The Magic Miao Medicine

Xiangxi Miao medicine is a precious treasure of traditional Chinese medicine. Boasting a time-honored history dating back to the matriarchal clan society, it has developed into a unique and complete medical system through thousands of years of practice and has been included in multiple intangible cultural heritage lists at all levels. Based on the Miao people’s generative philosophy and centered on the Three Fundamental Theories, it has formed three major diagnosis and treatment principles, sixteen core therapeutic methods and forty-nine sets of characteristic prescriptions and techniques, constituting a mature theoretical system with distinctive ethnic features. Endowed with abundant natural herbal resources in the Wuling Mountain area, Miao medicine adheres to the philosophy that "all grasses are medicinal herbs" and has developed a wealth of characteristic therapies. The nationally recognized intangible cultural heritage techniques include the ten-combined therapy for joint wind diseases inherited and innovated by master Tian Xingxiu, and the epilepsy medicinal cap therapy created by Long Yunian. It also features exclusive medical skills such as Luma pulse diagnosis, Twenty-Four Pulse Diagnosis, Long Qingka bone-setting therapy, wine-fire therapy and water transformation therapy, which deliver remarkable curative effects on rheumatism and bone diseases, pediatric diseases, epilepsy and other illnesses. Generations of inheritors of Miao medicine uphold traditions while pursuing innovation. They preserve the essence of ancient therapies and optimize diagnosis and treatment equipment and techniques, enabling the ancient Miao medicine to integrate medical treatment, health care and wellness preservation. Today, this millennia-old ethnic medical art continues to thrive, injecting unique vitality into the inheritance and development of traditional Chinese medical culture.