Traditional TCM Culture
01 · Historical Records
The Zhu Danxi traditional Chinese medicine culture is a system of Chinese medicine culture rich in content and distinctive in character, formed through long-term transmission and practice on the basis of the cultural spirit and medical achievements of Zhu Zhenheng, a famous physician of the Yuan dynasty. Zhu Zhenheng was born in 1281 and lived for generations in Chi'an Town, Yiwu. Because there was a beautiful stream by his residence, he came to be known as 'Danxi' (Cinnabar Stream). Since 1989, Yiwu City has repeatedly held grand sacrificial ceremonies for Zhu Danxi, the International Danxi Traditional Chinese Medicine Forum, seminars on the Danxi doctrine, and the Danxi Health Preservation Culture Festival.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
He upheld the cultural spirit of 'pursuing knowledge and making innovations,' advocated the doctrines of 'excess of yang and insufficiency of yin' and 'minister fire,' and founded the 'doctrine of nourishing yin' and the 'four-harm doctrine' concerning qi, blood, phlegm, and stagnation. His works include the Gezhi Yulun (Further Discourses on the Investigation of Things), the Jufang Fahui (Elucidation of Formulary Prescriptions), and the Bencao Yanyi Buyi (Supplement to the Extension of the Materia Medica), which are of important guiding significance for Chinese medical theory and clinical practice. Centered on Yiwu, the Zhu Danxi traditional Chinese medicine culture radiates across the whole country and has spread overseas, exerting a profound influence on traditional medicine at home and abroad. The theories, clinical experience, and prescriptions of the Danxi school have been incorporated into such textbooks as Basic Theory of Chinese Medicine, Diagnostics of Chinese Medicine, Chinese Materia Medica, Chinese Medical Formulas, and Internal Medicine of Chinese Medicine, as well as into the Catalogue of Ancient Classical Famous Prescriptions of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and have become fundamental concepts and norms recognized by practitioners of Chinese medicine. Products such as external ointments for boils and furuncles and Chinese medicinal acupoint plasters, produced using the Danxi techniques of processing Chinese medicines, sell well in Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Beijing, and other places and are highly praised by patients. In Yiwu, Zhejiang, Longhushan, Jiangxi, and other areas, temples and halls have been established for the worship of Zhu Danxi, and folk activities for offering sacrifices to him are held, forming a distinctive folk belief. Yiwu also has many place names bearing 'Danxi,' and preserves the Tomb of Danxi, the Danxi Temple, and the Danxi Hall; on this basis, the Danxi Culture Park has been established.
Surplus yang and insufficient yin
His thesis that yang is in excess while yin is insufficient became the root of his doctrine of nourishing yin.
The ministerial fire
The theory of the ministerial fire completes the doctrine of nourishing yin: unresting fire consumes yin and must be stilled.
The four injuries of qi, blood, phlegm and constraint
His four causes of injury—qi, blood, phlegm and constraint—were set out in works that still inform theory and practice.
The Great Yin-Tonifying Pill
The Great Yin-Tonifying Pill remains in clinical use, following its author's principle of nourishing yin and lowering fire.
The Danxi school
His disciples and their disciples—Zhao Liangren, Dai Sigong, Wang Bin, Liu Chun among them—formed a school of lasting influence on later Chinese physicians.
Danxi processing and topical plasters
Dianxi processing yields plasters and point applications now sold widely in Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Beijing, while his theories and formulas sit in the standard textbooks.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Zhu Danxi had many disciples. His second-generation disciples, including Zhao Liangren and Dai Sigong, and his third-generation disciples, including Wang Bin and Liu Chun, all enjoyed wide renown; together they formed the Danxi school, one of the important schools in the history of Chinese medicine, which occupies an important place in China's medical history and had a major influence on the emergence of such Chinese medical schools as the Xin'an school of medicine and the Wumen school.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The celebrated formulas he created, such as Dabuyin Wan (Great Yin-Nourishing Pill), Yueju Wan (Escape-Restraint Pill), and Zuojin Wan (Left Metal Pill), are still widely used in clinical practice today. The Zhu Danxi traditional Chinese medicine culture has been transmitted through the Danxi school for more than 600 years to the present day, remaining vigorous and continuously producing successors. In addition, the contemporary inheriting communities of the Zhu Danxi traditional Chinese medicine culture have done a great deal of work in its excavation, organization, and preservation. This heritage project is an organic component of traditional Chinese medicine culture. Its content encompasses academic thought, clinical experience, historical and cultural relics, and folk customs and beliefs, and it possesses a long historical background and profound cultural heritage, as well as considerable cultural, scientific-research, and medical value. It plays an active role in the current construction of a 'Healthy China.'
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Quyuxiang 03-1461
- Lei Yulin 04-1948
- Shentuyinhong
- Lu Qifu
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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