Miao medicine has created the "four-diagnosis" diagnosis method of looking at the family, feeling the pulse, asking questions, and touching. It scientifically divides diseases into "36 symptoms and 72 diseases". The diagnosis and treatment of diseases are scientific and complete. Starting from reality, it adheres to the principle of economic and effective medical practice, and introduces treatment methods such as medicine, witchcraft, massage, needle picking, steaming and fumigation, and cupping, which not only ensures the efficacy, but also saves medical costs and reduces the economic burden of patients. In 2008, Miao medicine was identified as the second batch of intangible cultural heritage list projects in Hunan Province. Historical Origin Miao medicine has a long history. As early as the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Xiang wrote in "Shuo Yuan Bian Wu": "I heard that the ancient doctor Miao Fu. When Miao Fu was a doctor, he used a tube as a mat and straw as a dog. He faced north and prayed, and uttered ten words. All those who came with him and lifted him up were all cured." Miao Fu is the ancestor of Miao medicine, and his medical skills are very advanced. The legend of "Grandpa Medicine King" is still circulating among the Miao people in Fenghuang, Xiangxi and Tongren, Guizhou. The synopsis is: Grandpa Medicine King is as transparent as glass, has wings, horns on his head, can fly and walk, travels back and forth in Ximen Mountain, looking for doctors and medicines for the Miao people, tastes hundreds of herbs, and has been seriously poisoned and turned black many times, but he left behind a wealth of medicines of "3,000 Miao medicines and 800 prescriptions" for future generations. In order to commemorate him, future generations left behind a nursery rhyme that is still sung today: "Medicine King, Medicine King, his body is as bright as a star, he crosses mountains and ridges, walks as usual, eats fruits and drinks dew, and looks for medicines and prescriptions." Literary works are a mirror of history, which shows that the Miao people had their own medicine a long time ago and had considerable achievements. In the long years of fighting against diseases, Miao doctors have continuously improved their medical skills and achieved more significant results through continuous exploration, practice and communication. During the Qing Dynasty, Miao medicine developed further. The Qianlong edition of Fenghuang Hall Records of Miao Customs recorded: "Miao lands are rich in medicinal materials, but Miao people often offer sacrifices to ghosts when they are sick and do not take medicine. It is said that some people use medicine to treat them. The names of the medicines are strange and not listed in prescription books. They are generally called herbal medicines, which are swallowed or applied, and are the most effective." The book also lists the names of 25 Miao medicines, and the Fenghuang Hall Records compiled in the third year of Daoguang also stated the same. In the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, Miao medicine reached a higher level, especially in the treatment of traumatic injuries. In the early years of the Republic of China, after seeing the miraculous effect of Miao doctors in treating gunshot wounds, the Prime Minister Xiong Xiling praised: "The bullet has no foot to retreat, all thanks to the Miao doctor Hua Tuo's work." Medical theory After a long period of historical accumulation, Miao medicine has occupied a place in the field of Chinese medicine. It is different from traditional Chinese medicine and even more different from Western medicine treatment methods, and it shines with the wisdom of the Miao people. In long-term medical practice, Miao medicine has summarized and discovered unique medical theories and treatment methods: 1. Dialectical, scientific and popular medical theories 1. Miao medicine believes that the human body is composed of five elements, gold, wood, water, fire and earth, and is divided into two poles, yin and yang. The coordination between yin and yang is health, and imbalance will cause disease. In medical practice, Miao medicine pursues the balance of yin and yang, and establishes the theory of syndrome differentiation and treatment of "yin deficiency and yang supplementation, cold is attacked by heat, and heat is retreated by cold", "extinguishing wind first moves blood, blood moves fire by itself, activating blood first replenishes qi, and qi will return by itself". 2. Miao medicine has established a simple, scientific and practical theory of medicinal properties, and expressed it in a popular and easy-to-remember form, which is convenient for inheritance and guidance of practice. For example, "the hollow vine can eliminate wind, the paired seeds and leaves are red when washed, the hairy and prickly can eliminate inflammation and swelling, the bright surface is pulpy and can eliminate poison and fierce", "tonic medicine tastes sweet, hemostasis uses astringent and sour, fragrance is more open, and anti-inflammatory takes bitter and cold", etc. 3. After long-term clinical treatment accumulation, Miao medicine divides diseases into 36 syndromes and 72 diseases. 36 diseases are serious diseases, which are internal medicine, and 72 diseases are minor diseases, which are mostly surgical. Among the 72 surgical diseases, there are more than 10 types of furuncle, 25 types of sores, 8 types of carbuncle, and 5 types of diseases. 4. The Miao people worship ghost witch culture. Ghost witches occupy a dominant position in the Miao spiritual world. They believe that people's diseases are caused by ghosts. Therefore, the Miao medical theory of "using medicine and witches together, and magic medicine for two solutions" has existed since ancient times. 2. Diagnostic methods Diagnosis is the most important part of Miao medicine. It is the basis for taking medicine to treat diseases. In the long-term clinical practice, Miao medicine has gradually formed the "four diagnoses", namely, family observation, pulse feeling, questioning, and touch. The first is "home observation": including looking at the demeanor, expression, nose, lips, fingerprints, nails, and palm prints; the second is "feeling the pulse": Miao doctors divide pulse feeling into eleven types, in addition to wrist pulse, there are "finger pulse" and "foot pulse"; the third is asking: that is, asking about the condition, using the questioning to confirm and enrich the results of pulse diagnosis, so as to make a correct judgment; the fourth is touch, which is the basic method of surgical diagnosis and is also commonly used in internal medicine. In addition, the patient's gender, age, demeanor, climate and other factors should be referred to in order to make a correct judgment on the condition. In order to facilitate memory and inheritance, Miao doctors have compiled a diagnosis rhyme: "First, the main demeanor, second, the main color, third, the difference between men and women, fourth, the age and the four seasons, fifth, the wrist pulse, sixth, ask and touch, there are tricks for all kinds of diseases and difficulties". 