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Traditional TCM Preparation Methods

Ⅸ-4Traditional MedicineTaigu, ShanxiBatch 4 (2014)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

Guangyuyuan was founded in 1541, and since then it has created and passed down a variety of formulas for the prevention and treatment of epidemic diseases, together with traditional Chinese medicine preparation methods. It later established branch houses and shops widely in Hankou of Wuhan, Qizhou (present-day Anguo, Hebei), Yuzhou (present-day Yuxian County, Henan), Guangzhou, Chongqing, Yantai of Shandong, and Xi'an of Shaanxi; its business operations spread across the country, and in 1916 it formally established a branch house in Hong Kong. The Angong Niuhuang Pill preparation technique of Guangyuyuan is a preparation method created in 1885, when renowned physicians were engaged, based on the prescription in "Wenbing Tiaobian" (Systematic Differentiation of Warm Diseases) by Wu Jutong, the famous warm-disease scholar of the Qing Dynasty. Following the theory of the "unity of man and nature" and applying the dialectical thinking of yin-yang and the five elements, it combines Guangyuyuan's own traditional processing and preparation practices. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the various shops that had evolved from the Guangsheng Pharmacy and others were merged into Guangyuyuan.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Angong Niuhuang Pill preparation technique of Guangyuyuan is a traditional Chinese medicine preparation method handed down from generation to generation, and it is mainly transmitted at Guangyuyuan in Taigu County, Shanxi Province. Angong Niuhuang Pills made with Guangyuyuan's unique technique were once bestsellers in the southern provinces and cities such as Guangdong and Fujian. At the same time, along with the rise and prosperity of the Shanxi merchants (Jin merchants), the technique spread to northern Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia. Its prescription is composed of eleven medicinal ingredients: ox gallstone (niuhuang), turmeric (yujin), rhinoceros horn (water buffalo horn concentrated powder), coptis rhizome (huanglian), cinnabar (zhusha), cape jasmine fruit (zhizi), realgar (xionghuang), skullcap (huangqin), pearl (zhenzhu), borneol (bingpian), and musk (shexiang). During preparation, the pearls are first steamed with tofu, then ground in a ball mill and refined with water into an extremely fine powder; the cinnabar and realgar are separately ground in a ball mill and refined with water into extremely fine powders, and subjected to special processing; the coptis rhizome, skullcap, cape jasmine fruit, and turmeric are crushed into fine powders. The ox gallstone, water buffalo horn concentrated powder, musk, and borneol are ground fine, then finely ground together with the above powders, sifted through a sieve, and mixed evenly; the mixture is formed into pills with refined old honey, coated with gold foil, and sealed with wax. The Angong Niuhuang Pill preparation technique of Guangyuyuan is exquisite; among its steps, the hundred hammer blows, the hundred-day circling, pill forming, wax coating, and wrapping in gold foil are secret techniques that have been kept unpassed-on for several hundred years. In its early period, the Angong Niuhuang Pill preparation technique of Guangyuyuan was mainly transmitted through master-apprentice instruction at the Guangsheng Pharmacy of Taigu. The Angong Niuhuang Pill preparation technique of Guangyuyuan is a component of China's medicinal culture and a concentrated expression of the traditional concepts and theories of Chinese medicine, such as the unity of man and nature and yin-yang and the five elements. The Guangyuyuan Angong Niuhuang Pills produced with it are renowned emergency medicines, widely used in clinical practice and broadly recognized by the public, playing a positive role in serving people's health.

The hundred strokes of pounding

The materials are pounded in the mortar a hundred times and more so that coarse and fine powders interpenetrate; a weak blow leaves the powder uneven and the pills unequal in weight.

The hundred days of rolling

After powder and aged honey are made into a mass, it is kneaded and rolled with the work of a hundred days, so the honey binds without greasiness and the pills round out with measured release.

Rolling the pills

The mass is rolled between palm and board into pills whose size the fingertip gauges at a touch; those not round enough are rejected and redone, by touch alone with no measuring tool.

Wax coating the pills

The pills take a coat of wax to seal out damp and scent, preserving aromatic and precious ingredients such as bezoar, musk and borneol — an old rule of protecting finished remedies.

Gold leaf as the coat

After the eleven ingredients are ground and blended and the mass is made into pills with aged honey, the last step is gold leaf and wax, the colour of one and the seal of the other being two pinnacles of the craft.

