Insights and Updates

Size Yimu Wan is a contemporary empirical Chinese patent formula recorded in the National Collection of Chinese Patent Prescriptions (Jinan edition). No manufacturer currently produces it; it was probably once an in-hospital formula of some medical institution. Patients who find it suitable may prepare it…

Some young medical students have left messages on my official account asking me to write about how to study medicine; I never quite knew where to begin. Just recently, a spate of medical scandals has surfaced. Jokes that even an illiterate person would not make—men…

Papers reporting uterine fibroids in men, ovarian cancer in men, and postpartum hemorrhage in male mothers have actually appeared in legitimate medical journals; unqualified, incompetent individuals have found their way into top medical institutions through all sorts of channels. Lately, jaw-dropping medical scandals have appeared…

Nankang Pian is a modern Chinese patent medicine recorded in the Pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China; several manufacturers now produce it. Its composition is: Baihuasheshecao (Hedyotidis Herba), Chishao (Paeoniae Rubra Radix), Shudihuang (Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata), Roucongrong (Cistanches Herba), Zhigancao (Glycyrrhizae Radix preparata), Pugongying…

Wutou Tang (Aconitum Decoction) comes from the Jin Gui Yao Lue (Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Coffer), a classic formula collected by the Han-dynasty physician Zhang Zhongjing. Its composition is: Mahuang (Ephedrae Herba), Baishao (Paeoniae Alba Radix), Huangqi (Astragali Radix), and Zhigancao (Glycyrrhizae Radix preparata),…

“Taohua Zhou” (Peach-Blossom Porridge) is a famous formula of the Warm-Disease school, recorded in that school’s classic Wenbing Tiaobian (Systematic Identification of Warm Diseases). Its composition is: Renshen (Ginseng Radix) 3 qian (9 g), Zhigancao (Glycyrrhizae Radix preparata) 3 qian (9 g), Chishizhi (Halloysitum Rubrum)…

In Zhu Danxi’s Dan Xin Fa (Methods of Danxi), there is a formula named “Shengshu Dihuang Wan”. Its composition is: Shengdihuang (Rehmanniae Radix), Shudihuang (Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata), Xuanshen (Scrophulariae Radix), and Jinchai Shihu (Dendrobii Caulis), each 1 liang (30 g). Grind the herbs into powder,…

In the book Bian Que Xin Shu (Heartbook of Bian Que), compiled by the Song-dynasty physician Dou Cai, a formula named “Huangu Dan” (Bone-Transforming Pill) is recorded. Its composition is: Danggui (Angelicae Sinensis Radix), Baishao (Paeoniae Alba Radix), Renshen (Ginseng Radix), and Weilingxian (Clematidis Radix…

The patient, Li, male, 37 years old, was carried in to Professor Chen Ningsheng on September 29, 1971, suffering from high fever for over a month, loss of consciousness, and right upper-limb paralysis. An outside hospital had found a likely space-occupying lesion in the right…

Chen Ningsheng (b. 1933) is a chief physician at the First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, a committee member of the Professional Committee on Liver and Gallbladder Diseases of the Internal Medicine Branch of the China Association of Chinese Medicine, a first-term…