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Traditional TCM Preparation Methods

Ⅸ-4Traditional MedicineXianshibeilin, ShaanxiBatch 4 (2014)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

The Ma Mingren medicated plaster preparation technique was founded in the tenth year of the Xianfeng era of the Qing dynasty (1860) by the renowned rural physician Mr. Ma Liuyi.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Ma Mingren medicated plaster preparation technique is practiced in the northwestern provinces and regions of Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai, specifically including Beilin District and Chang'an District of Xi'an, Shaanxi; Mei County of Baoji, Hua County of Weinan and Yaozhou District of Tongchuan; Tianshui City, Gansu; Yinchuan City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region; and Xining City, Qinghai. Since Ma Liuyi founded it, the Ma family plaster has always upheld the family motto of "a benevolent heart serving the world," inheriting the grand tradition of plaster-making; it uses the natural herbs of Mount Taibai — the main peak of the Qinling Mountains — as its principal material, integrates the herb-processing techniques of Taibai folk herbalists and the Daoist art of alchemy into the Ma family plaster preparation technique, and uniquely created the "snow-steeping and elixir-melting method" (xuejin danrong fa). All the Chinese medicinal herbs used in this technique are wild herbs gathered from Mount Taibai; before making the plaster they are first processed by the snow-steeping method, then soaked in sesame oil at a set ratio — "five days in spring, three in summer, seven in autumn and ten in winter." The soaked herbs and sesame oil are placed in an iron pot and refined over a slow fire, "raising and lowering three times to extract the essence," and the residue is removed to obtain the medicinal oil. The oil is then boiled down again, stirred constantly in a clockwise direction with the "five branches," so that it oxidizes and polymerizes under high temperature until it reaches the state of "a drop of water forming a pearl." Next, the method of adding minium (lead oxide) by fire is used: the minium is sprinkled in evenly, and the pot is immediately removed from the fire "when the white smoke is exhausted and the green smoke first rises"; the "drop forming a pearl" test is repeated, and once the paste is formed the melted minium is folded into the paste, which is poured into a pottery basin full of well water. After three to five days, the paste, now purged of fire toxin, is sealed in a pottery jar and buried underground to dispel dry evil; after seven to ten days it is unsealed at a chosen time. The paste is taken out, melted in a water bath, the finely divided medicines are added, and it is spread into plasters and left to cool. The implements of the Ma Mingren plaster preparation technique are simple and easily obtained, while the technique involves numerous and complex steps, transmitted mostly by word of mouth and demonstration; the plasters produced have the fragrant aroma of Chinese herbs, appear as black solids, soften with heat and congeal with cold, and work well on discomfort of the neck, shoulders, waist and leg joints caused by wind-cold-damp impediment. Six generations of the Ma family have practiced medicine in the world with the creed of "the heart of a physician, devoted to the people's lives alone, freeing people from their shackles and setting one's own conscience at rest," making positive contributions to the promotion of Chinese medicine culture.

Archival record of process steps

The implements of the Ma Mingren plaster preparation technique are simple and easily obtained, while the technique involves numerous and complex steps, transmitted mostly by word of mouth and demonstration; the plasters produced have the fragrant aroma of Chinese herbs, appear as black solids, soften with heat and congeal with cold, and work well on discomfort of the neck, shoulders, waist and leg joints caused by wind-cold-damp impediment.

Snow soaking

Before the paste is made, wild Taibai herbs are treated by snow soaking, the first local step that distinguishes the Ma plaster.

Seasonal ratios in sesame oil soaking

The herbs are soaked in sesame oil in the proportions five, three, seven and ten for spring, summer, autumn and winter respectively.

Adding lead oxide over the flame

When the oil reaches the bead test, yellow lead is scattered in evenly and the pot comes off the fire the moment blue smoke first rises.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The Ma family plaster travels the same corridor of Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai. The workshop sits in Beilin District and Chang'an District of Xi'an, the medicinal materials come from Mount Taibai, and sales and the teaching of apprentices extend to Mei County of Baoji, Hua County of Weinan, Yaozhou District of Tongchuan, Tianshui, Yinchuan and Xining. The snow-steeping processing of the Taibai folk herbalists and the fire control of Daoist alchemy are blended here into one, forming the snow-steeping and elixir-melting method; Ma Xubin of Mei County established a teaching studio in 2001, and more than three hundred personally taught disciples have carried this plaster-and-elixir method to the northwestern provinces; in 2014, drawing on the handwritten notes of his ancestors, he compiled The Essential Record of the Taiyi Ma Family Plaster and Elixir, putting the orally transmitted method into writing.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Through six generations of transmission in the Ma family, it has a history of more than one hundred years to date. The Ma Mingren medicated plaster preparation technique embodies in concentrated form the theoretical essence advocated by Chinese medicine — "treating internal diseases externally, treating external diseases externally, and treatment based on pattern differentiation" — and its characteristics of being "simple, convenient, proven and inexpensive" are also familiar to and trusted by the public; it is an organic component of folk traditional medicine, carrying practical and economic value. Ma Xubin (record from the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born June 1974; a native of Mei County, Shaanxi Province. Representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects: traditional Chinese pharmaceutical preparation methods (Ma Mingren medicated plaster preparation technique). In practice he unites knowledge and action, discarding the drawbacks of traditional plasters, continually improving the preparation technique and raising the efficiency of plaster boiling. In 2001 he established the Ma Mingren Plaster Teaching Studio, setting aside sectarian views and widely accepting disciples; he now has more than three hundred personally taught disciples. In 2014, he collected and organized the handwritten notes and insights left by his ancestors and compiled The Essential Record of the Taiyi Ma Family Plaster and Elixir, which describes the Ma Mingren plaster preparation technique in detail and discusses its medicinal value in depth.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Traditional TCM Preparation Methods (Xianshibeilin, Shaanxi) · China ICH Official Project Archive
  2. Ma Xubin · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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