Mongolian Medicine
01 · Historical Records
This therapy has relieved the suffering of patients of many ethnic groups — Mongolian, Han, Hui, Manchu, Korean, and Evenki, among others — and is of positive significance for social harmony and ethnic unity.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Mongolian medicated bathing is also called 'bathing therapy' and is divided into two kinds: natural mineral-spring bathing and medicated bathing. In natural mineral-spring bathing, different natural mineral springs are selected according to the patient's condition, and the patient immerses and bathes in them to achieve a curative effect. In medicated bathing, the relevant medicinal substances are added to clear water and decocted into a medicinal broth, in which the bathing treatment is then carried out. The traditional immersion bathing technique is also called 'debulteleg' (Debutelege) in Mongolian. This therapy is recorded in detail in the classic Mongolian medical texts the Moonlight Medical Sutra and the Four-Part Nectar, written by the famous Mongolian physicians Garima Elgedanseng and Bolai Labujie. The operating method of Horqin Mongolian medicated bathing is as follows: the medicinal materials are dried in the sun, then crushed and processed, placed in a decocting pot, filled with clear water, and boiled; when the bath liquid has boiled down to one-half, the decoction is transferred into the bath pool (or bathtub). More clear water is added to the remaining dregs for a second decoction; when it has boiled down to two-thirds, the decoction is transferred into the bath pool. Clear water is added to the remaining dregs once more for a third decoction; when it has boiled down to seven-tenths, the remaining three portions of the decoction are transferred into the bath pool. The physician controls the temperature of the medicinal broth and the duration of the bath, and has the patient immerse and bathe according to the course of treatment, thereby achieving health-maintenance and curative effects. More than seventy medicinal substances are used in Horqin Mongolian medicated bathing, the main materials coming from plants that grow commonly in the Horqin region. Examples include Hinggan holly, small white artemisia, hemp-leaved nettle, ephedra, liubai cypress, Solomon's seal, and prickly juniper; they target the stubborn diseases common to the region. These include rheumatism, rheumatoid arthritis, arthritis, and other muscle-and-bone diseases of the accumulation of 'yellow water.' Other indications include tuberculosis, vessel diseases, indigestion, injury-fever, stooped and hunched back, and rigidity or contracture of the limbs.
Three decoctions for the herbal bath
The drugs are decocted three times, each time with fresh water, and the three liquor portions are all poured into the bath pool.
The term Debuterlige for the immersion bath
The immersion cure is known in Mongolian as Debuterlige, covering both herbal and natural-spring bathing in Horqin.
Bath prescriptions in the Moonlight Canon and Four Dews
Two Mongolian medical classics by Gama Elegden and Borilai Labuj record the bath in detail, forming the basis of later prescriptions.
Seventy-plus local medicinal plants
Over seventy locally growing plants form the bath's basis, chiefly aimed at rheumatism and arthritic accumulation of yellow water.
Wang Buhe gathering his own herbs
Wang Buhe, apprenticed to Lama Burgud in 1972, has treated large numbers of poor patients since 1985 and supports his clinic from his own herd income.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Horqin Mongolian medicated bathing is a traditional Mongolian medical therapy passed down from generation to generation in Horqin Right Middle Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, in which local medicinal materials and river water are boiled into a medicinal broth in which patients immerse themselves to prevent and treat disease.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Mongolian Medicine · Mongolian Medicine · Mongolian Medicine · Mongolian Medicine · Mongolian Medicine.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
This folk therapy has a long history and was once widely transmitted in Mongolian-inhabited areas; its main modes of transmission are master-to-apprentice and family transmission. As a relatively mature, systematic therapy, Horqin Mongolian medicated bathing has theoretical research value, and its practice and promotion both contribute to the diversified development of modern medicine and the revitalization of ethnic medicine. This therapy is closely connected with the history and culture of the Mongolian people; its excavation, rescue, and protection are conducive to promoting the transmission and dissemination of traditional Mongolian culture. Wang Buhe (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, of Mongolian ethnicity, born in October 1960, from Horqin Right Middle Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. In 1972, he became a disciple of the well-known local Mongolian physician Burigud Shaolama (Burigud, a lesser lama), studying Mongolian medical knowledge and traditional Mongolian therapeutic methods. From 1985 onward, he has treated large numbers of patients through his personal medical skill; one-third of his patients had no financial means to seek medical care, and two-thirds suffered from liver disease, rheumatism, mental illness, and other stubborn diseases and difficult, complicated conditions that are very hard to cure. To reduce costs, he collected the medicinal materials himself. His wife and daughter-in-law contracted seven hundred mu of land to raise cattle and sheep, and all the income was used to keep the clinic running normally and to subsidize patients who came seeking treatment. He is a representative inheritor of Mongolian medicine (Horqin Mongolian medicated bathing), a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the fifth batch. He has received honorary titles including National Model Individual for Ethnic Unity and Progress from the State Council, National Outstanding Rural Doctor from the Ministry of Health, and a place among the inaugural 'Touching Inner Mongolia' Figures of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
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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