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One Herb
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Traditional
Chinese
Medicine
Culture
Gulin County Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital
Recognize one herb, feel the charm of TCM culture
Dang Shen (Codonopsis pilosula)
This product is the dried root of the plant Codonopsis pilosula, also known as Dong Shen or Shan Shen. It is harvested in autumn, cleaned, and dried.
【Characteristics】Dang Shen: It is long cylindrical, slightly curved, measuring 10–35 cm in length and 0.4–2 cm in diameter. The surface is grayish-yellow, yellow-brown to gray-brown, with numerous warty protrusions at the root’s top and buds; each stem scar has a depressed round dot at the top; below the root head, there are dense ring-like transverse stripes, which gradually become sparse downward, some reaching half the total length. Cultivated varieties have fewer or no ring-like transverse stripes; the entire root has longitudinal wrinkles and scattered transverse lenticel-like protrusions, and the broken root often has black-brown gelatinous material. The texture is slightly soft or slightly hard with some toughness, the cross-section is slightly flat, with cracks or radial patterns, the bark is light brown to yellow-brown, and the wood is light yellow to yellow. It has a special aroma and a slightly sweet taste.
Su Hua Dang Shen (Western Codonopsis): Measuring 10–35 cm in length and 0.5–2.5 cm in diameter. The surface is yellow-white to gray-yellow, with dense ring-like transverse stripes often reaching more than half the total length. The cross-section has more cracks, and the bark is gray-white to light brown.
Chuan Dang Shen: Measuring 10–45 cm in length and 0.5–2 cm in diameter. The surface is gray-yellow to yellow-brown, with obvious irregular longitudinal grooves. The texture is softer yet firm, with fewer cracks in the cross-section, and the bark is yellow-white.
【Preparation】Dang Shen slices: Remove impurities, wash, soak, cut into thick slices, and dry.
Stir-fried Dang Shen: Take Dang Shen slices, stir-fry with rice until the surface turns deep yellow, remove, sift out the rice, and let cool.
For every 100 kg of Dang Shen slices, use 20 kg of rice.
【Characteristics】These slices resemble Dang Shen, with a deep yellow surface, occasionally with scorch marks.
【Flavor and Meridian Entry】Sweet, neutral. Enters the Spleen and Lung meridians.
【Functions and Indications】Strengthens the Spleen and benefits the Lung, nourishes blood and generates fluids. Used for Spleen and Lung Qi deficiency, poor appetite, fatigue, cough with shortness of breath, insufficient Qi and blood, pale complexion, palpitations, shortness of breath, thirst due to fluid damage, and internal heat leading to thirst.
【Dosage】9–30 g.
【Caution】Should not be used with Li Lu.
Meanwhile, Dang Shen can also be consumed.
Dang Shen is mainly used for soup; today, we share a recipe for Dang Shen and Huang Qi Chicken Soup.
Dang Shen Chicken Soup
Ingredients include:1 hen, 40 g of Dang Shen, 20 g of Huang Qi (Astragalus membranaceus), 1 piece of old ginger, 3 dates, goji berries, cooking wine, and salt to taste.
Homemade Method:
1. Clean and cut the local hen (2-3 kg) into pieces;
2. Soak the red dates, Dang Shen, and Huang Qi in clean water for 10 minutes, wash and set aside;
3. Cut 3 slices of the cleaned old ginger and crush the remaining part;
4. Place the chicken pieces in cold water, add appropriate cooking wine and ginger slices, bring to a boil, continue boiling for 3 minutes, skim off the foam, and wash the chicken in warm water to drain and set aside;
5. In a clay pot, boil an appropriate amount of clean water, add the chicken pieces, Dang Shen, Huang Qi, and crushed ginger, bring to a boil, continue boiling for 3 minutes, then simmer on low heat for 1-2 hours. Add 3 dates and goji berries 30 minutes before serving, and add salt 3 minutes before serving!
Department Introduction
Gulin County Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital Pharmacy Department has established clinical pharmacy group, Chinese medicine pharmacy, Western medicine pharmacy, preparation room, decoction room, Chinese medicine storage, and Western medicine storage. The department currently has 33 staff members, including 6 with intermediate or higher titles and 5 clinical pharmacists. The hospital places great importance on talent introduction and training, having introduced several professional technical personnel from Chongqing Medical University, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southwest Medical University, and Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in recent years. The hospital encourages multidimensional development, emphasizes pharmaceutical services and professional technical improvement, and has repeatedly sent personnel for further training. The department arranges monthly training sessions to enhance professional technical skills.
Currently, the hospital has 13 varieties of in-hospital preparations, making it the only TCM hospital in the four counties and three districts of Luzhou with the qualification for Chinese medicine preparation. The department continuously improves the variety of medicines to meet clinical medication needs, actively responding to national essential drug policies and centralized procurement policies. Currently, there are over 500 varieties of Western medicines (including biological products) and Chinese patent medicines (including in-hospital preparations), and over 700 varieties of Chinese medicinal pieces and formula granules.
The pharmacy department mainly conducts drug procurement, acceptance, storage, maintenance, prescription review, Chinese medicine decoction, preparation production, prescription processing, and teaching internships. It carries out pre-review of prescriptions, prescription evaluation, clinical pharmacist ward rounds, consultations, and drug consultations, assisting in clinical medication and promoting rational drug use.
All staff in the pharmacy department adhere to the service concept of “patient-centered”, providing comprehensive pharmaceutical services to patients and other medical staff, ensuring the safety, effectiveness, rationality, and economy of clinical medication.
Chinese Medicine Pharmacy Consultation Phone:
Luohong Road Campus:0830-7102341
Junwu Road Campus:0830-7215257; 0830-7215276
Western Medicine Pharmacy Consultation Phone:
Luohong Road Campus:0830-7101936
Junwu Road Campus:0830-7215250
Text/Images: Wang Chao
Reviewed by: Jiang Xueli
Gulin County Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital
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