Traditional TCM Preparation Methods

01 · Historical Records

In 1954, Ji Desheng resolutely decided to donate the snakebite-medicine secret formula, distilled from six generations of the Ji family's painstaking work, to the people's government. It was first produced in small batches at Nantong Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and in 1957 the municipal government designated Nantong Pharmaceutical Factory as its sole producer. In the 1960s it served as war-preparedness material for the resistance against U.S. aggression and in aid of Vietnam, flowing continuously along the Ho Chi Minh Trail to treat wounds and counteract toxins for the Vietnamese People's Army and guerrilla units; the Chinese People's Liberation Army also adopted the medicine as war-preparedness stock.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Ji Desheng Snake Medicine is a traditional Chinese patent medicine developed from the secret formula handed down for six generations in the family of Mr. Ji Desheng, the famous snakebite doctor of Nantong, Jiangsu Province. Its production has continued without interruption for more than fifty years. Ji Desheng Snake Medicine has moved from household hand production to industrialized manufacture through continuous improvement. Its pharmaceutical craft is assembled from the meticulous pretreatment and processing of raw medicinal materials and the distinctive finishing steps of the finished medicine; the preparation technique has grown ever more complete, the essence of the traditional process is still retained, product quality has steadily risen, output and sales have grown steadily, users are found throughout China, and the product has gradually entered overseas markets, enjoying a strong reputation especially in the Southeast Asian countries.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Nantong sits where the Yangtze meets the sea, with shoals, reed marshes and tidal flats interlacing; snakes breed easily there, and in former times catching snakes, selling snakes and seeking treatment for snakebites were all common in the countryside, and the trade of the snakebite doctor had deep roots in the eastern Jiangsu region. Six generations of the Ji clan practiced medicine with the secret formula, gathering herbs locally and judging the amount and depth of venom in each bite; the recipe passed down with the family business in the south of the city. After 1949, Ji Desheng donated the formula to the people's government in 1954; it was first compounded in small batches at Nantong Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and in 1957 the municipal government designated Nantong Pharmaceutical Factory as the sole producer. From then on, the formula and the process moved from one family's oral transmission into the workshop, where they were fixed together with the tests and batch numbers of modern pharmaceutical manufacture. Distribution rode on water transport and the remittance channels of overseas Chinese, reaching north and south; today the technique is carried on by Jinghua Pharmaceutical Group, the product is listed in the national essential medicines catalogue and is sold across the country, and it retains its reputation in Southeast Asian countries. Between the old trade of snake-catching and today's pharmaceutical enterprise lies precisely this passage from private to public stewardship. In the internal logic of the craft, snake medicine from raw-material pretreatment to finished product is a chain that must not be cut: if the cleaning, slicing and processing of the raw materials is not done properly, no amount of finesse in the finishing steps can rescue the finished medicine. In those days the secret formula was nothing more than a single sentence about which herbs to gather and in what quantities, and no one had broken that sentence down into teachable steps — which is precisely why it could for a time only pass from mouth to ear. From 1949 onward, the trade shifted from private to public hands, and the herb gatherers, processors and consulting physicians became separate roles; turning a single mnemonic verse into an auditable procedure was therefore the real problem this craft had to solve in the 1950s.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

At present, Ji Desheng Snake Medicine has been included in the national essential medicines catalogue and is widely used throughout China.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Yan Zhenghua 01-0208
• Zhang Boli 01-0209
• Yang Jukui 03-1442
• Li Yingjie 03-1443
• Liu Huiwu 04-1941
• Laosanshen 04-1942
• Yang Fuan 04-1943
• Xia Xiaozhong 04-1944
• Guo Yufeng 05-2930
• Li Yanyu 05-2931
• Gao Qiang 05-2932
• Ma Weidong 05-2933
• Liu Wenwei 05-2934
• Wang Yanming 05-2936
• Liu Baisheng 05-2937
• Yu Baitang 05-2938
• Liao Zhizhong 05-2939
• Ke Shuquan 05-2940
• Yin Shurong 05-2941
• Zhang Yuankun 05-2942
• Ma Xubin 05-2943
• Ma Xianghai
• Song Shidun
• Wang Feng
• Gu Wanxia
• Du Xinlei

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Traditional TCM Preparation Methods (Nantong, Jiangsu) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