Chen Liji bonded together to help the world
Legend has it that in the 27th year of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty (1600), the merchant Chen Tizhi returned to his hometown at the end of the year to collect the cargo of silver and then returned to Guangzhou by boat. When the ship arrived at Guangzhou, he hurriedly disembarked and inadvertently left the silver on the ship, which was picked up by a fellow passenger named Li Shengzuo. Li Shengzuo was familiar with the medical profession and owned a Chinese herbal medicine store in Guangzhou.
Li Shengzuo is a loyal person, not to hide the gold, on board the ship after the whole day at the pier waiting for the owner. Chen Tiquan returned home, noticed the loss of cargo silver and then rushed to search in all directions, looking to the pier, Li Shengzuo will find the silver yuan back to him. Chen Tiquan was touched by Li Shengzuo's honesty, and wanted to reward him with silver dollars, but Li Shengzuo politely declined. Chen Tiquan saw that Li Shengzuo was honest and reliable, so he sincerely offered to invest half of his money in Li Shengzuo's herbal medicine store.
Li Shengzuo finally agreed to do so, and immediately wrote down the partnership instrument with a red card: "The capital of each, the benefits of equal share, with the same heart to help, long hair of its year." And will be named ChenLiJi store number, meaning ChenLi two people coincidental strange relationship, partnership, concentricity to help the world. Since then, Chen Li Ji's store number in Guangzhou city south double door bottom (now Beijing Road) hang up.
Chen Li Ji has been in the center of the downtown area of Beijing Road, in front of thousands of customers daily. In the old society where there were many starving people and refugees, pedestrians often fainted, and the staff of Chen Li Ji's store would go out to rescue them and give them medicine, and notify their families on their behalf. "This was written into the rules and regulations of the old store, which have lasted for hundreds of years.
Tongzhi Emperor Imperial Trademark
Chen Li joint venture, to help the world for the purpose of the factory, is committed to the collection of ancient inherent formula, prescription, the selection of raw materials and raw materials of the best quality, and careful study of concoctions, and finally made a variety of unique craftsmanship, the ancient formula of the original medicine.
In the early years of the Qing Dynasty, Chen Liji's products were already well known in China. In order to expand its influence, Chen Liji took advantage of the opportunity of students going to Beijing to take examinations every year, and transported a large number of products to Beijing for exhibition and sale. Wax pills, which were uniquely packaged, attracted people's attention, and its miraculous curative effects gradually earned it a reputation. When the students returned to their hometowns after the exams, they spread the word about Chenrezig's wax pills as they had seen and heard about them in Kyoto, and regarded them as treasures to be given to their friends and relatives. From then on, Chen Liji Wax Pills became famous all over the world, and became synonymous with "Canton Medicine".
On one occasion, Emperor Tongzhi occasionally suffered from a cold, abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea, the imperial doctors agreed to suggest taking Chen Liji's "chasing the wind Suho Pills", which really worked. The emperor was delighted, so he gave "Apricot and Hall" three words for the seal, while the factory was authorized to store as raw material "old Chenpi" for tribute, many years to the court tribute. Therefore, in the Tongzhi era of the Qing Dynasty, the factory was also known as "Chen Liji Apricot and Tang Pharmaceutical Factory".
In the early days of Chenrezig's business, the factory employed only a few workers, with a store in front and a factory at the back, producing by hand, which was a typical form of small workshop. Later, due to the high reputation of the product, coupled with good management, in addition to the Beijing Exhibition, the products are also exported to the border ethnic minority areas. According to historical records, in the Nujiang River, Yunnan Province, Xishuangbanna area, when Chen Liji produced the "chasing the wind Suhe Pill" a grain can be sold for a silver dollar.
At that time, the domestic pCm industry had formed three bases in Beijing, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, with Beijing represented by Tongrentang, Jiangsu and Zhejiang represented by Hangzhou Hu Qingyu Tang, and Guangdong was the first to promote Chen Liji.
Advertising ballads Revolutionary code words
In the 1820s, with the Chinese who went abroad to make a living, Chen Liji's products were introduced and sold to Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia and other places. In 1856, Chen Li Ji opened a wholesale office in Thirteen Houses in Guangzhou as a port trade organization for exporting products and importing raw materials for foreign medicines.
