The Research and Development of Tujia Ethnomedicine

There are 56 ethnic groups living in China. In addition to TCM, many minority nationalities have their own ethnomedicine, e.g. Tibetan, Mongolian, Uygurs, Zhuang, Tujia, Miao, etc. Tujia ethnomedicine is one of the gems of Chinese folk medicine. Eight million Tus live in the rural Wulin mountain area. They have developed their special ethnomedicine for the prevention and treatment of various kinds of diseases over thousands of years. The Tus trust the effect of the Tujia ethnomedicine and many folk medicines still are used widely in their ghetto so far. For example, Tujia “Qi (seven)” herbs, which local trivial name include the Chinese character “qi”, are good at curing the arthritis and inflammatory diseases, e.g. Baisan-qi ( Panax joponicum C.A. Mey. ), Kouzi-qi ( Panax japonicus C. A. Mey. var. major (burk) C.Y. Wu et K.M. Feng ), Pangxie-qi ( Arisaema fargesii Buchet ) and so on; Tujia “Xue (blood)” herbs, which include the Chinese character “xue” in their trivial name, are commonly used for the treatment of traumatic injuries, e.g. Xue-tong ( Kadsura heteroclita ) and Xue-wugong ( Bwgonia circumlobata Hance ); Tujia “Lian” herbs, which include the Chinese character “lian (lotus)” at the end of their trivial name, are often used in the blood-activating and stasis-dissolving prescription, e.g. Zhusha-lian ( Aristolochia cinnabaria C. Y. Cheng, mss. ) and Tuhuang-lian ( Souliea uaginata (Maxim) Franch. ). There are four major issues existing in the Tujia ethnomedicine. Firstly, how to protect the rare and endangered species? Secondly, many herbs have not been carried out the bio-guided phytochemistry investigations? Thirdly, majority of Tujia ethnomedicine have not established the quality control methods. Fourthly, there are safety concerns on these folk medicines. Anyway, the in-depth research and development of Tujia ethnomedicine will not only benefit the Tus, but also benefit human health. Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the Hunan University of Chinese medicine Talents Project-the Research and Development of TCM and Ethnomedicine. Agreement Number (9982 – 0001 – 38).