Hong Wanzi (Red Pills): Warming the Middle, Resolving Accumulation, and Moving Qi
“Hong Wanzi” (Red Pills) comes from the Shaoxing supplementary formulas of the Taiping Huimin Heji Jufang, composed of: Rhizoma Sparganii (Jingsanleng, soaked soft and sliced), Rhizoma Curcumae (Ezhu), Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae viride (Qingpi), and tangerine peel (Chenpi, white removed), each 5 jin; Rhizoma Zingiberis (Ganjiang) and Piperis Fructus (Hujiao), each 3 jin. Preparation: grind the herbs to an extremely fine powder, form with vinegar paste into pills the size of a phoenix-tree seed, and coat with alum red (fan hong). Take 30 pills after meals with ginger decoction, twice daily, reduced for children.
This formula warms the middle and resolves accumulation, moves qi and disperses stagnation; it is indicated for cold congelation and qi stagnation in the spleen and stomach, with chest and abdominal fullness and distension, poor appetite, abdominal masses, and women’s qi stagnation and blood stasis causing zheng-jia masses. Today it is often used for digestive diseases such as chronic gastritis and cholecystitis with abdominal distension and fullness, and as an adjunct for digestive-tract and gynecologic tumors.
Dried ginger and pepper are pungent and hot, warming the middle and dispersing cold; Sparganium and Curcuma break blood and move qi, attacking hardness and resolving accumulation; green tangerine peel and aged tangerine peel resolve accumulation and stagnation, moving qi and stopping pain; alum red softens hardness and disperses nodules. Together they make an excellent formula for attacking hardness and dispersing nodules. The Sparganium, Curcuma, and green tangerine peel here all have anticancer and anti-swelling effects and are common modern antitumor herbs, so this formula does have some antitumor action. But it is generally not advised to treat tumors with this formula alone, because the success rate is low.
The Sparganium, Curcuma, green tangerine peel, and alum red used in Red Pills are contraindicated in pregnancy, so this formula is unsuitable for pregnant women; those with gastrointestinal bleeding should also use it cautiously.