 Herbs are used traditionally by the
ancient Chinese to prevent, diagnose
and treat diseases.
 These herbs are mainly originated from
the nature.
 Nature is imbued with vitality and all
kinds of herbs are being grown and
flourished.
 Among them are plants herbs, animal
herbs, mineral herbs and other
processed drugs.
 Herbs are widely grown across China
and the drugs have their unique
regional growth characteristics.
 Among the herbs, some are specially
cultivated and some are grown in the
wild.
 For instance, the Northern East area of
China are known to cultivate Ginseng人
参
Apart from the plant drugs,
animal drugs and the mineral
drugs, Chinese herbs also
contain synthetic drugs.
Following the scientific
development and progress of
Chinese herbs, synthetic drugs
would enjoy bright prospects
in the future.
Classifying different types of Chinese
herbs
 Herbal values classification: such
as the detox drugs解毒药, clearing heat
drugs清热药, soothing qi drugs理气药,
activating blood and resolving stasis
drugs活血化瘀药.
 Effective substance classification:
such as drugs which contain alkaloids,
drugs which contain volatile oil, drugs
which contain glycosides and etc.
Processing of herbs
 After the discovery of fire and inspired by how
food can be processed by fire, the ancient
people learned that after processing with fire,
the medicinal characteristics of herbs can also
be adjusted such as reducing its toxic effects.
 The invention of brewing technology during
the Xia Yu夏禹 period opened the path for
wine-processed herbs.
 More processing methods like Salt-processed,
Vinegar-processed, Honey-processed started
to emerge gradually and enriched the scopes
of processing and effectively meeting clinical
requirements.
Types of herbs
 Animal herbs also highly figured in the
entire Chinese herbs production. The
ancient Chinese already paid close
attention to animals. The earliest Chinese
poetry collection, Shijing 诗经mentioned
160 types of animals.
 It is also during this time the ancient
Chinese learned to classify animals
according to their types and they recorded
the animals with affix of ‘fish’, ‘insects’
‘dogs’ and etc. Using the animals as herbs
also began at an early stage.
In addition, some of the animal
stones such as bezoar of the cow,
the horse and the dog are
precious herbs. Bezoar of the ox
and the buffalo’s gall bladder, bile
duct or liver duct possess the
functions of dissolving phlegm,
soothing the gallbladder and
relieving convulsion.
 They are normally used to treat Heat diseases
and the symptoms are coma and
unconsciousness, fits and rage, acute infantile
convulsion and etc.
 Recently they are being used to treat epidemic
encephalitis.
 Gall stones of the horses have the effects of
cleansing heat, detox, arresting convulsion
and dissolving phlegm.
 Gall stones of the dogs have the medicinal
values of descending the adverse qi,
dispersing stagnation and detoxification.
Mineral drugs are also
important components of
the Chinese herbs
literature. We often relate
gold, stones and jades to
wearing of jewelry and
accessories.
They also have medicinal values
and can be employed to treat
diseases.
For example, gold can be used to
stabilize the spirit and strengthen
the bones and essence.
Silver has the effects of calming the
five organs and stabilizing the
mental state.

 In addition, it can also be used to
treat underarm odor.
 Quartz is effective in treating the evil
energy that blocks the chest and the
stomach.
 With the internationalization of
Chinese herbs, the special effects and
clinical values of mineral drugs also
increasing prized and valued.
 The ancient doctors’ way of processing herbs and
interpretation met scientific requirements, as evident
by the outcome of modern medical research.
 For example, herbs processed with ginger possess
the effects of warming and spreading; 姜制温散
 processed with honey nourish dryness and
supplement qi (honey has the effects to stimulate
intestine and enhance nourishment); 蜜制润燥益元
 processed the herbs with high temperature retained
the pure inorganic constituents; “soaked Gan Cao甘草
in water to detox” , the mechanism is the
hydrolyzation of Gan Cao would produce glycyrrhetic
acid and in turn it would generate glucouronic acid to
enhance the detoxing effects.
 Adjusting and Fine-tuning includes cleansing,
cutting and grinding.
 “Water Processing水飞法” refers to using water and
other liquid supplement to process and it includes
wetting, rinsing and elutriating.
