the second and third generations of transmission, and it spread widely through Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Guangxi, being praised as the 'sacred medicine indispensable for home and travel.' The production process of Huafeng Dan is an original creation in Chinese pharmaceutical production: its distinctive formula combination and its multiple types of drug-processing methods have scientific research value for pharmaceutical science; its philosophy of pharmaceutical production and its quality philosophy — treating disease by syndrome differentiation on the basis of pharmacology conforming to pathology — have considerable academic value; and in the course of the transmission of Huafeng Dan, it has upheld the medical principle of 'saving people regardless of wealth or poverty, giving medicine without distinction of high or low rank,' reflecting the lofty humanistic value of Huafeng Dan.

Seeding the fermenting mother

The core drugs are turned into a fermenting mother by the cellar method borrowed from liquor making; cellar temperature and duration decide the strength and pace of the medicine.

Processing fifteen herbs by separate methods

Fifteen further herbs are each treated by a method suited to their nature, whether wine, frying, calcining or roasting, and each is returned to its place before meeting the mother.

Grinding the powders together

The processed drugs are ground together with the mother into a fine powder, fine enough to be rolled; the density of the powder and the weight of each pill are settled here.

Coating the pills with vermilion and musk

A grind of vermilion water and musk is brushed evenly over the pills and dried; the finished pill is vermilion outside, tawny-brown within, and pungent to the taste.

The travelling household remedy

Because its action proved reliable, Huofeng Dan gained fame for seasonal miasm, stroke paralysis and children's convulsion, and a bottle was standard in travellers' luggage, hence the saying.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The place of origin of Huafeng Dan is a mountainous corner of Zunyi. The Dalou Mountain area is densely forested and rich in medicinal materials, so mountain people who gathered herbs could exchange them for money on the spot, while the water and land wharves of the ancient town of Banqiao opened an export channel for medicinal materials and finished medicines; the Liao family built its fortune here, and within two or three generations its fame spread to the provinces of Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Guangxi. Sales depended largely on itinerant peddlers who walked the streets and on consignment through medicine shops in various places; once its reputation was established, medicine merchants from outside came seeking to purchase it by name. Today, Honghuagang District of Zunyi City remains the core place of transmission of the Huafeng Dan production technique, with descendants of the Pang family and local pharmaceutical workers separately guarding the old methods of preparing the medicine mother, applying the coating, and drying; in the surrounding villages a small number of households still process the medicine by ancient methods. With Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou adjoining one another, a geography in which the mountain people drink from the same river system has kept sales of this medicine stable across several southwestern provinces.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

In the context of global economic integration, Huafeng Dan has continued the legacy of this remarkable and famous Liao family medicine through measures such as establishing databases and setting up training systems for inheritors; even so, to resist alone the overall decline of traditional Chinese medicine, these efforts are far from enough, and protection by the state is urgently needed.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Traditional TCM Preparation Methods (Zunyishihonghuagang, Guizhou) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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