I hereby solemnly swear... no, I'm not up to no good, but I do promise to blog much, much more frequently than I have been lately. Today's guided activity was quite fascinating: for me, a second trip to Tong Ren Tang (同仁堂), a traditional Chinese pharmacy incongruously nestled between a noodle joint and a knock-off clothing store in the crowded Taidong district of downtown Qingdao.
All around, masses of Chinese people were milling about their hectic lives, squeezing ever more of themselves onto unbelievably packed city busses.
Tong Ren Tang's timeless and distinctly Chinese architecture, modeled after ancient temples and complete with roaring sculptures of some sort of dragon-lion creatures, served as a wake up call to remind me that, oh, wait, I’m in the country where that epic Disney movie (Mulan) was supposed to take place after all…
The Chinese medicine found at Tong Ren Tang is extremely different from its much more familiar Western counterpart. While Chinese people typically will go see a Western doctor in the case of serious to life-threatening illness or injury, they prefer visiting a traditional Chinese-style pharmacy to cure minor headaches, colds and the like. These pharmacies are home to both Western and Eastern medicines, though Eastern medicines are much more prevalent- and often downright weird to us outsiders. Browsing through Tong Ren Tang's wares, I spotted all sorts of dried plant, animal, and insect matter. Deer antlers and dried centipedes both made appearances; even ground stones are considered a viable remedy for some illnesses. It kind of seems that in Chinese traditional medicine, anything that can be consumed will be consumed and must treat some sort of illness. And balance out your qi energy, right?
One thing I've been itching to try out here in China is herbal tea. I'm a fan of yummy teas back in the States, and I figured that China must have some pretty legit options. However, I have had yet to try any because my professor, Dr. Wang, advised me that Tong Ren Tang would be the place to buy a "decent" herbal tea/remedy. Apparently, most Chinese medicine is consumed in a sort of tea form, boiled with water into either tea or bitter soup. The ratio of materials used, temperature of the water they're steeped in, and length of time steeped all determine the "medical" effects. Most of the Chinese medicine I came across was assorted plant matter, and with Wang's advice and help I eventually purchased two small packages of dried greenery. One contained ju hua (菊花), or chrysanthemum flowers, and the other contained mai men dong （麦门冬), or something called monkey grass tubers. According to Dr. Wang and the Chinese pharmacist, the two combined should make a nice "cooling" tea, perfect for daily health for females. Wang herself enjoys a cup or two of the mixture every morning, and claims she hasn't fallen ill in over a year.
So what exactly are these ingredients supposed to do? Although I got the general gist of the pharmacist's descriptions of their usage in Chinese, I eventually resorted to some light Google-ing and Wikipedia-ing to sort out the purported medicinal uses of the Zhong Yi I purchased.
I've seen lots of Chinese girls toting around water bottles with chrysanthemum flowers floating in them, so when Dr. Wang pointed out a package of these white flowers I wasn't too awfully concerned about negative effects. Actually, Chinese people claim that chrysanthemums are good for just about everything:
- Prevention of sore throat
- Fever reduction
- Recovery from the flu
- Acne
- "Cooling" the body
- Balancing qi energy
- Remedying Yin/fluid deficiencies (?)
- Treating circulatory disorders, such as varicose veins
- Helping out the eyes: remedies eye pain from stress, blurring, spots in vision, diminished vision, or high inner-eye pressure
- Lessening dizziness
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysanthemum_tea
So, when in doubt, sip on some chrysanthemum tea. It will make your cold go away, improve your eyesight, realign your "system" properly, and make all of your dreams come true!
Mai men dong, however, was a different story. Although both Drs. Wang and Zhang excitedly exclaimed "Ooooh Mai dong, so good for you!" upon seeing my purchases, my Chinese-English translating tool didn't even recognize the characters forming this "medicine"'s name, and my first round of google searching didn't return promising results. However, at long last, I discovered the following. According to the all-knowing Wikipedia:
"In Chinese medicine Ophiopogon japonicus tuber, known as mai men dong (麥門冬), is the cardinal herb for yin deficiency... the herb is sweet, slightly bitter and slightly cold, enters the Heart, Lung and Stomach channels and nourishes the yin of the Stomach, Spleen, Heart and Lungs and clears heat and quiets irritability."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophiopogon_japonicus
So basically, according to Chinese medicine theory, this stuff "balances out" the effects (?) of the chrysanthemums, helps out our feminine side (the yin), and reduces stress. We'll have to see about all that. I don't know how much stock I put in Chinese medicine, but I think in this case, it's worth a try as part of general well-being. I already take four different vitamins as it is- what more harm can sipping on some pretty flower-essence do?
I've seen lots of Chinese girls toting around water bottles with chrysanthemum flowers floating in them, so when Dr. Wang pointed out a package of these white flowers I wasn't too awfully concerned about negative effects. Actually, Chinese people claim that chrysanthemums are good for just about everything:
- Prevention of sore throat
- Fever reduction
- Recovery from the flu
- Acne
- "Cooling" the body
- Balancing qi energy
- Remedying Yin/fluid deficiencies (?)
- Treating circulatory disorders, such as varicose veins
- Helping out the eyes: remedies eye pain from stress, blurring, spots in vision, diminished vision, or high inner-eye pressure
- Lessening dizziness
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysanthemum_tea
So, when in doubt, sip on some chrysanthemum tea. It will make your cold go away, improve your eyesight, realign your "system" properly, and make all of your dreams come true!
Mai men dong, however, was a different story. Although both Drs. Wang and Zhang excitedly exclaimed "Ooooh Mai dong, so good for you!" upon seeing my purchases, my Chinese-English translating tool didn't even recognize the characters forming this "medicine"'s name, and my first round of google searching didn't return promising results. However, at long last, I discovered the following. According to the all-knowing Wikipedia:
"In Chinese medicine Ophiopogon japonicus tuber, known as mai men dong (麥門冬), is the cardinal herb for yin deficiency... the herb is sweet, slightly bitter and slightly cold, enters the Heart, Lung and Stomach channels and nourishes the yin of the Stomach, Spleen, Heart and Lungs and clears heat and quiets irritability."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophiopogon_japonicus
So basically, according to Chinese medicine theory, this stuff "balances out" the effects (?) of the chrysanthemums, helps out our feminine side (the yin), and reduces stress. We'll have to see about all that. I don't know how much stock I put in Chinese medicine, but I think in this case, it's worth a try as part of general well-being. I already take four different vitamins as it is- what more harm can sipping on some pretty flower-essence do?
In any case, regardless of potential helpful or harmful effects, I think the most important thing about my new tea mix is its lovely, semisweet, fragrantly earthy flavor. Absolutely delicious. That's what matters most to me, at least.
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