 “Fire Processing火制法” use fire or heat to process
the herbs and it includes frying, baking,
moxibusing and toasting. T
 he “Water-fire Processing水火共制法” includes
cooking, steaming and shredding.
 The other processing methods are more specialized
such as fermenting制霜, germinating发酵 and
frosting发芽 and etc.
 Herbs are used traditionally by the
ancient Chinese to prevent, diagnose
and treat diseases.
 These herbs are mainly originated from
the nature.
 Nature is imbued with vitality and all
kinds of herbs are being grown and
flourished.
 Among them are plants herbs, animal
herbs, mineral herbs and other
processed drugs.
Preparations of herbs
It is vital to note that different
types of preparations each aim
at treating different types of
diseases.
Hence, understanding their
respective characteristics and
therapeutic effects are of
utmost importance.
What’s Medicinal Therapy?
It is prepared under the
guiding principles of TCM
fundamental theory and
derived from there. It is
developed as a separate
entity of healthcare.
Medicinal Therapy emerged
together with the
development of TCM.
Differences between Medicinal
Therapy & Dietary Therapy
For herbal medicine, medicinal plant
elements are by far the most
commonly, but not solely used
substances in TCM.
Animal, human and mineral
products are also utilized.
Thus, the term "medicinal" (instead
of herb) is usually preferred.
One should eat a variety of
foods in order to benefit from all
the flavors, energies, and
organic actions of a varied diet.
Foods should be selected
according to one's particular
needs and physical constitution.
Basic Differences between Western
nutritional therapy and traditional TCM
dietary therapy
 As used in the outpatient setting, modern Western
nutritional therapy is most often used for weight loss
whereas traditional Chinese nutritional therapy is used
to treat a variety of health issues ranging from
uncomplicated hypertension to skin disorders.
 The second main difference is that Western nutrition
considers foods with regard to their protein, caloric,
carbohydrate, vitamin, and other nutrient content. These
measures were largely unknown in ancient China.
 Instead, TCM dietary therapy considers foods for their
five flavors, five energies, movements, the common
actions of foods (e.g., to lubricate dryness, soften
hardness, or nourish blood), and organic actions (the
specific internal organs on which certain foods can act).
Differences between Dietary
Therapy and Medicinal Therapy
Dietary therapy does not
surely manifest medical
effects, but Medicinal
therapy is sure to
possess the functions of
dietary therapy.
Myths of Dietary
Therapy
1. One-off Solution for all diseases：
 TCM health preservation involves internal preservation
and external preservation.
 Internal preservation concerns with up-keeping and
nourishment of one’s essence, qi and spirit. External
preservation involves the strengthening of skin, flesh,
muscle and tendon.
 TCM places emphasis on internal preservation. However,
many health preservation tended to focus on external
preservation and hence go great length to teach people
how to eat and how to exercise.
 What they failed to realize is if internal preservation fails,
it is pointless to know how to eat.
Myths of Dietary Therapy
2. Follow Mechanically and Blindly
 TCM advocates customization and health
preservation measures should vary from
people to people.
 It is necessary to pay attention to one’s
physical constitution before adopting the
dietary therapy.
 Professional advice should be sought
before adopting. What suit other may not
suit us.
Myths of Dietary
Therapy
3. Think about health preservation only
after falling ill：
 TCM advocates treating the disease before
it occurs or one should adopt a preventive
approach towards maintaining our health.
 TCM emphasizes on regulating and
adjustment. Managing a healthy, balanced
lifestyle is of paramount importance.
Three Fundamental Principles of Dietary
Therapy
1. The importance of identifying the syndrome
 It is crucial to identify accurately the characteristics of the
disease, together with the knowledge of physical
constitution.
 The choice of dietary therapy can then be prepared on this
basis.
2. Holistic Selection of food
 As far as possible, efforts must be made to ensure balance
of meat and vegetables in the diet.
3. Abstemious Dietary Habits
Regular amount of meals at eat at regular interval.
Characteristics of Medicinal Therapy
 Time honored and long history： As far as more than
2,000 years ago, during the Zhou dynasty. It continued to
prosper and enriched following the development of TCM as
an independent academic subject.
 Drug immersed in food: While taking the meals,
patients also get treated by consuming the relevant drugs.
