Traditional TCM Preparation Methods

01 · Historical Records

Darentang was founded by Yue Daren in 1912 and initially established branch shops in Shanghai and Hankou. In 1914 the "Jingdu Darentang Yuejia Lao Yaopu" (Capital City Darentang, the Yue Family's Old Pharmacy) was established in Tianjin, and the following year the Darentang Pharmaceutical Factory was built. After 1917, Darentang branches were opened in 18 important commercial ports across China. In 2004 the Darentang Pharmaceutical Factory relocated as a whole to the Tianjin Modern Traditional Chinese Medicine Industrial Park.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The technique for making Darentang Angong Niuhuang Wan is transmitted mainly at Darentang in Tianjin. Darentang Angong Niuhuang Wan (Peaceful Palace Ox-Bezoar Pills) are composed of a variety of precious medicinal materials — cattle bezoar, musk, pearl, borneol, turmeric tuber, cinnabar, realgar, coptis root, scutellaria root, and gardenia fruit — and have the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, calming fright, and opening the orifices. The technique for making Darentang Angong Niuhuang Wan is characterised by formulas prepared in secret according to ancient models, the use of authentic raw materials, meticulous processing in the craftsmanship, self-imposed standards in compounding, syndrome-differentiated treatment with the honey pills, and the secret preservation of the family compounding records. Concretely, all medicinal materials must undergo cleaning and selection. All materials are purchased as unprocessed "whole goods" (gezihuo); prepared slices are not bought. The precious and fine medicinals used are handled strictly in accordance with the requirements of the Darentang Xiliao Peiben (Darentang's Compounding Book for Fine Materials). Whole cattle bezoar is ground into fine powder by hand before being used in the medicine; pearl, cinnabar, and realgar must be water-ground into extremely fine powder. The production of Angong Niuhuang Wan uses hand mixing of the pill mass and hand rolling on a board to form the pills, which are then finished through multiple steps: applying the gold coating, wrapping, rounding, wax dipping, polishing the base, and stamping with the gold mark. The technique for making Darentang Angong Niuhuang Wan is a distinctive component of Darentang's traditional honey-pill production technique and the crystallisation of the medical wisdom of the Yue family. It reflects the traditional concepts and values of Chinese medicine, is a vivid practice of the theory of treatment according to syndrome differentiation, meets the people's clinical medication needs, and possesses historical, cultural, economic, and practical value.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The Darentang line moved south from the Yue family's old pharmacy in Beijing to Tianjin, settling in Nankai, where the Palace-Museum style of honey-pill making merged with the medicine market of Tianjin. It was founded by Yue Daren in 1912; in 1914 the Jingdu Darentang Yuejia Lao Yaopu was established in Tianjin, with a pharmaceutical factory set up the following year, and after 1917 branches opened in 18 important commercial ports across China. In 2004 the pharmaceutical factory relocated as a whole to the Tianjin Modern Traditional Chinese Medicine Industrial Park, and the veteran workers' craft moved with the people. Li Yanyu, a graduate of the Tianjin Chinese Medicine School, began with the large-honey-pill process in Darentang's technical department, while in the same city Gao Qiang, a worker from the tableting workshop, carries on the Weiyao (Tianjin-style medicine) line at Longshunrong; these two strands of modern Tianjin pharmaceutical production now coexist among the factories of a single city.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Today Darentang's honey-pill products cover the whole country and are exported to Europe, America, Japan, and the countries of Southeast Asia. The technique for making Darentang Angong Niuhuang Wan has developed over a century and emphasises processing according to ancient models. In its early period it was transmitted within the Yue family; in modern times it has been transmitted mainly through master-apprentice transmission. Through uninterrupted transmission of the technique, the Angong Niuhuang Wan now produced by Darentang is no different from the level of past generations — indeed it is even better. Li Yanyu (from the official archival record of the associated inheritor): Female, Han ethnicity, born in February 1964, from Tianjin. Representative inheritor of Traditional Chinese Pharmaceutical Preparation Methods (Angong Niuhuang Wan Production Technique), a project in the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. She graduated from the Tianjin Chinese Medicine School and subsequently worked in Darentang's technical department on research into the large-honey-pill process. She has profound expertise in the craft and procedures of honey-pill production, as exemplified by the Angong Niuhuang Wan production technique. She has successively served as head of Darentang's technical department, head of the quality department, and factory director in charge of production; she is a representative inheritor of traditional pharmaceutical craft who rose from the front line. She has participated comprehensively in the excavation, protection, and transmission of intangible cultural heritage projects, built up a transmission team for Darentang's honey-pill production technique as exemplified by the Angong Niuhuang Wan production technique, and perfectly combined the transmission of traditional production craft with quality management. Gao Qiang (from the official archival record of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in October 1955, from Tianjin. Representative inheritor of Traditional Chinese Pharmaceutical Preparation Methods (Longshunrong Weiyao Production Technique), a project in the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. In March 1979 he went to work in the tableting workshop of the Tianjin Longshunrong Pharmaceutical Factory, where as an ordinary tableting operator he learned the Longshunrong Weiyao process from veteran pharmaceutical workers. Since 2010 he has served as technical adviser to the preparation workshop and to the technical quality department of the Longshunrong Pharmaceutical Factory. He has combined traditional craft with modern equipment, improved various Weiyao preparation processes, mastered the craft standards and procedures of Weiyao preparations as well as operating methods for the pre-treatment, extraction, and concentration of Chinese medicinal materials, become familiar with the key technical operating points of the products, and identified solutions to difficult problems arising in preparation production. He has successively led more than ten pharmaceutical apprentices in learning the Weiyao production technique and organised preparation skill competitions, effectively transmitting the Longshunrong Weiyao technique.

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 (Nankai, Tianjin) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Li Yanyu · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Gao Qiang · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