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Traditional TCM Preparation Methods

Ⅸ-4Traditional MedicineHongqiao, TianjinBatch 5 (2021)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

Counting seventeen generations, the transmission chain of Zixue San (Purple Snow Powder), this emergency prepared medicine, can be traced back to the mid-nineteenth century, an era when the modern pharmaceutical industry had not yet appeared in the city of Tianjin; a specification of sixteen ingredients compounded together and 240 days of preparation could only be completed in a workshop capable of organizing long-cycle production and supplies of genuine regional medicinal materials. Reasoning the category back from its use, it was designed specifically for epidemics, unremitting high fever, bodily rigidity and convulsions, and epilepsy; it is a medicine for acute conditions rather than chronic illness, its therapeutic force acting as soon as it reaches the site of disease, so the timing of the stages of fire control, nitrate addition, shade-drying, and sealed mellowing cannot be delayed.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Zixue San is composed of sixteen medicinal materials in an ingenious combination, and undergoes 240 days of meticulous preparation. The core area of circulation of this technique is Tianjin. As a standing emergency medicine of remarkable efficacy for treating epidemics, unremitting high fever, bodily rigidity and convulsions, and for preventing epilepsy, Zixue San has been highly valued by physicians in Tianjin across successive generations and was repeatedly included in medical classics. The preparation technique of Zixue San is extremely complex; Tianjin Hongrentang strictly follows the ancient method in making it, from selecting genuine regional materials, through water-grinding (shuifei) processing, decocting with gold, collecting the ointment and adding nitrate, natural shade-drying, and sealing and mellowing in a ring, to grinding, blending, and final packaging - a technique that has now been transmitted for seventeen generations. First, genuine regional medicinal materials are selected; then the cinnabar is water-ground a hundred times to remove its toxicity. When adding the nitrate, the fire must be precisely controlled; it is then shade-dried for several months, and when Zixue San takes on a frost-like, snow-like appearance, it is placed in a ceramic vat, covered with a willow-wood lid, and buried in the ground for several months according to the method of harmonizing yin and yang - which both moderates the drying nature of the medicine and enhances its therapeutic force. The key secret methods in this production process can only be comprehended through oral transmission between master and apprentice, hands-on instruction by the inheritor, and repeated practice by apprentices; they cannot be conveyed in words alone. In former times it excelled not only at treating high fever and convulsions induced by external contraction - stopping convulsions within four hours and bringing body temperature fully back to normal within twenty-four hours - but could also effectively prevent the development of epileptic lesions.

Selecting genuine materials and repeated levigation

Genuine materials come first, and cinnabar is detoxified by repeated levigation, the longest single step of the whole recipe.

Pre-decocting the minerals with gold

Talc, magnetite, mirabilite and gypsum are decocted first together with gold, and only then are the other drugs decocted.

Adding mirabilite after concentrating

Mirabilite is added once the decoction has been concentrated, its timing depending on the consistency of the paste.

Shade drying until it looks like frost

The drug is shade-dried for months until it looks like frost, then sealed under a willow lid in an earthen jar and buried underground.

Seventeen generations of oral transmission

The essential secrets pass by word of mouth and repeated practice; the workshop has since set up incentives and research support to keep the craft alive.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Hongqiao District, Tianjin, is the core area of circulation of the Zixue San production technique; the Hongqiao area has been a gathering place for Tianjin's pharmaceutical industry since modern times, and the workshop-style pharmaceutical tradition allowed the sixteen-ingredient formula to be preserved on a considerable scale. Tianjin's concentration of commerce and population made warm-disease epidemics frequent, so demand for emergency prepared medicines always existed. Ma Weidong has long engaged in traditional medicine education and enterprise management in Tianjin; in the early 1980s he took Zhang Yuanlin as his teacher to study the wenyao production technique, organizing seed selection, growth control, each stage of production, and storage management into a fairly complete set of craft standards, and revising raw-material procurement and product authenticity determination charts, enabling this type of emergency prepared medicine to be reproduced under modern production conditions.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Today, the influence of Zixue San covers the whole of China and overseas markets such as Southeast Asia. When decocting, the several medicinals - talcum, magnetite, aquamarine (hanshuishi), and gypsum - are first decocted together with gold before the other medicinal materials are decocted, allowing the therapeutic force to be fully released so as to achieve the effect of clearing pathogenic heat and protecting the heart and brain. At present, Hongrentang has launched a number of protection plans and incentive mechanisms, and the number of people willing to apprentice themselves to learn this technique is gradually increasing; together with the inheritor's appropriate methods of instruction and the gradual increase of research investment, Zixue San is being transmitted well at Tianjin Hongrentang. The traditional Hongrentang Zixue San technique is deeply trusted for its "renowned formula, superior materials, refined craft, and efficacious medicine," fully demonstrating the great value of traditional Chinese philosophical thought in disease diagnosis and formula composition. In modern times, Zixue San also plays an important role in treating epidemic influenza, high-fever coma, epidemic encephalitis B, and other conditions; moreover, modern clinical research has found that it shows good efficacy in multiple fields, including cardiology, neurology, metabolic diseases, immune diseases, and even cancer treatment. Ma Weidong (from the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born June 1955, from Tianjin. Representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage project Traditional Chinese Medicine Preparation Methods (Yidecheng Wenyao Production Technique). After graduating from university in 1978, he engaged in traditional medicine education and enterprise management for nearly forty years. In the early 1980s he took Zhang Yuanlin as his teacher and began studying the wenyao production technique. Under his master's oral transmission and personal instruction, he developed a fairly complete set of craft standards covering everything from seed selection for wenyao raw materials, control of the plants' growth process, operation of each stage of production, to later storage management. With social development, he has made full use of modern production equipment and conditions, revising raw-material procurement standards, product quality inspection standards, and authenticity determination charts for products. On the basis of following the ancient processing methods and preserving the original craft, he has improved product quality and production capacity.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Traditional TCM Preparation Methods (Hongqiao, Tianjin) · China ICH Official Project Archive
  2. Ma Weidong · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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