Markets carried by Jin merchants

Carried by Jin merchants the drug spread to Guangdong and Fujian and north to Shaanbei and Inner Mongolia; the branch shops and depots linked one furnace in Taigu to half the country's medicine cabinets.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The name Guangyuyuan dates back to 1541. Within the single city of Taigu, the shop's name rested on two pillars: first, a dense network of branch houses and shops, with footholds from Hankou, Qizhou, and Yuzhou to Guangzhou, Chongqing, Yantai, and Xi'an, and a Hong Kong branch house added in 1916; second, the carriages and horses of the Shanxi merchants carried this preparation method to the southern provinces and cities such as Guangdong and Fujian, and along the trade routes it traveled north to northern Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia. In 1885, the Guangsheng Pharmacy engaged renowned physicians who, following the prescription in "Wenbing Tiaobian" and the principle of the unity of man and nature together with the dialectical method of yin-yang and the five elements, created the Angong Niuhuang Pill preparation method on their own; from then on, this emergency medicine grew together with the Guangyuyuan name. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the various shops, including the Guangsheng Pharmacy, were merged into Guangyuyuan, bringing together the furnaces of Taigu, the sales markets of the south, and the techniques handed down from the ancestors; the products were subsequently exported to Southeast Asia and other countries and regions, becoming one of the key varieties and indispensable emergency patent Chinese medicines for the prevention and treatment of major infectious diseases.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

At present, its products have been exported to Southeast Asia and other countries and regions. As an emergency medicine, Guangyuyuan's Angong Niuhuang Pill is a key variety for the prevention and treatment of major infectious diseases and an indispensable emergency patent Chinese medicine. Guangyuyuan has revised and finalized its prescription and techniques, and the master craftsmen of the Guangsheng Pharmacy have continued the transmission through master-apprentice instruction combined with production-based transmission up to the present day. Yang Jukui (official archival record of an associated inheritor): Male, of the Han ethnic group, born in October 1933, a native of Taigu County, Shanxi Province. Representative inheritor of the third national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage project "Traditional Chinese Medicine Preparation Methods (the traditional production technique of Guilingji)". In 1953 he returned to Taigu to take charge of preparing to build the Shanxi Traditional Chinese Medicine Factory. During his more than forty years of work there, on the one hand he devoted himself to studying the famous Chinese medicines Guilingji and Dingkun Dan and actively developing production; on the other hand, he participated in scientific and technological research, boldly reforming the refining process of Guilingji, adopting the theory of optimization to maximize efficacy, and verifying its pharmacological and anti-aging effects using modern scientific theories and methods. After years of unremitting effort, he finalized the prescription and process specifications, which have been collected by the national archives. Over the years, he led his apprentices in continuously collecting and organizing famous formulas and folk remedies from various places, developing new medicines. Liu Huiwu (official archival record of an associated inheritor): Male, of the Han ethnic group, born in January 1955, a native of Taigu County, Shanxi Province. Representative inheritor of the fourth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage projects "Traditional Chinese Medicine Preparation Methods (the traditional production technique of Guilingji)" and "Traditional Chinese Medicine Preparation Methods (the Dingkun Dan production technique)". Born into a family of traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, he entered the Shanxi Traditional Chinese Medicine Factory (originally the Guangyuyuan Pharmaceutical Factory) at the age of 17, learning the Dingkun Dan production technique from his father, the senior pharmacist Liu Zijun. For decades he worked in production posts for Guilingji, Dingkun Dan, and other products, fully mastering the unique processing and production techniques of Guilingji and Dingkun Dan, and through continuous exploration and investigation, carried out technical innovation in the traditional techniques. At the same time, he devoted himself to studying the pharmacology and clinical application of traditional ancient formulas such as Guilingji and Dingkun Dan, excavating their broad intrinsic value. He adheres to the ancient processing methods and strictly observes the process steps, teaching production personnel orally and through direct demonstration on the production front line for many years, selecting those of excellent character and ability to carry out teaching activities, providing hands-on, one-on-one guidance and demonstration, and cultivating successors.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Traditional TCM Preparation Methods (Taigu, Shanxi) · China ICH Official Project Archive
  2. Yang Jukui · National Representative Bearer Archive
  3. Liu Huiwu · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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