Huqingyutangzhongyaowenhua
01 · Historical Records
Hu Qing Yu Tang, the 'King of Medicines in the Regions South of the Yangtze,' was a pharmacy founded in 1874 (the thirteenth year of the Tongzhi reign of the Qing dynasty) by Hu Xueyan, the 'red-capped merchant,' located in Qinghefang, Hangzhou. From the time the Southern Song dynasty established its capital at Lin'an (present-day Hangzhou) through the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Qinghefang area developed into a 'pharmacy corridor.' These included the Baohe Tang of the Southern Song dynasty and the Zhu Yangxin plaster shop of the Ming dynasty; among the 'six great houses' of the late Qing were Hu Qing Yu Tang, Ye Zhongde Tang, and Fang Huichun Tang. Hu Qing Yu Tang comprehensively inherited the pharmaceutical techniques and trade norms of the 'Taiping Huimin Hejiju Fang' (Formulas of the Bureau of the Great Peace and People's Welfare Pharmacy), compiled by the Southern Song government.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
In this sense, Hangzhou is the birthplace of the 'ancient classics of Chinese medicine,' and Hu Qing Yu Tang has carried forward this fine tradition. The traditional commercial customs preserved by Hu Qing Yu Tang are extremely rich in content. The culture of 'abstaining from deception' (Jieqi). 'Abstaining from deception' is the shop motto of Hu Qing Yu Tang, written by Hu Xueyan himself. For more than 130 years, Hu Qing Yu Tang has consistently adhered to the principle of 'abstaining from deception,' carrying forward traditional Chinese ethics and Chinese medicine culture, and has formed a business philosophy and shop rules characterized by the inner spirit of 'abstaining from deception.' This philosophy has the characteristic of transcending the enterprise level and advocating social morality. Hu Qing Yu Tang has preserved a number of ancient and secret folk formulas. The veteran pharmacists within the enterprise who possess unique skills and master traditional manual Chinese medicine techniques are still alive today; they are a great asset to society.
Hu-style Biwen pills
One of the proprietary preparations the inheritor mastered, whose proportions and finish depend on the hand of an experienced drug worker.
Zixuan pills
A prized inherited remedy whose colour, taste and the tightness of the finished pill all serve as tests of a correct preparation.
Lima huiliao pills
Another household remedy valued for its speed, made only after the material is judged, processed and combined step by step.
The shop rule against deception
Written by the founder himself, the rule against deception governed both the shop counter and the counting of stock for well over a century.
Dispensing and processing of decoction pieces
From apprentice to head of the house, the inheritor commanded purchasing, prescribing, processing and compounding—the old craft still carried on beside modern extraction plant.
The house in modern times
From the 1970s the head turned the old apothecary towards biological products and herbal injections, exporting China's first herbal extraction plant.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Hu Qing Yu Tang's pharmacy practice is rooted in the pharmacy corridor of Qinghefang, Hangzhou: from the Baohe Tang of the Southern Song dynasty and the Zhu Yangxin plaster shop of the Ming dynasty to the Hu Qing Yu Tang, Ye Zhongde Tang, and Fang Huichun Tang of the late Qing, the shops stood side by side, with shop rules, medicine prices, and the craft of the shophands all visible to one another, forming a silent constraint among peers. Its techniques also derive from the Southern Song official 'Taiping Huimin Hejiju Fang', bringing the government's pharmaceutical standards into the daily operation of its own medicine counter.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Due to the influence of modern technology, climate change, environmental pollution, and the impact of dominant cultures, the traditions of Hu Qing Yu Tang are under threat, and some have even reached an endangered state. For this reason, Hu Qing Yu Tang has invested certain human and material resources and formulated a practical and feasible protection plan. Feng Gensheng (recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in 1934, from Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Feng Gensheng was born into a Chinese medicine family passed down through three generations. At the age of 14 he entered Hu Qing Yu Tang and became an apprentice to the veteran pharmacist Han Dongnan, becoming the last closed-door disciple to join Hu Qing Yu Tang before the founding of the People's Republic of China. Feng Gensheng's special experience from apprentice to head of the house made him both an inheritor of the traditional Chinese medicine tradition and a pioneer in the modernization of Chinese medicine. He comprehensively mastered the skills of procuring medicinal materials, preparing decoction-piece prescriptions, processing Chinese medicines, and formulating patent medicines, and was especially adept at the traditional preparations distinctive to Hu Qing Yu Tang, such as Hu's Piwen Dan (epidemic-averting pellets), Zixue Dan (purple snow pellets), and Lima Huiliao Dan (immediate boil-healing pellets). Since becoming factory director in the 1970s, Feng Gensheng pioneered the nation's first biological products derived from Chinese medicine — placental blood gamma globulin and the intravenous Chinese medicine injection Shengmai injection — and facilitated the export of China's first set of traditional Chinese medicine extraction equipment. Feng Gensheng passed on the torch of Chinese medicine skills, training a large number of capable practitioners of Chinese medicine. Representative inheritor of Hu Qing Yu Tang Chinese Medicine Culture, a first-batch national-level intangible cultural heritage item. Feng Gensheng was a recipient of the national 'May 1st' Labor Medal, a national model worker, and a model worker of the national medical and pharmaceutical system; he was among the first cohort of national outstanding entrepreneurs and a delegate to the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and received numerous honorary titles including China Master of Management, National Outstanding Management Talent, and Outstanding Entrepreneur of the National Pharmaceutical Industry.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Feng Gensheng 01-0219
- Ding Guangming
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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