Mongolian Medicine
01 · Historical Records
The Mongols are a people on horseback who frequently suffer falls and bone injuries; Mongolian bone-setting therapy arose in response to this need and produced one generation of bone-setting doctors after another. Horqin Left Rear Banner has a long history and a deep cultural heritage, and Mongolian bone-setting therapy is a representative part of this rich cultural legacy. Bao Jinshan absorbed modern science and technology and established the discipline of Mongolian bone-setting with the 'three examinations, six principles, and nine combinations' as its essence, giving this body of experience a structure that can be taught.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Horqin Left Rear Banner in Inner Mongolia has a long history and a deep cultural heritage, and Mongolian bone-setting therapy is a representative part of this rich cultural legacy. The Mongols are a people on horseback who frequently suffer falls and bone injuries; Mongolian bone-setting therapy arose in response to this need and produced one generation of bone-setting doctors after another. The basic content of Mongolian bone-setting therapy is as follows: The three examinations: inspection, inquiry, and palpation. They must achieve 'hands palpating with the mind comprehending.' The six principles: namely the principles of bone-setting, being manual reduction, splint fixation, massage therapy, medication prescribed according to the symptoms, dietary regulation, and functional exercise. Among these, the first three are the most distinctive. Manual reduction is a bone-setting technique that works with the situation, matching force with force in functional adaptation; it is divided into ten manipulations: positioning and releasing the affected limb; traction and counter-traction pulling; rocking, twisting, and pressing; shaking, lifting, pressing, and pushing; squeezing and separating the bones; folding the bone apex and returning it to position; gathering, pinching, and grasping; hooking, lifting, and pressing; straightening, pressing, bracing, and pushing; and twirling, rolling, and kneading. The nine combinations: combining doctor and patient; combining the three examinations with X-ray films; combining form and spirit; combining intent and qi; combining alcohol spraying with manual manipulation; combining the local with the whole; combining internal causes with external causes; combining fixation with exercise; and combining active with passive. Mongolian bone-setting therapy embodies the scientific spirit and cultural creativity of generations of Mongols, and is an important hallmark of the achievements of Mongolian medicine.
Three examinations
Inspection, inquiry and palpation, with the hand reading what the eye and the question have begun.
Six principles
Reduction, splinting, massage, drugging to the case, dietary adjustment and exercise—the first three being the distinctive ones.
The ten manipulations
Ten manipulations, from releasing the limb to drawing, rocking, pressing and rolling, each adapted to the injury's position and the force the limb can take.
Nine correspondences
Nine correspondences binding practitioner, patient, instrument and body into one account of how a fracture is treated.
Xuritu Wurile and other prescriptions
Inherited prescriptions run alongside the manipulations; sixteen research results from this school have won prizes at home and abroad.
Bone-setting as kept by shamans
Bone-setting survived in shamanic practice across Horqin and now stands as a hospital speciality in Tongliao.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Mongolian bone-setting therapy is concentrated in the area of Horqin Left Rear Banner, with the Mongolian Bone-Setting Hospital of Tongliao City serving as its hub of transmission; once the framework of the 'three examinations, six principles, and nine combinations' had been organized and codified by Bao Jinshan, it changed from a family-transmitted medical skill on the grasslands into a formal medical art that could be taught, passed on to apprentices, and studied in a specialized hospital.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Mongolian Medicine · Mongolian Medicine · Mongolian Medicine · Mongolian Medicine · Mongolian Medicine.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Bao Jinshan (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, of Mongolian ethnicity, born in June 1939, from Horqin Left Rear Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. He is a chief physician, an expert enjoying the special government allowance of the State Council, a model individual for national ethnic unity, and an advanced worker of the national health system. He absorbed modern science and technology and established the discipline of Mongolian bone-setting with the 'three examinations, six principles, and nine combinations' as its essence. Six Mongolian bone-setting treatment techniques, including the 'single-person counter-pushing method,' have enriched the technical content of Mongolian bone-setting. He is a representative inheritor of Mongolian medicine (Mongolian bone-setting therapy), a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the fourth batch. Sixteen scientific research achievements — including 'The Unique Mongolian Bone-Setting Therapy of China,' 'Modern Scientific Research on the Family-Inherited Mongolian Bone-Setting Technique,' and 'The Ancestral Secret Formula Xuritu Wulile' — have won awards at home and abroad. He participated in medical relief activities such as the great Tangshan earthquake rescue, and has received honorary titles including National Master of Traditional Chinese Medicine, conferred by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the National Health and Family Planning Commission, and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Baojinshan 04-1949
- Baosiqin 05-2960
- Wangbuhe 05-2961
- Hudalai
- Fuyulan
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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