Fang Genyou, currently the director of Tongcheng Autumn Stone Factory, is the representative inheritor of Anhui Province's intangible cultural heritage autumn stone production skills. Tongcheng Autumn Stone Factory, founded in August 1987, is located in one of the eight views of the old Tongcheng "Tongzi Qinglan", covers an area of 4,000 square meters, is a commitment to inherit and promote the culture of traditional Chinese medicine, the use of traditional handicrafts to make autumn stone production enterprises. In March 2022, Tongcheng Qiushi Factory "Changshengtang Qiushi" was successfully recognized as "Anhui Time-honored Brand" by the Provincial Department of Commerce. In the past 40 years, Fang Genyou was named "The Most Beautiful Person in Anhui Cultural Tourism" in 2021, and in 2023, he was successively recognized as "Rural Craftsman Famous Teacher" in Anqing City and Anhui Province.
Hold the signboard of the famous drug product
"Tongcheng has three treasures, tea, autumn stone and silk dates. "Autumn stone" in Tongcheng song is also known as pot autumn stone, autumn stone dan, with Chinese medicinal materials and salt as the main raw materials, add mountain spring water, after high temperature refining, the color is white, hard as jade. It is made by a unique traditional production method, and is refined by boiling frost, forging frost, high-temperature firing and other processes. Li Shizhen said in the "Compendium of Materia Medica": "Huainan Zi Dancheng, called Qiushi, said that its color is white and firm. "The main function of autumn stone is to nourish yin and reduce fire, clear the eyes and clear the heart, clear the blood and heat, strengthen the muscles and bones, replenish deficiency and diuretic; for those who are dehydrated due to excessive sweating during high-temperature work, it can relieve heat and relieve fever, strengthen the heart and calm the nerves; it has a certain curative effect on bone steaming fever, mouth ulcers, sore throat and deficiency phlegm and fire. In addition, people who suffer from edema, nephritis, heart disease and pregnant women who are not allowed to use salt can use this product instead. Autumn stone is easy to use, can be taken with boiling water dissolution, the curative effect is very good, the folk is known as "calm the heart of panic", and is welcomed by the majority of people and overseas Chinese.
Joseph Needham, a famous British scholar, listed the Chinese medicine autumn stone as one of the 26 inventions of ancient Chinese science and technology. "Compendium of Materia Medica", "Extracting Yuan Fang", "Dictionary of Traditional Chinese Medicine", "Journey to the West", "Benjing Fengyuan", "Compendium of Medical Forest", "Seeking Truth from Materia Medica", "Mengqian of Materia Medica", "Preparation of Materia Medica", "Introduction to Medicine", "Compendium", "Modern Practical Chinese Medicine", "Tongcheng County Chronicles", historical books and medical books have catalogs or records.
Tracing the history of autumn stone production, it has been more than 1,000 years. According to legend, the refining of autumn stone began in the second century B.C. Liu An, the king of Huainan in the Western Han Dynasty; Wei Boyang, an alchemist of the Eastern Han Dynasty, wrote "Zhou Yi Shen Tong Deed" with a record of "Huainan refining autumn stone"; and Shen Kuo of the Northern Song Dynasty recorded in detail the procedures and keys of the two refining methods of yin and yang of autumn stone in "Su Shen Liangfang". Tang Bai Juyi said in the poem "Thinking of the Old": "The micro refining autumn stone, the body is not old." Yao Qingquan, a scribe from Tongcheng in the Qing Dynasty, has a famous saying that "refining into an autumn stone is a famous pill". Professor Sun Yilin of the Department of History of Science of Shanghai Jiao Tong University mentioned in the book "Ancient Chinese Autumn Stone Refining Examination": Autumn stone, traditional Chinese medicine, is also recorded in ancient Chinese medicine books. One was the yang refining autumn stone in the Northern Song Dynasty, the second was the gypsum refining and milk refining autumn stone in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the third was the salt refining autumn stone in the Qing Dynasty.