Chen Li Ji speechless, its history written in silence:
In 1900 the British and French invasion, Guangzhou, the old store was destroyed by artillery fire; 1937, Japan's invasion of China broke out in the war, the fall of Guangzhou in October, eight years of war, production interruption; 1954 into the public-private partnership period, Chen Li Ji as the main factory, has been merged into the Shennong, Wanchunyuan, Wei, Feng Zhichang, He Hongren Xiehe Tang, Orange Xiangzhai and other seven factories to form the "Guangzhou Chen Liji Joint Pharmaceutical Factory"; in 1967, during the "Cultural Revolution", more than 300 years of Chen Liji sign was changed to the second factory of Guangzhou Traditional Chinese Medicines; in September 1980, after approval of the restoration of the In September 1980, the name of the factory "Guangzhou ChenLiJi Pharmaceutical Factory" and the trademark "XingHeTang" were restored with the approval of the Chinese Medicines Company, which identified ChenLiJi as a national key factory of traditional Chinese medicine in the same year.
ChenLiJi has a deep connection with the Chinese democratic revolution. During the democratic revolution, the martyr Yang Yin, who was known as "the two giants of the Workers' Revolution" together with Peng Pei, was the son-in-law of the Li family. He went to Chenrezig during the Revolution to mobilize workers and organize trade unions, and used it as a rear base to lead the Guangzhou Uprising. "Chenrezig, Dragon Tea, Fever and Cold have hold!" The advertising song of Chenrezig's Dragon Tea is not only a household name, but also one of the secret codes of the Guangzhou Uprising. To this day, as long as the song is sung, many Cantonese people still feel very familiar and intimate.
Fire and martial arts, medicine to distinguish between ruler and minister
The deep precipitation of Lingnan urban culture has formed a distinctive culture of southern medicine. In order to better promote the culture of Chinese medicine, Chen Li Ji has built a Chinese medicine museum in the factory, which integrates the history of centralized medicine, the process of Chinese medicine and the culture of Chinese medicine.
Pushing open the two heavy antique doors of the museum, a unique shade of the old mansion, mixed with the fragrance of the bitter medicine, leisurely coming. Here is the main hall of the museum, reproducing the original appearance of the early years of the Republic of China Chen Liji old store: palace lamps hanging high, carved beams and rails, high walls of water-worn bricks, fine carving of the acid medicine cabinet, the antique acid bar door, the color of different porcelain bottles, glowing tin cans, dizzying fascination. The medicines displayed on the medicine cabinet are the most representative products of Chen Li Ji, which had the best reputation in those years. In the rich Lingnan folk atmosphere, look at the prescription, the execution of the drug fellows in a realistic manner; Chen, Li, two male portraits, sitting in the hall to ask the old Chinese medicine three fingers pulse, standing next to him wearing a pipa lapel suit of the little girl, the eyes friendly, considerate to the patient. The characters are so vivid and lifelike that they ignite memories of the past.
"The fire and the civil and martial arts to adjust the hands of the Yuan, medicine to distinguish between the gentleman and the minister to help the world heart". A century-old couplet hanging in the museum is particularly eye-catching. The so-called "fire and Wenwu" refers to the importance of the fire, in which the "martial arts fire" that is fierce fire, "Wenwu" that is a small fire. The "medicine to identify the king and minister" emphasizes the accuracy of the Chinese medicine, in which the "king's medicine" is the main therapeutic effect on the cause or main symptom of the disease, generally more potent, the amount of medicine is larger; "minister's medicine The "principal drug" is the drug that can assist and strengthen the effect of the main drug in the prescription. The first couplet says that healing people is like ruling a country, and a good doctor is like a good minister. The next couplet picks up on the meaning of the previous couplet, a good doctor is like a good prime minister, the medicine also has to identify the ruler and the minister, the ruler and the minister are of one mind, to help the world and prosper the country. This is the core spirit of Chen Li Ji, which has been standing in the apricot forest for 400 years!
"Chen Li Ji": a 408-year-old pharmaceutical company that doesn't emphasize family interests
Chen Yong Juan, an 11th-generation descendant of Chen Tiquan, has a clear record in her family tree. She is currently working as a docent at the Chen Liji Museum of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and is known to many in the factory as "Sister Eleven". She told reporters that she hopes that her explanation will make every guest who visits the museum realize the depth and subtlety of Chinese medicine.
Family generations to "honesty"
Reporter: parents have told you the story of the ancestors of the Chen family business?
Chen Yong Juan: Our ancestor, Chen Tiquan Gong, when he was young, Xiqiao Mountain, picking medicines for his mother's treatment story, I heard about it as a child. I think it was because he also knew a little bit about medicine, so later with Li Shengzuo Gong **** with the operation of the pharmaceutical factory. I have also heard the story about their acquaintance through the lost cargo silver. "Chen Li Ji" can be said to be born from the word "sincerity". In the future business, also strictly follow the legacy of their ancestors.
Reporter: As a descendant of Chen Tiquan Gong, do you think there are some characteristics of this family?
