Qingjin Lisou Wan: A Chinese Patent Medicine for Resolving Phlegm, Stopping Cough and Calming Asthma

Qingjin Lisou Wan (also called Qingjin Lisu Huatan Wan) is an empirical formula developed by modern TCM scholars, recorded in Beijing Shi Zhongyao Chengfang Xuanji (Selected Collection of Beijing Chinese Patent Medicine Formulas). Its composition is: Jupi (Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium, tangerine peel) 250 g; Chao Zhiqiao (stir-fried immature bitter orange) 125 g; Jiegeng (platycodon) 125 g; Huangqin (scutellaria) 250 g; Sangbaipi (mulberry bark) 12 g; Xingren (Armeniacae Semen, apricot kernel, peeled and stir-fried) 125 g; Zhimu (Anemarrhenae Rhizoma, anemarrhena) 60 g; Baibu (Stemonae Radix, stemona) 60 g; Maimendong (ophiopogon) 60 g; Gancao (licorice) 60 g; Dannannan (Arisaema Cum Bile, bile-processed arisaema) 250 g. Grind the herbs into a fine powder, sift, and form pills with refined honey, each pill weighing 3 g. Take 1 pill each time, washed down with warm boiled water, twice daily; reduce proportionately for infants under one year.

This formula clears the lung and stops cough, resolves phlegm and calms asthma. It is indicated for pediatric lung-heat cough with copious sticky sputum, shortness of breath and wheezing—symptoms very similar to pediatric pneumonia. Because the formula has fairly reliable efficacy and few side effects, many Chinese patent medicine manufacturers produce it; patients can buy the ready-made patent medicine at a pharmacy rather than preparing it themselves.

Huangqin and Zhimu in this formula inhibit a variety of pathogens that cause bronchitis and pneumonia. TCM holds that Huangqin and Zhimu clear heat and detoxify, and can dispel lung heat. When Li Shizhen himself suffered from refractory cough and asthma in his day, his father cured him using only the single herb Huangqin. Jiegeng, Sangbaipi, Xingren, Baibu, Dannannan, Gancao, and Jupi all expel phlegm and stop cough. Maimendong moistens the lung and stops cough, while stir-fried Zhiqiao moves qi and resolves phlegm. Such a combination has a strong phlegm-expelling, cough-stopping action.

This formula is not only suitable for children; adults with lung-heat cough, copious sticky sputum, wheezing and shortness of breath, dry mouth and tongue, and dark urine can also use it, at a dose 2–4 times that of a child.