Tom and Margot's Adventures in Photography: Visit to a Chinese Medicine Hospital

A few weeks ago we went on a tour of a Chinese medicine hospital. We went on Sunday morning so it was very quiet.

This is the doctor on duty and our guide and translator, Feng Cheng. Feng Cheng is holding a moxibustion stick and the doctor is holding a model indicating acupuncture points. Moxibustion is a heat related treatment.

This is what the inside of the hospital looks like. Along both walls are doctor offices and treatment rooms. That's a fish pond in the center of the room.

Perhaps the most interesting part was a visit to the pharmacy. The doctors often prescribe various concoctions made from various herbs, seeds, plants, animals, etc. The ingredients are stored in the drawers behind him. He has placed samples of some of them on the counter in front.

This is one of the most expensive and interesting. It is Cordyceps sinensis or (Dong Chong Xia Cao, 冬虫夏草). It is a fungus that grows and consumes inside a caterpillar larva and the sprouts in the summer. It is harvested in Tibet. The part that looks like a caterpillar is actually the fungus. The long black part is the fungus part that eventually grows out of the ground and looks sort of like grass. It runs about $1000/oz.

This is velvet antler or lùróng (鹿茸). It is what it sounds like - thin slices of deer antler.

There is a ton of information on all of these on the internet. If you are interested in what it is used to treat or how to prepare it, google away.

These are the pits of Chinese dates or jujube - known in Chinese as zǎo (枣).

This is dried wolfberry or gǒuqǐ (枸杞).

This is desert cistanche or ròucōngróng (肉苁蓉). It must be expensive given the packaging.

This is centipede.

Yes, these are scorpions. They good for headaches and rheumatism.

Our other translator didn't seem too keen on this one.

This is wild ginseng. It is incredibly expensive - about $6000 for this example.

Yep, it's what it looks like. It is reproductive organs of a male deer. Apparently you put it in a bottle of baijiu or Chinese white liquor. It turns the baijiu into a natural Viagra assuming you don't consume too much - baijiu can have up to 43% alcohol or so.

We all had the opportunity to have the doctor do a diagnosis by taking our pulse and checking our tongue. In addition, we could try out one of the treatments available.

These are cups used for cupping. Something is burned inside the cup and then it is placed on the body according to needs. A vacuum is created inside the cup and it sucks the skin and flesh into the cup. It leaves a nasty bruise or mark.