Yi Medicine
01 · Historical Records
In 2003, the old Boyuan Hall moved its factory site to Chuxiong City, Yunnan Province, the birthplace of Yi medicine; the technique is now circulated there, and its products are sold throughout the country. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, because of its remarkable efficacy, the Boyuan lozenge was once presented to the imperial household as tribute, and merchants sold it to the Central Plains, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Gansu, and elsewhere, as well as to Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, and other Southeast Asian countries.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Boyuan lozenge is a purely Chinese-medicine ophthalmic lozenge product, and the Boyuan lozenge production technique was founded at Boyuan Hall on Wenchang Street in Tonghai County, Yuxi City, Yunnan Province. The Boyuan lozenge is a lozenge product made by traditional concoctive preparation from ten Chinese medicinal materials — calamine, borneol, gentian extract, myrrh, musk, borax, mirabilite, xuanming powder (refined Glauber's salt), frankincense, and alum — and all ten drugs are recorded in Yi-language medical literature. The production process of the Boyuan lozenge mainly includes raw materials, calcining, grinding, weighing, mixing (the key step), hammering, rolling into strips, drying, cutting into lozenges, and packaging. The product has the effects of resolving toxin and dispersing masses, reducing inflammation and relieving pain, and improving vision and clearing corneal opacity; applied externally it treats various eye ailments such as fulminant red eye, red swollen painful eyes, sand-eye stabbing pain, and wind-induced itching and tearing, as well as pterygium; taken internally it treats swollen painful gums and red swollen throat and tongue. In making the Boyuan lozenge, the temperature, humidity, and lighting of the surrounding environment during material feeding are strictly controlled; the slightest deviation means the lozenge cannot form. In the grinding of raw medicinal materials, a "flying-powder technique" is used to ensure that the Boyuan eye medicine dissolves rapidly once in the eye. Moreover, Boyuan eye medicine is water-soluble; it is paste-like and must be completed by hand. During lozenge rolling, the temperature of the palm is highly demanding: if the palm is too hot or too cold, the rolling cannot be completed. The history of Boyuan eye medicine is recorded in documents such as the Yunnan Provincial Gazetteer: Medical Gazetteer, the Yunnan General Gazetteer, and the Tonghai County Gazetteer.
The ten-drug formula
Ten drugs are processed by traditional craft into the tablet, each recorded in Yi-language medical literature.
Calcination and the flying-powder technique
Calcined material is ground by the flying-powder technique so that the eye tablet dissolves quickly in the eye.
Weighing and mixing
Mixing is the decisive step: the weighed powders must be blended evenly or the tablets will be uneven in strength.
Hammering, rolling and palm temperature
The mass is hammered, rolled, dried and cut, and because the drug dissolves easily it must be shaped by hand at the right palm temperature.
Temperature, humidity and light at charging
Charging demands strict control of temperature, humidity and light; the slightest deviation prevents the tablet from forming.
External use for eye complaints
The tablet detoxifies, reduces inflammation and clears visual obstruction, used externally for eye complaints and internally for swollen gums and throat.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Boyuan lozenge production technique was founded at Boyuan Hall on Wenchang Street in Tonghai County, Yuxi City, Yunnan Province. In 2003, the old Boyuan Hall moved its factory site to Chuxiong City, Yunnan Province, the birthplace of Yi medicine; the technique is now circulated there, and its products are sold throughout the country. Because of its remarkable efficacy, the Boyuan lozenge was once presented to the imperial household as tribute at the end of the Qing Dynasty, and merchants sold it to the Central Plains, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Gansu, and elsewhere, as well as to Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, and other Southeast Asian countries. The transmission lineage of the technique is documented; its history is recorded in books such as the Yunnan Provincial Gazetteer: Medical Gazetteer, the Yunnan General Gazetteer, and the Tonghai County Gazetteer. It is transmitted mainly in a family manner. Boyuan Hall upholds the value of "half practicing hidden merit, half preserving health" and the business philosophy of "good medicine made by the people, consultations for all under heaven."
Other submitting regions for the same item: Yi Medicine.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present, the traditional formula and production technique of the Boyuan lozenge are transmitted in an orderly manner with a clear lineage, having continued for nearly 300 years, mainly through family transmission. Verified clinically, the Boyuan lozenge has remarkable efficacy against eye diseases, and its medical value is outstanding. At the same time, its transmission and development play a positive role in promoting economic development in ethnic-minority regions and boosting local employment. As an important link in cultural exchange between Yi and Han medicine, the Boyuan lozenge has significant value for researching and carrying forward the history and culture of ethnic-minority regions. Boyuan Hall upholds the value of "half practicing hidden merit, half preserving health" and the business philosophy of "good medicine made by the people, consultations for all under heaven," which also embodies the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Yu Huixiang 04-1953
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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