Traditional TCM Preparation Methods

01 · Historical Records

Guangyutang was founded in the Wanli era of the Ming dynasty by Li Guangyu, and the family motto of "broadly aiding the world and nurturing all living beings" has been passed down from generation to generation.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Erxian Paste preparation technique is a traditional Chinese pharmaceutical method handed down by Guangyutang, practiced in Rencheng District, Jining City, Shandong Province. Historically, Guangyutang's fine formulas and refined medicines were sold throughout the country, and it had branch offices in many places. Users of Guangyutang Erxian Paste extend to neighboring cities and counties and to numerous provinces and regions including Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Hebei and the Northeast, and the product is exported as far as Southeast Asia. The Guangyutang Erxian Paste preparation technique has a long history: it selects authentic medicinal materials, processes them by proper methods, manufactures with refinement and consummate skill, and is supported by the theory that "the best physician treats before illness arises," emphasizing nourishing and strengthening the body and harmonizing yin and yang. The Guangyutang Erxian Paste it produces can regulate the balance of qi and blood and has the effect of supporting the healthy and expelling the pathogenic; it can both treat disease and preserve health, making it a fine product for health cultivation. In practice, Guangyutang created its own distinctive paste-preparation technique: an experienced physician of Chinese medicine first reviews the prescription, and the pharmacist proportions the paste ingredients according to the prescribed doses. The paste is required to be made in the "nine nines" (jiujiu) season each year, and the medicinal materials must pass through numerous process steps: picking, washing, soaking, steaming, boiling, steeping the medicines, dissolving, refining the honey, boiling the paste, refining the paste and aging (chen, i.e. shu, maturation). The paste body must be placed in a cellar for no less than ninety-nine days of maturation, reducing the paste's dry-heat nature. It is matured until the Double Ninth Festival (chongyang, the ninth day of the ninth lunar month) and then removed; after being tasted and judged qualified by an experienced pharmacist, it is filled in a clean environment, sealed in ceramic jars and stored in a cool, shady place. It combines turtle and deer — "flesh-and-blood products with sentience" — to open and connect the Ren and Du channels, and is further combined with ginseng, astragalus, prepared fleece-flower root, Chinese yam, goji berry, walnut kernel, black sesame, salvia and schisandra to replenish qi and strengthen the spleen, balance nutrition, nourish the blood and calm the spirit, and nourish the liver and kidney while regulating yin and yang. The full formula used together tonifies both yin and yang — tonifying without stagnation and warming without heat — in just the right measure. The exclusive refined formula Erxian Paste and the Erxian Paste preparation technique, created by Guangyutang's predecessors, have endured undiminished, transmitted to the present day mainly through master-led apprenticeship.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The practice of the Erxian Paste preparation technique is highly concentrated in Rencheng District, Jining City, and Guangyutang is the only complete transmission hub for the compounding, preparation and maturation stages of this paste; in olden times the pharmacy was located by the busy market, and residents of the streets and lanes collected their medicines according to the seasons, with autumn-winter tonification and spring-summer regulation gradually becoming the familiar rhythm of medication. Guangyutang's sales radius defined the shape of the technique's spread: first to neighboring cities and counties, then through Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Hebei and the Northeastern provinces, and as far as Southeast Asia. Pastes must be sealed in ceramic jars and stored in a cool, shady place, which places high demands on the stability of trade-route turnover; therefore every step the technique took outward was premised on the establishment of pharmacy branches or the placement of master-apprentice succession, rather than on the mere copying of the formula. Transmission to this day remains chiefly master-led apprenticeship: apprentices must take on each segment of the long chain of steps — picking, washing, soaking, steaming, boiling, steeping the medicines, dissolving, refining the honey, boiling the paste, refining the paste and aging — and the cellar maturation of more than ninety-nine days and the opening-and-tasting before the Double Ninth Festival have further fixed the master-apprentice judgment of heat and time into checkpoints that cannot be skipped.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

As a classical ancient formula of Guangyutang, the Erxian Paste preparation technique has the dual efficacy of treating disease and improving the body's immune capacity, along with practical value; at the same time it is suitable for sub-healthy people of many different age groups, giving it broad market demand and socioeconomic value; the technique is also the crystallized long-term wisdom of the people of Guangyutang, carrying historical and cultural value.

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 (Jiningshirencheng, Shandong) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