Insights and Updates

“You don’t have depression. Your life really is just that terrible.” — As quoted by a borderline-personality-disorder patient on Zhihu, recalling a line her attending physician said to her. A friend born in 1978 recently learned that his only teenage son (in junior high) has…

Less than a month before my mother’s death, knowing her time was short, she had a conversation with me that deeply moved me. She said: “Son, your father and I owe you an apology. The money and effort we spent raising you are far less…

It is again the season when Yingshanhong blooms. Most people admiring the red hillsides do not know that this beautiful flower is also an excellent medicinal herb. Yingshanhong—also called Manshanhong, Yingshanhong, and Kaoshanhong—is the plant Rhododendron simsii of the Ericaceae family; when it blooms, whole…

In the Qing-dynasty physician Chen Shiduo’s Zhen Zheng Lu (Records of Pattern Differentiation) there is a formula called “Xiaozhang Dan,” composed of: Rhizoma Atractylodis macrocephalae (Baizhu) 3 qian (9 g), Poria (Fuling) 1 liang (30 g), Radix Ophiopogonis (Maidong) 5 qian (15 g), Radix Rehmanniae…

In the Shengji Zonglu there is a formula usable for type 2 diabetes called “Digu Pi Yin” (Cortex Lycii Drink), composed of: Cortex Lycii (filed), Wanggua root (Trichosanthes cucumeroides root, filed), Tianhuafen (Trichosanthes root, filed), Phragmitis Rhizoma (Lugen, filed), and Ophiopogon (heart removed, dried), each…

Excessive leukorrhea is a common gynecological condition, and many formulas for it have existed since antiquity. This article excerpts two classical formulas for treating vaginal discharge in women. The first is “Yudai Wan” (Leukorrhea-Recovery Pills) from Sihe Ting Jifang, composed of: Radix Rehmanniae preparata (Shudi)…

In the Jingyue Quanshu (Complete Works of Zhang Jingyue) by the Ming-dynasty physician Zhang Jingyue, there is a prescription called Chaihu Baihu Jian, composed of: Radix Bupleuri (Chaihu) 2 qian (6 g), Gypsum (Shigao) 3 qian (9 g), Radix Scutellariae (Huangqin) 2 qian (6 g),…

In the Shengji Zonglu (General Records of Holy-Imperial Benevolence) there is a formula called “Digu Pi Tang” (Cortex Lycii Decoction), composed of: Cortex Lycii (Digu Pi) 5 liang (150 g), Baiqian (Rhizoma Cynanchi Stauntonii) 2 liang (60 g), raw Gypsum (Sheng Shigao, ground into powder)…

Qisheng Wan comes from Shengji Zonglu (General Record of Holy Benevolence). The formula is composed of: Radix Clematidis (weilingxian, earth removed), Radix Angelicae Sinensis (danggui, soaked in wine, sliced and dried), processed Aconitum (fuzi, peeled and with the umbo removed), and Rhizoma Gastrodiae (tianma), each…

I am returning to my hometown to sweep the ancestral graves and attend to some personal business, and will be away from Beijing for three days, so this WeChat official account will pause updates. During my absence, online consultations can continue as usual, though the…