Miao Medicine
01 · Historical Records
The Miao population of China totals 8.901 million (data from the fifth national population census in 2000), and is mainly distributed in Guizhou and Hunan, including within the Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Miao medicine is a traditional medicine passed down from generation to generation among the Miao people; against the background of the ancient Chongshan and Wuling cultures, it takes the 'three-roots theory' (sanben lun) as its foundation, with the three qi of heaven, earth, and humankind in synchrony. Miao physicians hold that toxins, deficiency, injury, accumulation, germs, and parasites are the six factors that cause illness in the human body, abbreviated as the 'six causes.' Ultimately, all six causes can cause illness only by producing toxic harm, so Miao medicine has long had the saying 'without toxins, no illness.' Toxins commonly encountered include wind toxin, cold toxin, fire toxin, qi toxin, water toxin, and salt toxin. The Miao formula zuanjiefeng ('joint-boring wind') is aimed specifically at bone and muscle pain, lower-back and leg pain, sciatica, zuanjiefeng, wind-toxin bodily itching, injuries from falls, fractures, 'shoulder-winding wind,' and weakness and soreness of the tendons and bones — conditions caused by wind toxin and cold toxin — and is a traditional ethnic medicine in the treasure-house of Miao drugs. The Miao medicine zuanjiefeng therapy is one of the Miao medical therapies; its main medicinal is the root of Campsis grandiflora (Chinese trumpet creeper), a plant of the family Bignoniaceae. Campsis grandiflora is a deciduous woody vine; its stem is yellowish-brown with aerial roots; its leaves are odd-pinnate compound, opposite, with small leaflets; its flowers form a loose, large terminal cymose panicle; the corolla is reddish-yellow; the flowering period is July to September; the outer surface of the root is yellow or yellowish-red, with longitudinal cracks. It has the functions of draining fire, expelling toxins, restoring the constitution, relieving pain, loosening the tendons and setting the bones, and strengthening the tendons and muscles. It is indicated for bone and muscle pain, lower-back and leg pain, numbness of the limbs, injuries from falls, fractures, sciatica, zuanjiefeng, 'shoulder-winding wind,' wind-toxin bodily itching, irregular menstruation in women, and weakness and soreness of the tendons and bones. Miao medicine is applied mainly among the Miao people; the neighboring Tujia, Zhuang, Dong, Yao, Han, and other ethnic groups also use it in a shared, cross-cultural manner. Because the Miao medicine zuanjiefeng therapy is convenient to apply and has good efficacy, it has already been promoted nationwide as an appropriate technique for rural health care.
The single root of Bignonia
The remedy uses only the root of Bignonia, an airy-stemmed climber flowering from July to September with a longitudinally cracked yellow root.
Cooling fire and reinforcing
The root cools internal fire, defeats toxins, reinforces the body, relieves pain and strengthens tendons and muscles.
Wind-poison and cold-poison complaints
She medicine holds that six factors cause illness, all acting through toxins, and this formula answers wind and cold toxin complaints.
The three-root theory of heaven, earth and man
She medicine rests on the three-root theory that heaven, earth and man stay synchronised, and disease is read against the local landscape.
Training by sixty-seven She doctors
Tian Xingxiu trained under sixty-seven predecessors, the remedy built mainly on that of Long Yuliu and sixty-six other doctors.
Extension as suitable rural health technique
Because the drug is easy to obtain and the treatment simple, it has been promoted nationwide as a suitable rural health technique.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Miao medicine (zuanjiefeng therapy) takes Huayuan County in Hunan Province as its heritage center, lying within the Miao settlement area of Xiangxi and the Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture. Miao medicine is applied mainly among the Miao people; the neighboring Tujia, Zhuang, Dong, Yao, Han, and other ethnic groups also use it in a shared, cross-cultural manner; thus this formula, based mainly on the single ingredient of Campsis grandiflora root and convenient to take, has formed a loose zone of shared use in the mountainous areas at the junction of Hunan, Guizhou, and Guangxi. Tian Xingxiu was demobilized and returned home in 1955; from the following year onward he successively received instruction from sixty-seven senior Miao physicians, integrating their teachings into one formula with Long Yuliu as the principal source and the other sixty-six elders in supporting roles, and then spread it in Huayuan and the surrounding areas through study halls, academic exchange, Miao medical skill training, and the taking of apprentices; because the medicinal source is easy to obtain and the method simple to use, this therapy has been promoted nationwide as an appropriate technique for rural health care.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Miao Medicine · Miao Medicine · Miao Medicine · Miao Medicine.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Tian Xingxiu (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, of Miao ethnicity, born in November 1933, from Huayuan County, Hunan Province. From the year after he was demobilized and returned home in 1955, he successively received instruction from sixty-seven senior Miao physicians; the Miao medicine zuanjiefeng therapy he mastered was transmitted with Long Yuliu as the principal source and the other sixty-six Miao elders in supporting roles. He always took the transmission and development of Miao medicine as his duty, summed up his own practical experience, and successively published the books Miao Medical Studies, The Theory of the Three Roots, Chinese Miao Medicine, and The Miao Medicine Zuanjiefeng Therapy; he also put transmission into practice through study halls, academic exchange, Miao medical skill training, and the taking of apprentices. He is a representative inheritor of Miao medicine (zuanjiefeng therapy), a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the fifth batch. He assiduously studied and researched for more than sixty years, tirelessly and perseveringly, receiving many awards from state bodies and social organizations as well as recognition from society.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Long Yunian 04-1950
- Tian Xingxiu 05-2963
- Wang Zengshi 05-2964
- Long Xinchen
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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