Ancient Chinese Medicine Finds Buried Treasure in Bamboo

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Chinese herbs

What can bamboo tell us about Chinese herbal medicine?

 

Once upon a time, bamboo was used as paper and notes about the medicine of the day were written on it.

Then one day, after many years, someone decide to build a subway. What they dug up is legendary, 920 bamboo strips, dating back to the year 260 BC. This writing on bamboo strips  is proving to be some of the earliest known writings from Traditional Chinese medicine. The remarkably well preserved bamboo is telling us much about Chinese Medicine and Chinese herbs used over 2000 years ago and still used today.

A total of 9 medical books were found, records from the Chinese doctor Bian Que, who is called the “Grand Historian”. The archaeological discovery is one of the worlds richest for Traditional Chinese Medicine. A truly incredible and rare. Bian Que was said to have invented pulse taking. It’s amazing to learn the same Chinese herbs and Chinese medicine techniques which have now been practiced and perfected for over 2000 years ago.

Want to learn more about how bamboo is used to heal our body in TCM, Traditional Chinese Medicine.  Check this out.

 

What are Chinese herbs?

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Chinese herbs are used by over 2 billion people everyday. The herbal traditions have been passed down from generation to generation and we are the lucky recipients of this knowledge.

Chinese Herb Prices Are Skyrocketing

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The global Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) industry has naturally felt the impact of inflation throughout past years; in 2010, however, herbs used widely in TCM experienced much higher price increases than usual. The rate of inflation in China is now at its highest level in over 2 years,1 and the country’s various enterprises, including its market for herbs, are feeling the brunt of this situation. For example, TCM products sold in 2010 in China—especially in Northern and Eastern Chinese cities, such as Anguo and Shanghai—most of which were medicinal herbs, doubled in price (on average).1-3 Prices of certain ingredients and particularly popular herbs have risen considerably higher.1-7

Many factors are being blamed for the elevated prices, including cogent market demand, the Yuan’s increasing strength, weather/climate changes, herbs being cultivated more than wild collected, general economic proceedings, recent public health crises, and herbal supply shortages.1-7 Approximately 85% of the total amount of Chinese traditional medicines in the market are said to have seen surges in price, according to various online reports referencing a recent pronouncement by the China Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine (CATCM).3,4 Other reports by CATCM found that the cost of over 25% of herbal medicines at least doubled in the second half of 2010,2 and that some raw herbal materials and finished herbal medicine products have supposedly seen price spikes as steep as 700% over the past year.3

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-12172173