3. Treatment methods and techniques 1. Drug treatment. Miao doctors use hand grasping and eye observation to determine the dosage of medicine for treating diseases. For the same disease, the dosage depends on the patient's age, weight and gender. There are two-finger grasping, three-finger grasping, four-finger grasping, and one-hand grasping. If it is a medicinal bath, more is needed. Clinically, there are mainly oral administration and external application. For oral administration, the medicine is boiled into a decoction. The requirements for the utensils, water volume, fuel, boiling and medication time are very strict to ensure the concentration and efficacy. There are six types of internal medicine: surface dispersion method, emetic method, laxative method, heat-clearing method, swelling-removing method and nourishing method. The surface dispersion method has the effect of relieving the surface and clearing the rash; the emetic method can cause the patient to vomit, thereby relieving the disease; the laxative method has the effect of removing evil heat, attacking the cold accumulation of food, and clearing the stagnation; the heat-clearing method has the effect of clearing heat, purging fire, cooling blood, removing heat, promoting body fluid and detoxifying; the swelling-removing method is a method of using medicine to eliminate the discomfort of fullness or lumps and hard boils in certain parts; the nourishing method is a method of using medicine to nourish the body's qi, blood, yin and yang deficiency and treat various weak diseases. The external medicine should be pounded and chewed, and one or two glutinous rice 1 should be added to ensure that it does not fall off or collect pus. 2. Medical witch treatment method. The combination of medicine and witchcraft is a method occasionally used by Miao doctors. The most widely used and popular one is the "water-transforming" spell therapy. There are more than ten kinds of water-transforming water, such as hemostatic water, analgesic water, thunder god water, cormorant water, and abortion-inducing water. The commonly used spell therapies include the spell of frightening, the spell of blowing eye cataracts, the spell of sores and blisters, the spell of protecting abortion, the spell of pain relief, the spell of blocking poison, the spell of children's miscarriage, the spell of fever reduction, and the spell of thunder. 3. Therapy of using poison to fight poison: The effect of using poison to fight poison is very good for snake bites and wasp stings. If bitten by a poisonous snake, kill the snake immediately, take its head and smash it and rub it on the wound to inhibit swelling and the spread of snake venom. 4. Therapy of similar appearance and nature: The methods of treating the corresponding diseased organs with similar appearance to the medicine include: heart disease is treated with banana heart, kidney disease is treated with wax gourd, and joint pain is treated with red cow knee. Diseases with similar sex are: female amenorrhea is treated with Yuexiahong, male impotence is treated with wall-growing Phragmites australis, and rock moths are used to treat moth disease (called pneumonia in Western medicine). 5. Massage therapy. For children with convulsions, massage the base of the thumb, palm, and forehead. For sudden severe abdominal pain, massage the affected area and the lower end of the soft ribs. For heatstroke, use Guasha or Tui Niuqi. 6. Needle picking method. Use steel needles to pick the shoulder autumn (sores on the shoulder) and hemorrhoids. 7. Fire needle therapy. It is used to treat Baguhuang and deep abscesses. This kind of abscess is easy to seal with needle picking or knife scratching, so Miao doctors use fire needles to deep pierce and drain pus. 8. Steaming and fumigation therapy. Combined with the use of drugs, steam or fumigate the whole body or the affected part. This therapy is very effective for muscle pain, rheumatoid arthritis and edema. 8. Cupping therapy. Miao doctors use bamboo tubes, porcelain cups, etc. as attached cups. Cupping includes water cups, medicine cups, wind cups, fire cups, etc., which are effective for colds, headaches, and joint pain. 10. Folk remedies. Folk remedies are simple and easy to learn. Ordinary people can treat minor injuries and illnesses with them, such as scraping therapy, Buben (Chinese translation: hooded) therapy, and lamp therapy. 11. Miao medicine has its own unique features in the treatment of orthopedics and traumatic injuries. Lumbar vertebrae displacement, shoulder and elbow dislocation or fractures can not only be reset by touch, but also the "throwing pier method", "suspension method", "ladder and stool method" and other methods have been created for reset. Fractures are fixed with the "fir bark fixation method", which regenerates muscles and tendons, and has a magical effect. 12. The related instruments used in Miao medicine include: digging tools, knives, silver needles, grinding troughs, pottery jars, grinding tools, punching tools, hammer tools, scissors, etc. The representative inheritor of the inheritance and development of Miao medicine is Long Yunian from Fenghuang County. He was born in a Miao medicine family and has been studying and practicing medicine with his father since he was a child. It has been more than 60 years. On the basis of inheriting his father's medical skills, he learned from many doctors and fully inherited and developed the medical theory and medicinal property theory of Miao medical technology, covering surgery, internal medicine, orthopedics, dermatology, gynecology, pediatrics, etc. Miao medicine is an important part of Chinese medicine and has made great contributions to the development of Chinese medicine. Through thousands of years of hard practice and exploration, Miao doctors discovered "3,000 Miao medicines and 800 prescriptions", named each herbal medicine, and created the "four diagnosis" method of family observation, pulse feeling, questioning, and touch, dividing diseases into 36 symptoms and 72 diseases, accumulating rich experience for the development of Chinese medicine, which is of great significance to promoting the development of medical industry. In 2008, Miao medicine was identified as the second batch of intangible cultural heritage list projects in Hunan Province.