The Tang dynasty well-known centenarian physician Sun
Simiao stated in his <Thousand Gold Key
Formula>:”When the emperor is ill, it is better to urge
him to consider food therapy. Only when Food Therapy
fails to heal, then Medicinal Therapy is applied.”孙思邈《千
金要方》：云“君父有疾，期先命食以疗之；食疗不愈，然后命
药”。
Characteristics of Medicinal Therapy
 Emphasizes on regulating and adjusting the
body：The fundamental principle of Medicinal
Therapy is to combine food and drugs to
gradually adjust the body’s disorder, although
it is supposed to be effective in treating
certain diseases.
 Wide-spread and far-fetched effects:
Medicinal Therapy possesses the effects of
what the food therapy is incapable to
perform.
At the same time, it differs
from treating diseases. Hence, it is
appropriate for different age group, gender,
disease type and lifestyle.
Types of Medicinal Therapy
1. According to the effects:
- Relieve the superficial discomfort
- Clear heat and detox
- Purge the internal heat
- Warm the interior and expel cold
- Expel wind and dissolve the
pathologic factors
Types of Medicinal Therapy
- Promote fluids flow and dissolve
swelling
- Dissolve phlegm and stop the cough
- Digest food and strengthen the stomach
- Smoothen the block qi
- Regulate the blood
Types of Medicinal Therapy
- Calming the mind and spirit
- Stabilizing the liver and
submerge the liver yang
- Controlling and withholding
- Replenishing and enhancing
- health care and general health
nourishment
Types of Medicinal Therapy
（2）According to the presentation
- Vegetable
- Porridge
- Sweet dissert
- drinks
- Others like lotus powder,
Chinese yam paste and etc
Principles of Application
Balance yin and yang
Regulate the organs’ functions
Enhance the immunity system and
expel the pathologies
Customization
Take note of the appropriate
applications’ do’s and don’ts.
Fundamental Theory of
Medicinal Theory
Holistic approach based on the
integrity of the five organs
Guided by accurate syndrome
differentiation and treatment
principles
Application of the TCM Yin-Yang
and Five Elements Theory
Consideration to the herbs’
medicinal characteristics
 TCM regards the properties of food just
like the drugs. It is particular about the
tastes , flavor and the relevant organs.
 As mentioned by the <Huangdi Neijing>,
“ Sour nourishes the liver, spicy nourishes
the lung, bitter nourishes the heart, salty
nourishes the kidney, sweet nourishes the
spleen. “
How To Prepare Hot Medicinal
Dish
Double-boiling
Cooking
Stewing
Steaming
Cook over a small fire
How to prepare medicinal cold
dish
 Mixing: After cutting the raw drug or
cooked drug into certain shape, mix it
with seasoning. It is cooling and crunchy
and has the effects of boosting appetite. It
can be prepared in both hot or cold.
 Boiling：Cut the materials into the desired
shape and size, after heating it mix with
seasoning or wild pepper. It can taste
spicy or refreshing.
How to prepare Medicinal
Porridge
Grind the drugs into powder and
cook it with rice.
Extract the ,medicinal liquid and
cook it with rice.
Use the meat stock or milk to cook
with rice.
How to prepare medicated liquor
Using white wine or yellow wine as
base material to soak or cook the
relevant the drugs. Filter the dregs
and drink. Medicated liquor has the
effects of clearing the blood stream,
warming the stomach and protect
the body against cold.
How to prepare Medicinal Drinks
 General Health-care drinks：using drugs, water and
sugar as ingredients and extracted the liquid medicine
by soaking, cooking and distillation the drugs. After
precipitating, filtering and purifying, add rock sugar and
honey to form. The features of such drink are generating
fluid to preserve yin, nourishing dryness and quenching
thirst .
 Medicinal Tea: Match the drugs with tea leaf and flush
them with boiling water, braised it for 15 minutes before
drinking. White sugar or honey may be added. Or cook
the drugs with water and filter it as tea to drink. Or
grind the drugs into powder and make it as small sachet
and drink it by adding hot water. The features of such
drinks are refreshing and quenching thirst.
Properties & Flavours
Each Herb is assigned its own
property and flavour.
