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Traditional TCM Preparation Methods

Ⅸ-4Traditional MedicineDongcheng, BeijingBatch 4 (2014)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

In 1669, Tongrentang was founded in Beijing; a famous old-brand shop of the capital, it counts Angong Niuhuang Wan among its representative products. As one of the "Three Treasures" for warm-febrile diseases in traditional Chinese pharmaceutical preparation, Angong Niuhuang Wan's formula comes from Wu Jutong's "Wenbing Tiaobian" (Systematic Differentiation of Warm Diseases, 1798). In the formula, curcuma (yujin) is the fragrance of plants, borneol the fragrance of wood, realgar the fragrance of stone, and musk the fragrance of essence and blood; the four fragrances used together with other heat-clearing medicines achieve the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, calming fright and opening the orifices. It is a representative formula for opening the orifices with pungent-cool medicinals and belongs to the medicines for acute and critical conditions in Chinese medicine.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Tongrentang Angong Niuhuang Wan craft, as a traditional method of Chinese pharmaceutical preparation, is mainly transmitted at the traditional old-brand shop Beijing Tongrentang, located in Dongcheng District, Beijing. Tongrentang organically combined its own pharmaceutical craft with the manufacturing standards of the Qing court imperial pharmacy, and traditional Chinese medicine culture with Chinese culture, forming the Angong Niuhuang Wan-making craft. Angong Niuhuang Wan selects medicinal materials that are "of top grade, pure, and authentic". "Of top grade" means confirming, by Tongrentang's traditional method of identifying the properties of Chinese medicinal materials, that the materials are of superior quality and meet the physicochemical standards stipulated in the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China; "authentic" means using quality materials produced in specific places of origin; "pure" means removing impurities and non-medicinal parts, requiring that the materials entering the medicine be clean materials. The Tongrentang Angong Niuhuang Wan production craft is meticulous, encompassing the techniques of verifying ingredients before dispensing, grinding precious materials, uniformly mixing medicinal powders, kneading the pill mass and forming pills, the knack of hand-applying gold leaf to honey pills, and wax-pill packaging. Sieve-mixing and color-blending methods are used to ensure the uniform mixing of the medicinal powder. Suitably refined honey is used to knead the pill mass and form pills, making the medicinal properties more stable. It is indicated for high fever and coma; in modern clinical practice it is applied in internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, the five sense organs (otorhinolaryngology), and dermatology, administered by oral ingestion, placing on the tongue, and enema. The Tongrentang Angong Niuhuang Wan traditional craft embodies the distinctive values of the Tongrentang people; its medicinal materials and preparation craft reflect Tongrentang's pharmaceutical character of "unique formulas, top-grade materials, exquisite craft, and remarkable efficacy", and interpret the ancient maxim "though the processing is laborious, we dare not skimp on manual effort; though the ingredients are precious, we dare not reduce the materials" — it has economic and sociocultural value.

Verifying the weighed batch

After weighing, a second person checks name, weight and batch number and rejects any mismatch; this comes before anything enters the pan and is the first gate of the formula.

Pulverising the precious fine ingredients

Bezoar, musk, borneol and pearl are ground alone to extreme fineness and then ground together with the rest; coarser work yields an uneven dose that will not act quickly.

Even-sieve blending and shade blending

Uniformity rests on two methods used together: even-sieve blending equalises fineness, shade blending folds powders in by depth of colour; run both and no shade differs.

Kneading the mass and boiling the honey

Honey boiled to the right degree is kneaded with the powder; its firmness decides how loose the pill sits, an even mass gives a round pill, and the hand-applied gold leaf makes it an emergency remedy.

Gilding honey pills by hand

Gilding is done by hand, one pill at a time without breaking the leaf; the knack belongs to Tong Ren Tang alone and, with wax sealing, forms its method of protecting finished pills.

The four aromatics combined

Turmeric is the aroma of herbs, borneol of wood, realgar of stone and musk of vital blood; the four together with heat-clearing drugs clear heat, calm the spirit and open the orifices in the pungent-cool manner.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Angong Niuhuang Wan is tied to Tongrentang, but this pill's roots lie elsewhere: the formula comes from Wu Jutong's "Wenbing Tiaobian" and was originally a prescription of the Jiangnan school of warm-febrile diseases; it was brought to realization in the capital by Tongrentang in accordance with the manufacturing standards of the Qing court imperial pharmacy, and before 1866 it was already being compounded in the capital, so that from that one furnace of medicine it was bound to the shop's reputation. The Dongcheng area of Beijing, where Tongrentang is located, was a gathering place for medicinal materials and precious ingredients in the Ming and Qing dynasties; precious materials such as musk, rhinoceros horn, ox bezoar, and pearl mostly came from the south and from beyond the passes, and the shop's selection of materials, detection of counterfeits, and processing became the house specialty of the area. The rules of the Qing court imperial pharmacy added another threshold to this area: though the processing is laborious, manual effort is not spared; though the ingredients are precious, materials are not reduced. Today this craft is still transmitted mainly from master to apprentice; the products are sold throughout the country and to more than forty countries and regions overseas, with sales in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia continuing to rise — the overseas spread of this small gold-clad pill has, on the contrary, carried the rules of the old capital shop even farther.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Tongrentang Angong Niuhuang Wan is currently sold throughout the country and to more than 40 countries and regions overseas, with sales continuing to rise especially in Hong Kong and Southeast Asian countries. The main mode of transmission today is master-apprentice inheritance.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Traditional TCM Preparation Methods (Dongcheng, Beijing) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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