Uyghur Medicine
01 · Historical Records
The food therapy of Uyghur medicine took shape through long historical accumulation and is directly related to the produce of the Western Regions oases: wheat and rice are the staple foods; carrots, onions, and Chinese cabbage are available all year round; beef and mutton, dairy products, and melons and fruits are supplied in abundance through animal husbandry and horticulture; and the treatment of illness and the preservation of health are both embedded in the daily three meals.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Uyghur medicine attaches great importance to dietary therapy, which is directly related to human health, and emphasizes the relationship between meal timing and nutritional content. On the basis of the nutritional content of the foods people consume, Uyghur medicine classifies foods into five categories. According to their nutritional content and their cold, neutral, or hot nature, foods are rationally arranged across the three daily meals. The staple foods of the Uyghur people are wheat and rice. Their vegetables are mainly carrots, onions, Chinese cabbage, and the like, available in all seasons. In dietary therapy, the delicious flavor of cooked food is combined with nutrition, giving the Uyghur people a distinctive food culture. Pilaf (zhuafan) is a dish beloved of the Uyghur people and a representative of dietary therapy. It is a rice dish prepared by combining rice, mutton, carrots, onions, vegetable oil, and other seasonings; it has the characteristics of complete color, aroma, and flavor together with nutrition, and is a dietary therapeutic food of high nutritional value. Qiamagu (turnip) is an excellent item in Uyghur materia medica for protecting the lungs and strengthening the body; it has long been used in the people's diet, is a tonic suitable for both old and young, and is regarded by the elderly in particular as a longevity fruit that satisfies hunger and relieves ailments. Xinjiang is famed as the 'land of melons and fruits,' with seasonal melons and fruits of all kinds available all year round. Natural melons and fruits are an important resource for Uyghur dietary therapy. Among the many melons and fruits, the Uyghur people particularly favor muskmelon, figs, grapes, apricots, walnuts, and mulberries. The Uyghur people not only enjoy melons and fruits but also use them as health-preserving tonics. They eat walnuts over the long term in daily life, and practice has shown that this has good effects in lowering serum cholesterol and preventing and treating cardiovascular diseases. Apricots, mulberries, and jujubes are also foods commonly used by the Uyghur people. Apricots are rich in mineral elements and have cancer-preventing and anticancer effects, enjoying a reputation both at home and abroad. Mulberries have the functions of nourishing the liver and kidneys, replenishing blood and promoting fluids, nourishing yin and strengthening yang, and blackening the hair. Jujubes can 'tonify the middle and augment qi, steady the mind and strengthen the body; taken over a long time, they prevent hunger.' Long-standing dietary traditions and customs, healthy living habits, and scientific dietary balancing are important reasons why many Uyghur people enjoy long lives. The study of Uyghur medicinal food therapy, through long historical accumulation, has made a major contribution to the development of medicine in both the East and the West.
Five food classes and their thermal qualities
Foods are sorted into five classes by nutrition and matched to meals according to their cold, neutral or hot nature.
Pilaf
Pilaf combines rice, mutton, carrot, onion, oil and seasonings, the Uyghur staple that doubles as a therapeutic dish.
Qamghur
Qamghur is valued for safeguarding the lungs and strengthening the body, eaten by all ages and treated as a fruit of longevity.
Nuts and fruits as tonics
Walnuts are eaten for cholesterol and heart health, apricots for minerals, mulberries for liver and blood, jujubes for sustained energy.
Melon, fig and grape
Xinjiang is famed for melons and fruits the year round, and melon, fig and grape are favoured as therapeutic foods.
Abu Duqilimu Abudurehimu on diet therapy
The inheritor Abu Duqilimu has practised at the Hotan Uighur hospital since 1976 and presented papers at national and international conferences.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Uyghur Medicine (food therapy) takes Shache County, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, as its protection unit and belongs to the dietary therapy cultural sphere of the southern Xinjiang oases such as Kashgar and Hotan. This land has been a gathering place for merchants and travelers since ancient times, with a full range of grains, melons and fruits, dried fruits, and beef and mutton; the combinations and refinements of the three daily meals have been cultivated within these products and this way of life.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Uyghur Medicine · Uyghur Medicine · Uyghur Medicine · Uyghur Medicine · Uyghur Medicine.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Abudukelmu Abuduremu (recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): male, of Uyghur ethnicity, born in October 1941, a native of Hotan City, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. He is a representative inheritor of Uyghur Medicine (Muniziqi-Musili decoction preparation technique), a project of the fourth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. He specializes in the treatment of various skin diseases such as rheumatism, vitiligo, acne, and pruritus, of cardiovascular diseases such as hyperlipidemia, cerebral infarction, increased blood viscosity, and hypertension, and of gastric distension, abdominal distension and pain, gastric headache, and toothache caused by qi deficiency. He has published dozens of articles, including 'Experience in the Uyghur Medical Diagnosis and Treatment of Hypertension.' He has participated many times in international and domestic academic conferences on Uyghur medicine and presented papers. Since 1976, he has worked in Uyghur medical clinical practice at the Hotan Prefecture Uyghur Medicine Hospital, and has been repeatedly named an advanced worker and an outstanding department director by the hospital.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Abudouwubuer Aji 04-1954
- Aibibula Yusufu 04-1955
- Abudoukelimu Abudouremu 05-2966
- Wusiman Yasheng
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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