Four Properties
HOT, WARM, COOL and COLD
Five Flavours
Sour, Bitter, Sweet, Acrid
(pungent, spicy) and Salty
Four Properties
They represent varying degrees of
hot and cold. Warm less than hot,
cool less than cold.
Sorted out according to the
different actions of the drugs on
human body and their therapeutic
effects. For example, drugs for
heat syndrome have a cold and
cool property.
Five Flavours – Sour
SOUR : astringent and prevent
or reverse the abnormal
leakage of fluids and Qi, stop
perspiration.
Indications: sweating due to
debility, chronic cough, chronic
diarrhoea, enuresis, frequent
micturition and etc.
Five Flavours – Bitter
BITTER : drain and dry,
descend, open channels.
Indications: used for
syndromes of pathogenic fire,
cough with dyspnea, vomiting,
constipation due to heat of
excess type, damp-heat
syndrome, and etc
Five Flavours – Sweet
SWEET : tonify, harmonize,
moisten, supplement, relieve pain
and spasms, generate fluids
Indications: effective in treating
syndromes of deficiency type, dry
cough, constipation due to dry
intestine, various pains,
detoxication and etc.
Five Flavours – Acrid
ACRID : disperse and move
Qi and blood, break up
accumulations, raise Yang.
Indications: superficial and
mild illnesses due to affection
by exopathogens, stagnation
of vital energy, blood stasis
and etc.
Four Actions
LIFTING, LOWERING, SINKING,
FLOATING
Refer to the upward, downward,
outward or inward directions in which
drugs tend to act on the body.
Lifting means going up while
lowering means the opposite;
floating means going outward or
sending to the surface, whereas
sinking means going inside or
purging away.
Four Actions
Lifting and floating: upward
and outward actions are
used for elevating Yang,
relieving exterior syndromes
by diaphoresis, dispelling,
superficial wind and cold,
inducing vomiting, causing
resuscitation.
Four Actions
 Lowering and sinking: downward and
inward actions, used for clearing heat,
purgation, promoting micturition,
removing dampness, checking the
exuberance of Yang, sending down an
adverse flow of qi to stop vomiting,
relieving cough and asthma,
improving digestion, removing
stagnated food, tranquilizing the
mind with heavy properties.
Channel Tropism
Refers to a drug’s selective
therapeutic effects on a certain
part / system of the body.
Based on the theory of viscera
and the theory of channels and
collaterals.
Used in conjunction with the
theories of four properties and
five flavours.
Five Flavors of Food
 The five flavors are:
 sour, spicy, sweet, bitter, salty.
 Each flavor links with a particular organ
and the flavor will nourish it
 Sour connects with liver;
 Spicy connects with lungs;
 Sweet connects with spleen;
 Bitter connects with heart;
 Salty connects with kidney
Five Colors of Food
The five colors connects with
five organs.
Green – liver
Yellow – spleen
Red – heart
Black – kidney
White - lungs
 The herbal drugs possess both aesthetic and
medicinal values. They are the rich reservoir of
the Chinese herbs.
 Currently, of all the medicinal Chinese herbs,
90% of them are plants drugs.
 According to the medicinal component of the
drugs, there are approximately 200 to 250 types
of rootstalk;
 there are 180 to 230 types of fruits and seeds
drugs.
 About 60 to 70 types of them are flowers and
approximately 30 to 40 types are extracted from
animal skins;
 160 to 180 types are grass herbs and leaf types
are 50 to 60 types.
Types of herbs
It is vital to note that different
types of preparations each aim
at treating different types of
diseases.
Hence, understanding their
respective characteristics and
therapeutic effects are of
utmost importance.
Types of herbs
 Decoction汤剂: It is prepared by
boiling the prescribed drugs in a
formula, skimming and extract the
juice to prepare.
 Decoction has the advantages of
quick absorption, responsive, flexible
to add or minus and very focused.
 It is appropriate to handle the sudden
and new disease or enhancing the
body immune system.
Types of herbs
 Pill丸剂: It is made by processing the various
drugs which contained in a formula, mix them
in accordance with the formulae’s
specifications, mix and grind as powder.
 Honey, water or starch will be used to roll
them as pill.
 The advantages are portable and convenient
to bring and store and is a very common form
of preparation.
 It is appropriate to treat the chronic or
improving deficiency diseases.
