1, the gum from a variety of animal glue, early to cowhide glue as the authentic.

2, donkey skin glue appeared after the Han Dynasty, due to the "cowhide ban" gradually replaced the cowhide.

3, the Qing Dynasty to establish the donkey skin as the authentic Colla Corii Asini raw materials.

4, before the reform and opening up, the state had developed pig skin Colla Corii Asini, the effect is similar.

Acacia gum is known as the three Chinese medicine, nourishing sacred, in recent years the price soared dozens of times.

However, as a boiled donkey skin without much technical content, what is the difference between it and the meat jelly we often eat?

Isn't it the donkey's skin that makes the "authentic" Colla Corii Asini?

The origin of Gum is the gum made from the skin of the animal, used for bonding objects and crossbows, and not for medicinal purposes.

The earliest record of the use of gum for medicinal purposes comes from the "52 Disease Formulas" unearthed at Mawangdui in Hunan province, which was written around the time of the Warring States period, suggesting that Chinese people have been using gum for medicine for more than 2,100 years.

But for quite a long time, all kinds of animal gums were available for medicine, and there was no differentiation.

Documentation shows that there are many kinds of animal glue such as deer glue, horse glue, cow glue, rat glue, fish glue, rhinoceros glue and so on in pre-Qin Dynasty, only there is no donkey glue.

This is because the donkey originated in Africa and West Asia, and it was only when Zhang Qian visited the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty that he introduced the donkey into the Central Plains.

Because of the donkey's good adaptability and fertility, it was widely bred by farmers, and became an important domestic animal in the Central Plains on a par with cows, horses, pigs and sheep, which led to donkey gelatin.

The earliest record of gum appeared in the Shennong's Classic of the Materia Medica during the Han Dynasty, "out of Dong'a (located in what is now Yanggu County), so it is called gum."

Legend has it that Colla Corii Asini was invented by a monk with the surname Fu, so it is also called Fu Zhi Gum (Zhi means to make), although the process of making Colla Corii Asini is not recorded in this medical book.

The "Records of Famous Doctors" compiled by the Three Kingdoms to the North and South Dynasties clearly states that Colla Corii Asini is "made from boiled cowhide".

Qimin Yaojutsu recorded that the gum was made from "sand cowhide, buffalo skin, pig skin, donkey, horse, camel and mule skin", indicating that donkey skin was only a supporting role at this time.

So, a gum enterprise official website "inheritance of 3,000 years" is suspected of bragging, and "Shennong Ben Cao Jing" in the "nourishment on the top" refers to the gum should be cowhide.

To the Tang and Song dynasties, Colla Corii Asini is cowhide and donkey skin, but donkey skin gradually occupy the mainstream.

Ming Dynasty Li Shizhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica" records, "most of the ancient formula used is cowhide, the latter is expensive donkey skin.

But the Materia Medica Compendium, describing cowhide glue, emphasized that "its function is also similar to the gum. If the gum is difficult to obtain, then the real cowhide gum can be used".

"Materia Medica Gleanings" also recorded, "all the gum can cure the wind and stop the leakage of deficiency," indicating that the ancestors of traditional Chinese medicine that a variety of animal gum into the medicine and no obvious difference.

In fact, cowhide glue gradually replaced by donkey skin glue, mainly due to the Five Dynasties to the Song implementation of the "cowhide ban", rather than "therapeutic effect" of the difference.

This period of warlords, frequent wars, the demand for leather is great.

So the thick and tough cowhide by the imperial court requisition compulsory requisition, used to make armor, crossbows and other equipment for the army.

The people not only prohibited the sale of cowhide, even the death of their own cattle can not hide cowhide, otherwise it is considered a crime.

Coupled with the ancient farming society, cattle is an extremely important tool of production, can not be slaughtered, into the folk only a small number of poor quality cowhide (sick, dead, corrupt, abandoned), into the medicine is not suitable.

No cowhide, so the people had to use horsehide instead of cowhide for gum production.

But in times of war even horses and their hides were requisitioned, leaving the donkey.

The skin of the donkey was thin and not suitable for military use, so it became the "authentic" raw material for Colla Corii Asini and has been used ever since.

Time went by, and by the time of the Qing Dynasty, it had become clearer that Colla Corii Asini was made from the skin of the donkey, and that cowhide glue was considered a fake, a principle that continues to be used today.

(According to this standard, how many gums are boiled with donkey skin nowadays?)

In fact, China put into production a "new Colla Corii Asini" in 1976, which was developed from pig skin because of restrictions on the breeding of large animals at the time, when donkey hides were in short supply and Colla Corii Asini was in short supply.

Then the development of reference to the "typhoid fever" and other Chinese literature, after more than 20 medical units of more than 1,400 people's clinical observation, its "efficacy" and gum similar.

Summary is that, from ancient times to the present day, there has never been said that only donkey skin can be boiled gum, and even traced back to the roots, the cowhide gum is the authentic gum!

Because of the serious deification of Colla Corii Asini, the donkeys on the Chinese land have suffered a lot.

In the 1990s, there were still 11 million donkeys in China's domestic population, but by 2013 that had almost halved.

The huge demand has even taken its toll on African donkeys, with conservative estimates suggesting that millions of beautiful donkeys are brutally killed in Africa every year!

So, here is a solemn appeal, do not always stare at the donkey, boil a pot of pork skin jelly, the effect is the same, really do not help to blow a cowhide also line ah!