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Heniantang:A Revival of Chinese Traditional Medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine is one of China's greatest scientific achievements. With its effective theories and practices, representing a crystallization of the culture's academic wisdom, it attracts adherents from around the world.

Although Beijing has become a modern metropolis, you can still track the "magic" of Chinese traditional medicine in some of the city's older areas. On Caishikou Dajie (avenue), off Xuanwumenwai Dajie in Xuanwu District, there is a typical Chinese building with a traditional facade and colours which is the headquarters of the oldest laozihao (Time Honoured Brand) in Beijing, Heniantang.

Heniantang is as familiar as another traditional Chinese medicine laozihao, Tongrentang, to most Beijingers over age 50, and it enjoys equal status with Tongrentang in China. As a leading traditional Chinese medicine manufacturer, Heniantang can trace its roots to sometime during 1403-05, about 600 years. The name Heniantang came from its founder, Ding Henian, a famous Hui poet of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The Ding family managed Heniantang for 120 years and successfully made Heniantang a well-known brand in old Beijing.

Like many other respected laozihao in China, Heniantang has weathered the ups and downs of China's sometimes turbulent history. In 1525, during the Ming Dynasty, the Cao family began its 230-year management of Heniantang. Yan Song, a Ming prime minister, was invited to inscribe the name of Heniantang on a plaque; the plaque was kept in a main hall at Heniantang and is now safeguarded at the company's headquarters on Caishikou Dajie. The company was once referred to as Xi Heniantang by the son of Yan Song, Yan Shifan, because of its former location in Xicheng District. Following the Cao family's management, the company found itself under the management of the Wang family for 172 years and the Liu family for 29 years.

For 24 years after 1949, Liu Yifeng was in charge of the pharmacy. Along with some other famous herbalist doctors, in 1950, Liu Yifeng, who benefited from the rich experience of his father, Liu Puting, the manager of Tongrentang, published a book standardizing Chinese traditional medicine, greatly promoting its development. In addition, he was an industry forerunner who suggested engaging in cooperation with the government in 1955 to ensure continued support for the industry. But the brand, as with many other companies in the traditional Chinese medicine industry, never achieved the recognition it deserved. There are a number of reasons for this: fierce competition, a lack of capital, weak intellectual property protection and a lack of modern management expertise. There were also some historical factors. For some time, the centuries-old brand has been sleeping.

Lately, however, policies to encourage and support the restructuring of these kinds of enterprises, increased support and funding and management reforms have been introduced by the government. Some non-profit organizations have also contributed, and the Beijing Bureau of Commerce has completed a draft of standards that will be used to appraise these old, famous brands' market and traditional brand values. Gao Yidao, deputy secretary-general of the Beijing Association of Enterprise Management, together with other industry experts, is helping the old brands use franchise networks to expand in China.

"Self-development with government policy support is a key if Time Honoured Brands are to get a new lease on life, meet domestic market demand first and then seek opportunities abroad in consortia," Gao said.

Time goes by. A quiet revolution, often perpetuated by local authorities in the medicine industry, has changed the nature of the industry. Managers are empowered, markets are expanding and modernizing and processing and trading methods in the world's most-populous country are changing for the better.

2004 was a turning point for Heniantang. With its rich history, original technologies, social recognition and output, a more vital Heniantang is expanding its markets and promoting its brand name. According to Beijing Heniantang Pharmaceutical Incorporated President Zang Dongpo, through its three-year development programme, Heniantang will position itself as a leading enterprise in Chinese traditional medicine. One initiative will feature its yangsheng conception, an idea that refers to the improvement of health and prolonging of life through the proper ways of caring for and nurturing one's body and mind. In terms of treatment efficacy and methodologies of understanding with some particular diseases, this conception is considered far more reasonable and effective than Western medical techniques. It has no serious side-effects. Most of the ingredients of Chinese medicine come from natural sources. The multiple ingredients of the medicines enable them to treat various diseases. Heniantang Chinese traditional medicines achieve effectiveness when they are added to daily diets or administered via fluids consumed by drinking, such as soups and beverages. But this is no simple mishmash of food and Chinese drugs; rather, the treatment is developed along with a specialized diet that incorporates Chinese drugs, foods and condiments under theoretical guidance based on traditional Chinese medicine's differentiation of symptoms and signs.

Statistics indicate that the global sales volume of herbal medicines exceeds US$30 billion and is increasing by 10 percent annually. China's products account for 3 percent-5 percent of the market at most, and 80 percent of traditional Chinese medicines traded on the world market are raw materials. In light of this reality, some see a golden opportunity for traditional Chinese medicine laozihao manufacturers to expand their overseas markets.

Heniantang celebrated its birthday at the Great Hall of the People on December 22, 2005, and was awarded as the oldest laozihao of Beijing by the Beijing Association of Enterprises Management. With the revival of the country's oldest medicine brand, Heniantang turns a new page in its storied history. Chinese traditional medicine, confronted by a new era, will rely upon its unique, yet effective, time-proven methods to bring healing to the people of the world.