10/31/2025
🎃🕸️ Happy Spooky Season from your friendly neighbourhood Acupuncturist! 🕷️💀
🌿💊 A Short History of Chinese Patent Herbal Formulas
Before there were tidy little herbal pills, there were potions.
For thousands of years, TCM practitioners prescribed raw herbs — leaves, roots, bark, and flowers — to be boiled into decoctions (tāng 汤). These aromatic brews were powerful… but also time-consuming, messy, and sometimes, let’s be honest, pretty stinky. 😅
In the late Qing Dynasty (late 1800s), Chinese herbalists and pharmacists began experimenting with ways to make herbal medicine more portable, consistent, and accessible. Inspired by Western pill-making and traditional honeyed pastes (gao 膏), they created the first “patent medicines” (成药 chéng yào) — pre-prepared herbal formulas pressed into small pills or tablets.
✨ These “patent” formulas weren’t literally patented in the Western legal sense — the name just meant they were standardized and could be mass-produced under a trusted brand.
By the early 20th century, companies like Tong Ren Tang (founded in 1669, later modernized) in Beijing became famous for producing classic formulas like:
Liu Wei Di Huang Wan – nourishing yin for menopause
Yu Ping Feng San (in tablet form) – supporting immunity
Bao He Wan – aiding digestion
Xiao Yao San – anti-anxiety
Suan Zao Ren Tang – for sleep
These formulas allowed patients to take TCM herbs conveniently without needing to cook daily decoctions.
Today, modern patent herbal formulas are made under strict GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) standards — combining ancient wisdom with pharmaceutical precision. They preserve the essence of traditional herbal medicine, but make it easier for modern life — no cauldrons required.
👻 Stay balanced, stay spooky, and keep your Qi flowing smoothly!
Safe Harbour Therapy Centre
