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Traditional TCM Preparation Methods

Ⅸ-4Traditional MedicineBoluo, GuangdongBatch 3 (2011)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

The Baicao Oil formula originates with Ge Hong, a medical scholar of the Jin dynasty. In the Ming dynasty, the Daoist priest Chen Bohui of Huanglong Temple on Mount Luofu organized the Baicao Oil formula and finalized its processing, giving it a history of more than five hundred years to this day. The Baicao Oil formula and craft were passed down from generation to generation by the Daoist priests of Mount Luofu until the early 20th century, when, amid the turmoil of war, they drifted into the hands of the common people. In the 1950s and 1960s, barefoot doctors including Ye Guojing collected and developed the Baicao Oil craft, founded a pharmaceutical factory, and achieved mass production.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Luofushan Baicao Oil craft is set against the special geographical and climatic environment of the Lingnan region: multiple locally produced medicinal materials are gathered and processed through distillation, filtration, and preparation to make a remarkably effective multi-purpose oil remedy. Guided by the theory of Chinese medicine, it takes the Daoist medicine of Mount Luofu as its source and Lingnan pharmacy as its distinguishing character; its finished product, Baicao Oil, is widely used in the Lingnan region and among overseas Chinese. Responding to the characteristics of Mount Luofu — dense forests, humid air, and pervasive miasma — he gathered many precious herbs of Mount Luofu and refined them into Baicao Oil to relieve the ailments of the people. Technical personnel Chen Xinquan and Liao Zhizhong, on the basis of inheriting the traditional production methods, researched and optimized key process parameters, so that the Luofushan Baicao Oil craft has continuously developed and improved. Luofushan Baicao Oil is prepared from a concentrate extracted from 68 Chinese medicinal herbs plus 11 plant essential oils. It has the effects of dispelling wind and detoxifying, reducing swelling and relieving pain, and stopping itching; it is suitable for treating a range of conditions caused by wind toxin, damp toxin, heat toxin, and summerheat toxin, and has a good safety profile. In recent years, as similar products of foreign brands have flooded in, the market for Luofushan Baicao Oil has been shrinking; its use is mainly limited to older people in the Guangdong-Guangxi region, and the transmission and development of the craft face threats.

Distilling the hundred-herb extract

Sixty-eight herbs are distilled into the hundred-herb extract; the heat and which fraction is cut decide how deep the essence runs, and this is the base of the whole formula.

Blending in eleven plant essential oils

The extract is blended with eleven plant essential oils in alcohol to a clear oil that smells fragrant, feels cool on the skin and penetrates quickly.

Gathering in the mountains and first processing

Against the dense forest, damp air and miasm of Luofu Mountain, precious herbs are gathered on the spot and go into the still while fresh, losing less than they would on a long journey.

Optimising the process parameters

Chen Xinquan and Liao Zhizhong studied distillation temperature, extraction time and blending ratios item by item, turning a family recipe into a modern process that reproduces consistently.

Quality standard raised to national level

Through standards, pharmacological, toxicological and clinical research, the quality standard of Baicao You was raised to national level — the achievement of the sixth-generation inheritor and those before him.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The origins of Luofushan Baicao Oil span the three paths of monk, Daoist, and physician. Ge Hong, a medical scholar of the Jin dynasty, left the original formula; Chen Bohui, a Daoist priest of Huanglong Temple on Mount Luofu in the Ming dynasty, organized and finalized it; thereafter it was passed down by the Daoist priests of Mount Luofu until the early 20th century, when, amid the turmoil of war, it drifted into the hands of the people. In the 1950s and 1960s, barefoot doctors including Ye Guojing searched out and gathered the surviving practices and founded a pharmaceutical factory in the Mount Luofu area, giving this oil remedy a form suited to mass production. Boluo County lies close to the humid-heat zone of Lingnan; Mount Luofu has dense forests, humid air, and pervasive miasma, with medicinal herbs everywhere at hand, so the steps of gathering, distilling, filtering, and preparing could be completed on the spot. The mountain climate also causes the essential-oil components to gather and disperse easily, so the product is mostly used by older people in the Guangdong-Guangxi region. In recent years, foreign brands of similar products have flooded in, and the old mountain methods and the new market products are fighting a price war; those who hold the line on this craft are still a group of veteran artisans who know how to read the weather, judge the oils, and control the heat.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Luofushan Baicao Oil is a representative locally produced medicine of Lingnan, with special technical value and considerable historical and cultural value. Its development, transmission, and growth bear witness to the development of locally produced medicines in Lingnan, and are of great significance to the study of Lingnan pharmacy and the Baicao culture of Mount Luofu. Liao Zhizhong (recorded in the official archives of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in February 1964, a native of Boluo County, Guangdong Province. A representative inheritor of the Luofushan Baicao Oil craft, a project under the fifth national-level batch of the national intangible cultural heritage item "Traditional Preparation Methods of Chinese Medicine". A sixth-generation inheritor of the Luofushan Baicao Oil craft. In 1983, he entered the Luofushan Pharmaceutical Factory as an apprentice, studying under Ye Guojing, the fifth-generation inheritor of the Baicao Oil craft; through devoted study, he mastered the Baicao Oil formula, the craft, and the traditional Chinese medical cultural content it embodies. For more than thirty years, he has continuously delved into his work, striving to raise the quality standards of Luofushan Baicao Oil and optimize its production craft. Through technical research programs, he further confirmed the medicinal value of Baicao Oil; through standards research, pharmacological and toxicological research, and clinical application research, he raised the Luofushan Baicao Oil quality standard to a national standard, laying the foundation for the transmission and development of the oil. He actively cultivates talent, having formally taken on three apprentices and trained dozens of students.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Traditional TCM Preparation Methods (Boluo, Guangdong) · China ICH Official Project Archive
  2. Liao Zhizhong · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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