Chen Yong Juan: Since I was a child, my father taught us that we must be "sincere", which includes treating people sincerely and being honest. The ancestor's wishes of every descendant in the family have been abided by. In addition, in our family, perhaps because since childhood, although there is no one specifically to explain to us pharmacological knowledge, pharmaceutical processes, but we seem to be born with the identification of traditional Chinese medicine, medicinal herbs and other common sense.
"Chen Liji" had organized its own "fire department"
Reporter: During the Cultural Revolution, it was said that "Chen Liji" had a lot of traditions. "Many of the traditions of the pharmaceutical company have been destroyed, what is the specific situation?
Chen Yong Juan: When the ancestors started their business, there were provisions to help the world with one heart and save the world. Later, both the Chen and Li family operators also inherited this. I remember that in the past, if people passed by the store and fainted or were injured, Chen and Li Ji would give them medicine to help them. Emergency medicines such as Chou Feng Su He Pills, Xing Jun San, Wan Ying Ru Yi Oil, Lidong Pills, etc. were always available at the market. Also, at that time, the area around Hanmin Road (now Beijing Road) was full of wooden houses and cottages, and when the wind was dry in the fall, there would be fires. For its own safety on the one hand, and to help the public on the other hand, "Chen Li Ji" organized a fire department with 20 strong men and three water wagons painted with "Xing He Tang - Relief and Help". When there is a fire danger, the "fire department" will be mobilized.
Chen and Li descendants were once forbidden to intermarry
Reporter: "Chen and Li Ji" was originally a brand created by the Chen and Li families, but later became a public-private partnership. As a descendant, would you prefer it to remain a family business with its own inheritance rights?
Chen Yong Juan: It should be said that when ChenLiJi was founded, it had a sense of helping the world, not just narrow family interests. In the Chen and Li families, there is an unwritten rule that the descendants of Chen and Li are not allowed to intermarry for all eternity. Regardless of whether one's surname is Chen or Li, in the eyes of our ancestors and our descendants, we are one family, brothers and sisters. Secondly, after intermarriage, there will be no distinction between the Chen and Li families, which may cause some confusion and management will become unclear. The old ancestors were very clear-headed, and this indeed ensured that "Chen and Li Ji" would continue well. Since then, for more than 300 years, it has followed the tradition of rotation, with the two clansmen taking turns to be the manager, and the sense of family interest has been weakened.
The philosophy of ChenLiJi is to benefit the public, and the medicines it produces are aimed at curing illnesses and saving lives, and are priced so that ordinary people can afford them. Over the centuries, the quality and character of the successor has taken precedence over family interests. By emphasizing too much on personal or family interests, there would be no "Chen Li Ji", let alone "Chen Li Ji" today.
Contemporary, "Tong Ren Tang in the north, Qing Yu Tang in the south", spreading the story of the "king of medicine in Jiangnan" has been flourishing. In China, although there are countless large and small Chinese medicine number, there are people say, but the most famous is recognized only "two and a half" - Beijing's Tongrentang counts as one, Hangzhou's Hu Qingyu Tang counts as one, Guangdong's Chen Li Ji counts as half.
Only seems to be forgotten by the world is China's earliest medical heirloom "Shi Ji Tang" party family. Only the half-submerged in the pool of Shaanxi Hanzhong monument scenic Hantai that huge one person high stone concave stone tripod (originally has been placed in the party's garden in the center of the mandarin tree under the tripod seat, to raise the Swire stone with the early sixties of the last century, in the name of building a park to build a city, to take a pig trough for the original Hanzhong City, No. 49, West Street, the party's home dragged away) in the inheritance of the unknown "Shi Jitang" the past sorrows and had a brilliant; and Tongrentang and Chen Liji's ancient buildings including workshops have been completely demolished, replaced by newly built houses, no traditional features, only Hu Qingyu Hall, the original site of the old and new clip together, preserved. The ancient simplicity is hidden in a few mysterious, elegant in the hidden cultural deposits.
In the long thousands of years of splendid Chinese civilization history, astronomical calendar and traditional Chinese medicine is the Chinese nation to the Chinese people and the world's largest contribution to mankind. Its significance far exceeds the four great inventions. One of the four major medicine bureaus of the Ming and Qing dynasties, "Tong Ren Tang", is now the symbol of the national medicine; "Shi Ji Tang" Dang's Chinese medicine, is the real teacher of the oral tradition, a lineage of inheritance, inherited to this day, to help the world to live the oldest medical family in China; "Hu Qing Yu Tang" precipitated a rich and unique culture, and "Chen Li Ji" concept, can be said to be the essence of traditional Chinese business culture.