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Traditional TCM Preparation Methods

Ⅸ-4Traditional MedicineWuhanshiwuchang, HubeiBatch 3 (2011)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

The traditional pharmaceutical craft of Mayinglong originated in Dingzhou, Hebei, during the Wanli era of the Ming dynasty; handed down through fourteen generations, it has a history of more than four hundred years. In the beginning, the founder Ma Jintang devoted himself to research and worked out a distinctive set of pharmaceutical techniques, with which he made the eye medicine. Through the tempering development of the Qing dynasty and the Republican period, at the founding of the People's Republic of China, Ma Huimin, the thirteenth-generation inheritor of Mayinglong, served as director of the Mayinglong Pharmaceutical Factory (later renamed "Wuhan No. 3 Pharmaceutical Factory"), where, on the basis of ancient and proven formulas and following the traditional pharmaceutical craft, eye medicine, hemorrhoid medicine and other products were manufactured. In 1995, Wuhan No. 3 Pharmaceutical Factory was renamed "Mayinglong Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd.", and the traditional pharmaceutical craft of Mayinglong was thereby preserved and carried forward.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Mayinglong's pharmaceutical craft has its own traditional character and standards: from the selection of materials and their processing to the proportioning of ingredients and the finished medicine there is a complete set of strict procedures, forming a school of its own. Materials are chosen only if genuine and of the finest quality, with inferior or counterfeit ingredients strictly avoided, and the medicinal substances used are extremely precious. In the course of manufacture, the hygiene of vessels, the order in which raw ingredients are combined and added, and the fineness and color of the medicine must all be strictly controlled. Because the climate differs across the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter, the methods of processing raw materials vary accordingly; the storage of medicines is subject to exacting requirements, and the containers used are of many different materials and numerous types. The traditional pharmaceutical craft of Mayinglong was kept absolutely secret from outsiders; even within the family it was passed only to the eldest son and eldest grandson, or to the most worthy candidate, and for several hundred years this rule was never broken. Because modern production techniques have posed an enormous challenge to the workshop-style traditional pharmaceutical process, causing traditional techniques to be lost, this matter calls for serious attention.

Archival record of process steps

The traditional pharmaceutical craft of Mayinglong is complex in procedure and fine in its steps, and may be called a representative of China's traditional Chinese medicine manufacturing processes; it possesses unique historical and cultural value, scientific development value and practical value.

Choosing only genuine and superior materials

Genuineness comes first and quality second; inferior material and fakes are refused, the herbs are precious, and price never justifies substitution — the choice rests with the pharmacist.

Order of addition and fineness of grade

The order in which ingredients go in, their fineness and grade and the cleanliness of the vessels are all prescribed; a disturbed order unbalances the action and a dirty vessel changes the colour.

Different processing in the four seasons

Spring, summer, autumn and winter each call for different handling of the raw material, and the vessels change in substance with damp, cold, heat and dryness; a wrong vessel harms the drug.

Transmission to the eldest son and grandson only

The craft is strictly closed to outsiders and within the family passes only to the eldest son or grandson, or to the most apt of them; the rule has never been broken, so few have ever known it whole.

From Dingzhou to Wuhan

Begun in Dingzhou and passed through fourteen generations, the craft reached a factory under the thirteenth inheritor, who made eye and haemorrhoid remedies, and was fully preserved after the 1995 renaming.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The roots of Mayinglong were first set in Dingzhou, Hebei. During the Wanli era of the Ming dynasty, Ma Jintang worked out a set of pharmaceutical techniques in the town of Dingzhou; fourteen generations then carried it forward in relay, tempered through the Qing dynasty and the Republican period. The thirteenth-generation inheritor Ma Huimin became director of the pharmaceutical factory at the founding of the People's Republic of China, bringing both the eye medicine and the hemorrhoid medicine into factory production; in 1995 the enterprise was renamed Mayinglong Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd., and only then was this body of rules fully preserved under the factory's name. Today the craft is based in Wuchang District of Wuhan, adjoining the pharmaceutical tradition of Hankou, the Yangtze river port. Because eye medicine is a small-formula, micro-preparation product that must be kept away from light and sealed, it has always formed a distinct line within the Chinese medicine trade; within that line Mayinglong has kept the old rule of choosing only genuine, top-quality materials, and senior pharmacists at several old factories can still discern traces of the vessels and hand techniques of the Dingzhou period.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The traditional pharmaceutical craft of Mayinglong is complex in procedure and fine in its steps, and may be called a representative of China's traditional Chinese medicine manufacturing processes; it possesses unique historical and cultural value, scientific development value and practical value.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Traditional TCM Preparation Methods (Wuhanshiwuchang, Hubei) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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