Insights and Updates

Last Saturday, as usual, I went to the library to review. The weekend library is packed, and seats have to be grabbed. I am usually among the first batch to enter, so I always manage a good seat. A mother of a 10th-grader grabbed the…

Earlier this month I returned to my hometown. The daughter and son-in-law of a patient there reached me through my sister-in-law, hoping I could see their elderly parent. The old person has late-stage cancer along with hepatitis C, and has already developed drug-induced liver injury.

Resting with a cold; article updates are temporarily paused. Recently flu and COVID are circulating at the same time, so please, friends, take good care of yourselves.

Kunming Shanhaitang Pian is a Chinese patent medicine whose sole ingredient is Kunming Shanhaitang (also called Yunnan Shanhaitang). It is included in the 2005 edition of the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China. The manufacturing process is complex; patients are not advised to prepare…

Fu Fang Qian Zheng Gao (Composite Correct-Sinew Plaster) originally comes from the Song dynasty work Yang's Family Prescriptions (Yangshi Jiacang Fang). After modern TCM refinement, it was included in Volume I of the 2005 edition of the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China. It…

Gejie Dingchuan Wan is a modern Chinese patent medicine. The formula is included in Volume I of the 2005 edition of the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China. Its composition is: Gecko (gejie) 11 g, Trichosanthes Seed (gualouren) 50 g, Asteris Radix (ziwan) 75…

Dahuoluo Dan (also called Dahuoluo Wan) is a famous traditional Chinese formula. It originates from Lantai Guifan (Standards of the Orchid Terrace), the original source being the lost book Shengjing Jing. In Jingyan Gezhong Mifang Jiyao (Collected Proven Secret Formulas), it appears under the alias…

The Institute for AI Industry Research (AIR) at Tsinghua University recently announced that the AI (artificial intelligence) hospital it has developed will begin outpatient consultation as early as the first half of 2025. Researchers at the institute are currently conducting intensive training for the AI…

The Arcane Essentials from the Imperial Library (Waitai Miyao) quotes a formula from Secret Records for Extending Life (Yannian Milu) called "Fushen Yin" (Poria Spirit Drink). Its composition is: fushen (Poriae Sclerotium Pararadicis) 4 qian (12 g), renshen (Ginseng) 3 qian (9 g), juhongpi (Citri…

"Xuanbai Chengqi Tang" (White-Diffusing Qi-Coordinating Decoction) is a classic formula of the TCM Warm-Disease school, from the warm-disease classic Systematized Identification of Warm Diseases (Wenbing Tiaobian). Its composition is: raw shigao (Gypsum Fibrosum) 5 qian (15 g), raw dahuang (Rhei Radix et Rhizoma) 3 qian…