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Traditional TCM Preparation Methods

Ⅸ-4Traditional MedicineDingzhou, HebeiBatch 4 (2014)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

The porcelain bottle is inserted into a round perforated tray and placed into a vibrating filling machine; the filling head, set to the specified size, is loaded with the medicinal powder, which is leveled with a scraper; the outlet is opened, the switch is started, and the powder is vibrated into the bottle; the tray is drawn out, the bottle cap is put on and sealed, and the bottle is passed into the wax-dipping and bottle-cleaning room.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Jinniu Eye Medicine preparation technique is practiced in Dingzhou, Hebei Province. During the Kangxi era of the Qing dynasty, Zhang Qizhu opened the Zhang Qizhu Jinniu Eye Medicine shop on the east side of North Cross Street within Dingzhou; because a small gilded wooden ox was displayed on the shop counter as its sign, the eye medicine it made and sold came to be called "Jinniu Eye Medicine" (Golden Ox Eye Medicine). The shop later opened branches in Beijing; Baoding and Shijiazhuang, Hebei; Jinan, Shandong; and elsewhere, and the Jinniu Eye Medicine preparation technique spread accordingly; its sales now cover the whole country. The formula of Jinniu Eye Medicine comes from the secret recipe personally taught by Zhang Qizhu and has been passed down chiefly within the Zhang family, with a history of more than four hundred years. Jinniu Eye Medicine is a purely Chinese-medicine preparation, made with nine precious medicinal materials including pearl, musk, bear bile, borneol and cinnabar; its production has always followed traditional Chinese pharmaceutical preparation methods. Raw materials are processed item by item: calamine, for example, is calcined and then elutriated with sanhuang water (the infusion of the three yellow herbs), while cinnabar is ground and then has its iron filings removed by suction. To remove impurities from pearl, tofu is cut into thick slices, the pearl is placed between layers of tofu, and it is simmered in clear water at 100°C over a slow fire for four hours; it is then removed, dried and ball-milled for twelve hours, and the fineness of the processing can reach 260 mesh. The musk and bear-bile powder are mixed evenly and then blended with the other seven powders in a mortar by the incremental method. The blended powder is poured into a ball mill and ground for 72 hours; after passing through a 220-mesh sieve, the material is mixed evenly in a V-shaped mixer and then packaged. When sealing, melted wax is stirred evenly with red pearl powder, the bottle mouth is sealed with it, and after the bottles are sealed they are packaged and put into storage. The Jinniu Eye Medicine product is a light-brown fine powder, fragrant in aroma and cooling in taste; it does not oxidize easily, has no toxic side effects, and is safe and reliable. Its formula is scientifically composed, allowing the efficacy of every medicinal material to be brought to the full, and it has advantages that chemical medicines cannot match. The product has the effects of clearing heat, dispelling nebula and improving vision. It is used for sudden flaming eyes, reddened and ulcerated eyes, trachoma, tearing on exposure to wind and long-standing nebula — external eye disorders — and is also effective against what modern medicine calls acute and chronic conjunctivitis, keratitis, and various eye diseases caused by bacterial infection. Jinniu Eye Medicine has relieved the suffering of numerous eye patients; its preparation technique puts traditional Chinese medicine theory into practice: from the collection of raw materials to the production of a qualified product, nearly a hundred process steps are required, some of which are still done by hand and to this day cannot be replaced by modern production equipment. It is a precious historical and cultural heritage with social, economic and cultural value that cannot be underestimated.

Archival record of process steps

Jinniu Eye Medicine has relieved the suffering of numerous eye patients; its preparation technique puts traditional Chinese medicine theory into practice: from the collection of raw materials to the production of a qualified product, nearly a hundred process steps are required, some of which are still done by hand and to this day cannot be replaced by modern production equipment. It is a precious historical and cultural heritage with social, economic and cultural value that cannot be underestimated.

Washing calcined calamine with sanhuang water

Calamine is calcined and then levigated in sanhuang water to shed coarse grit and impurities, the finest layer being taken as the common base of eye medicines.

Drawing iron from cinnabar

After grinding, cinnabar must be stripped of iron with magnetic force; iron left in the drug would irritate the eye, so this short step cannot be skipped.

Steeping pearl between slices of tofu

To clean pearl it is sandwiched between thick slices of tofu and simmered four hours in water just off boiling, then dried and ball-milled twelve hours to a fineness of 260 mesh.

Incremental blending in the mortar

Musk and bear bile powder are mixed first, then folded in by the incremental method with the other seven powders in the mortar, so the proportion of precious to coarse shifts without clumping.

Seventy-two hours of ball milling

The blended powder is ball-milled seventy-two hours, passed through a 220 mesh sieve, then mixed in a V-blender before filling, at which point fineness and uniformity are settled.

Sealing the bottle with wax and red pearl powder

Melted wax is stirred with red pearl powder, spread over the bottle mouth, the bottle sealed and then packed for storage — the last barrier against damp and escaping odour.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Jinniu Eye Medicine is a family craft of the town of Dingzhou. During the Kangxi era of the Qing dynasty, Zhang Qizhu opened the Zhang Qizhu Jinniu Eye Medicine shop on the east side of North Cross Street within Dingzhou; because a small gilded wooden ox stood on the counter as the shop sign, patients came to call the eye medicine sold there Jinniu Eye Medicine. The Zhang clan kept the personally taught secret recipe, passing it down generation after generation for more than four hundred years without transmitting it outside the family; the shop later opened branches in Beijing, Baoding, Shijiazhuang, Jinan and elsewhere, and the Jinniu eye medicine spread with them; today its market reaches across the whole country, while Dingzhou, Hebei, remains the center of its preparation technique. The reason this trade spread so far lies in the medicine's own long-standing standing and the shop's old reputation; the two together meant that for decades patients in Dingzhou and the Hebei region recognized this sign.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The value of Jinniu Eye Medicine lies half in the medicine itself and half in its almost exacting procedures. From the collection of raw materials to a finished product it passes through nearly a hundred steps: calamine must be calcined and then elutriated with sanhuang water; cinnabar must be ground and then have its iron filings removed; pearl must be sandwiched between layers of tofu, simmered over a slow fire in boiling water for four shichen (two-hour periods) and then ball-milled for twelve shichen, reaching a fineness of 260 mesh; musk and bear-bile powder are mixed evenly and blended with the other seven powders in a mortar by the incremental method; the resulting powder is then milled in a ball mill for seventy-two shichen, passed through a 220-mesh sieve and mixed evenly in a V-shaped mixer before sealing. Some of these steps still cannot be replaced by modern equipment today — which is both the craft's threshold and its predicament: work done entirely by feel and eye now has no one to take it over as the veteran pharmacists who mastered these nuances pass away, and the survival of the technique rests on the shoulders of very few people.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Traditional TCM Preparation Methods (Dingzhou, Hebei) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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