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Traditional TCM Preparation Methods

Ⅸ-4Traditional MedicineLiangcheng, Inner MongoliaBatch 4 (2014)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

Hongmao Medicinal Liquor was first produced in Liangcheng County, Ulanqab City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region; from the very beginning it served to treat wounds and cure illnesses for the people of the frontier. In 1962, the state-run Hongmao Distillery was established. After the enterprise's restructuring in 2006, Hongmao Medicinal Liquor gradually came to be sold throughout the country and was also exported abroad. From 1739 to 1948, the Hongmao Medicinal Liquor preparation technique was transmitted mainly through family inheritance; after 1948 it was transmitted mainly through master-apprentice inheritance.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Hongmao Medicinal Liquor preparation technique has a long history and is one of the traditional methods of Chinese pharmaceutical preparation. The Hongmao Medicinal Liquor preparation technique upholds the great-formula composite-treatment principle of "melding several formulas into one and combining several methods into one"; it is a component of the "Zou Xikou" (westward migration) culture and embodies the essence of the fusion of Mongolian and Han medical cultures. Hongmao Medicinal Liquor is brewed from 67 Chinese medicinal materials — including ginseng, fleece-flower root, astragalus, rehmannia, safflower, agastache, dodder seed, cornus, cistanche and musk — with excipients such as white liquor, brown sugar and rock sugar, through eight major stages and 69 process steps: "selecting the medicines, processing, separate decoction, cauldron blending, sealing the jar, spring soaking, earth nurturing and mao-shrinking." It has the effects of dispelling wind and removing dampness, replenishing qi and clearing the collaterals, relaxing the sinews and invigorating the blood, and strengthening the spleen and warming the kidney; it is used mainly for wind-cold-damp impediment, pain of the sinews and bones, deficiency-cold of the spleen and stomach, kidney deficiency with lumbar soreness, and qi deficiency with blood depletion in women. The Hongmao formula addresses the characteristics of contemporary chronic diseases among middle-aged and elderly people — diverse causes and complex pathogenesis — aiming to treat multiple causes at the same time and to regulate the five viscera and the three burners in a balanced way, combining treatment, health preservation and prevention in one; it provides health services to the general public, especially elderly people suffering from multiple chronic diseases. Liangcheng County in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region lies on the southern slopes of the Yin Mountains; its geographical environment is special, with abundant groundwater and Chinese medicinal material resources. In the fourth year of the Qianlong era of the Qing dynasty, the famous physician Wang Jitian of Yuci, Shanxi, traveled to Baotou to practice medicine; passing through Liangcheng, he moved his whole family there, opened a medical hall, and created Hongmao Medicinal Liquor.

Archival record of process steps

Hongmao Medicinal Liquor is brewed from 67 Chinese medicinal materials — including ginseng, fleece-flower root, astragalus, rehmannia, safflower, agastache, dodder seed, cornus, cistanche and musk — with excipients such as white liquor, brown sugar and rock sugar, through eight major stages and 69 process steps: "selecting the medicines, processing, separate decoction, cauldron blending, sealing the jar, spring soaking, earth nurturing and mao-shrinking." It has the effects of dispelling wind and removing dampness, replenishing qi and clearing the collaterals, relaxing the sinews and invigorating the blood, and strengthening the spleen and warming the kidney; it is used mainly for wind-cold-damp impediment, pain of the sinews and bones, deficiency-cold of the spleen and stomach, kidney deficiency with lumbar soreness, and qi deficiency with blood depletion in women.

Selecting the drugs

Sixty-seven herbs are selected one by one against the formula — ginseng, he shou wu, astragalus, rehmannia, safflower, agastache, cuscuta, cornelian cherry, cistanche and musk — with white liquor, brown sugar and rock sugar as adjuvants.

Processing the drugs

Each herb is processed according to its nature, toxin removed and essence kept, the deeper the processing the milder the wine.

Decocting separately

Some herbs are decocted apart for their juice, not boiled with the rest, lest flavours and actions cancel each other; only after separate decoction are the parts joined.

Combining in the tripod

The decoctions and adjuvants are brought together in a tripod to cook, with fixed heat and duration; by this point half the making of the wine is already decided.

Sealing the jar

Once the wine is made the jar is sealed and the mouth closed in clay, keeping its breath in and the outside air out — a step that shapes the direction of ageing.

Steeping in spring water

The sealed jar is steeped in spring water; the coolness settles the wine and holds the medicine down rather than letting it float up, and the jar is opened only when the days are spent.

Aged in the ground

The jars are buried in a cellar, drawing on the earth's stillness and even temperature to settle the taste; Liangcheng's abundant groundwater and steady climate make it well suited.

The final reduction

The last step brings consistency and alcohol content to the right point; only now are the eight stages and sixty-nine operations complete and the wine able to dispel wind, tonify qi and unblock the channels.

The grand-formula principle

The wine follows the principle of fusing many formulas into one and many methods into a single act, treating several causes at once for chronic illness and balancing the five organs and the three burners.

The medicine wine of the Western Route

Part of the culture of the Western Route, the wine also witnesses the fusion of Mongolian and Han medicine; the cold-damp pains of the borderland and the everyday need for warmth met in one jar.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Hongmao Medicinal Liquor was born in Liangcheng County, Ulanqab City, Inner Mongolia. Liangcheng, on the southern slopes of the Yin Mountains, has abundant groundwater and plentiful medicinal materials; in the fourth year of the Qianlong era, the famous Yuci, Shanxi physician Wang Jitian traveled to Baotou to practice medicine and, passing through this place, moved his whole family there, opened a medical hall and created this medicinal liquor, at first only to treat wounds and cure illnesses for the people of the frontier. From then until 1948 the method was transmitted mainly within the family; only after 1948 did it shift mainly to master-apprentice transmission. In 1962 the state-run Hongmao Distillery was established, bringing this liquor, which had belonged to a single family, into state-run production; only after the enterprise's restructuring in 2006 did it come to be sold across the country and exported abroad. The "Zou Xikou" (westward migration) brought constant streams of traveling merchants to the Liangcheng region, and medicinal materials and brewing ingredients converged from Shaanxi, Gansu and Mongolia; the stately formula and the itinerant life of the region matured together, giving rise to this great-formula composite-treatment liquor that melds several formulas into one and several methods into one.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The formula, preparation method and the theoretical basis of the "great-formula composite treatment" of the Hongmao Medicinal Liquor preparation technique are in the same line of descent as traditional Chinese medical concepts and practice, and at the same time are vivid testimony to the exchange, blending and mutual learning between Mongolian and Han medical cultures; the technique occupies a place of its own in the development of Chinese medicinal-liquor culture and carries historical, cultural and academic research value.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Traditional TCM Preparation Methods (Liangcheng, Inner Mongolia) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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