Types of herbs
 Plaster膏剂: There are two types of plasters:
oral consumption and external use. The oral
type further divides as Fluid Extract流浸膏,
Extract 浸膏(Dry Extract and Sticky Extract)
and Rich Paste暾膏剂或膏滋.
 They are mostly used for the chronic
deficiency diseases when long term
nourishments are required.
 The external pastes are the Hard Paste and
the Soft Paste. They are mostly used for
surgeries like ulcers/furuncles or rheumatism
caused by wind, cold or damp evils.
Types of herbs
 Powder Medicine:散剂 Grind the drugs in a
particular formula into powder and mix evenly.
 Add Small amount of sugar and small amount of
red sugar to the cold drugs and warm drugs
respectively and mix them evenly.
 Powder medicine is most widely used during
clinical diagnosis.
 Although it is less speedy than the decoction drug
in terms absorbing by the body, it is convenient
and portable and possesses reliable therapeutic
effects.
 It is appropriate to treat diseases which are
already formed and complicated diseases.
Types of herbs
 Slice Medicine:片剂 The ancient people would slice
the raw drug into slices and hence it is named.
 For example, slicing ginger to make it easier to boil
and Renshen Slice is convenient to chew.
 Following the development of the TCM drugs
preparations, many drugs are made as powder
medicine or fluid extracts and added excipient such
as starch and flattened it as slices.
 Slice medicine is convenience to consume to
portable some of them are Ling Yang Gan Mao Pian
羚羊感冒片, Niu Huang Jie Du Pian牛黄解毒片 and
etc.
Types of herbs
 Distillated Medicine露剂: Add the
prescription with water to distill it and
drink the distilled water. Such as Jin
Yin Hua Lu金银花露, Qiang Wei Hua Lu
蔷薇花露 and etc. the medicinal effect
of distillated medicine is relatively
mild and mostly made of fragrance
drugs. It is mostly used for mild
petraedric diseases or take it as
summer drinks.
Types of herbs
 In addition to the above common drug types, using the
water to repeatedly boil and stew the animals’ skins, bones,
shells and horns until they are clotted and solid.
 Some examples are A Jiao阿胶 (clotted donkey’s skin), Gui
Ban Jiao龟板胶 (clotted stomach shell of the turtle).
Blending the powder medicine with flour, fermented it and
cut into pieces and became fermented medicine such as Liu
Shen Qu六神曲 and Ban Xia Qu半夏曲.
 Stick the medicine powder on a roll of cloth or simply add
starch to the powder medicine and rub it into a medicinal
roll to make it convenient for inserting it to treat the
wounded area. In recent years, liquid tonic 口服液taken
orally and sachets冲剂 are also latest additions to the list of
preparation.
 The variety assortments offered tremendous convenience to
aid clinical treatment.
TOXICITY OF THE DRUGS
• Toxicity refers to the harmful effects of the drugs
to the human body.
• It is an important concern while managing the
property of the drug. The pharmacological books
of various ages distinguish the drugs’ toxicity by
writing them as “mild toxicity” or “strong
toxicity”.
• Although some drugs are toxic, using the
principle of ‘treating the ills with poison” would
still work in certain situations.
• It is still essential to control the dosage or
specially processing it to reduce their toxicity in
order to achieve the desired therapeutic effects.
FUNDAMENTAL OF MATCHING DRUG
• <Sheng Nong‘s herbal classic神农本草经>
summarized the relationship of drugs
composition as：
• “Some are used singly单行, some are
used with mutual promotion相须, some
are used to complement each other相使,
some are mutually restraint相畏;
• some are mutually inhibited相恶, some
are opposite 相反and some are mutually
toxic相杀.
FUNDAMENTAL OF MATCHING DRUG
 Using a single drug or use it singly refers to merely
using a drug to treat a particular disease.
 Mutually promotion refers to combining the two drugs
which shared identical therapeutic effects. By doing so
the original effects of the drug can be further enhanced
and it is one of the main manifestation of composing.
 Complementing each other is to use a drug as main and
the other as supportive. By combining the two drugs,
the supportive drug helps to increase the effects of the
main drug.
 Mutually inhibition refers to the toxicity of one drug is
being suppressed by the other.