The "Tongcheng County Chronicles" compiled in the 25th year of the Republic of China records that "Tongcheng autumn stone is a famous product of medicine, which is widely recognized and widely distributed, and the farther away, the more valuable it is." Historically, the autumn stone is a business card of Tongcheng people's foreign exchanges, and the Tongcheng literati Fang Yizhi and Fang Bao have gifted their friends with autumn stones.
Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, there were several workshops in Tongcheng City, and in the 50s of the 20th century, they were merged and expanded into Tongcheng Qiushi Factory. At present, Tongcheng is the only production place of autumn stone in the country. In order to ensure that this ancient production technique will not be lost, for more than 30 years, Fang Genyou has adhered to a strong sense of mission and cultural feelings, and has inherited the signboard of Qiushi Factory and Tongcheng local drug products, and has adhered to it to this day.
Inheriting millennial production techniques
In Fang Genyou's view, it is not only necessary to let Tongcheng autumn stone production skills be passed down from generation to generation, but also to make it a beautiful business card of Tongcheng. The production process of autumn stone is tedious, and the manual operation technology is demanding, and he has never wavered back in the face of boring and hard work. After more than 1,000 years of inheritance, to modern times, it has been exclusively made by the descendants of the Fang family. Through Fang Yigao and Fang Changsheng, it has been passed on to Fang Genyou, and it has now reached 100 years. Since 2003, Fang Genyou has adopted the method of mentoring and teaching, and has successively cultivated one representative inheritor of intangible cultural heritage at the municipal level and three representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage at the county level.
As early as the agricultural era, autumn stone was deeply loved by the general public because of its easy use, low quality and low price, and remarkable curative effect. In contemporary times, due to the rapid development of Western medicine, the status of traditional medicine has been impacted and challenged, and the users of autumn stone have gradually decreased, and the sales market has gradually shrunk. The production and processing of autumn stone is also due to the difficult working environment, facing many difficulties, the age structure of the personnel is too large, the youngest is more than 50 years old, and there is no successor. Qiushi is gradually losing its original market share and position, and has the potential to withdraw from the historical stage, facing the crisis of missing in the treasure house of Chinese medicine.
In order to preserve and continue this traditional Chinese medicine product, Fang Genyou has no hesitation, overcomes all difficulties, and is committed to carrying forward this traditional green medicine product. In 2003, Tongcheng Qiushi Factory successfully registered the "Changshengtang" brand trademark for professional brand operation and management. In 2004, the website of Tongcheng Autumn Stone Factory was established. In 2008 and 2009, the autumn stone production skills were successively selected into the list of intangible cultural heritage of Tongcheng City and Anqing City. In July 2010, after layers of selection and strict review, Tongcheng autumn stone production skills were officially identified as the intangible cultural heritage of Anhui Province, and at the same time, Fang Genyou was awarded the provincial representative inheritor. In recent years, by improving the packaging and product form, giving Qiushi more cultural connotations, Fang Genyou has made a lot of useful attempts and efforts. Although he had little success, he still diligently pursued it in order to take on the role of a provincial inheritor, so that the autumn stone making skills could be passed on from generation to generation.
Since 2018, a number of professors from Anhui University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine have visited the production site of Tongcheng Autumn Stone several times, emphasizing the important medicinal value and status of Tongcheng Autumn Stone, and establishing a cooperative study and practice base with Tongcheng Autumn Stone Factory, hoping to further enhance the irreplaceable medicinal properties of Tongcheng Autumn Stone and the market position of traditional Chinese medicine.
Relying on the profound cultural background of Tongcheng and the unique traditional craftsmanship, the autumn stone production skills of Tongcheng have gradually precipitated into a cultural heritage with distinctive regional characteristics, and have made due contributions to the prosperity of local culture. It's a long way to go. Today, the survival and development of the autumn stone factory is still facing great challenges. In the current market environment, there is still a long way to go in the inheritance of production skills and market expansion. Looking forward to the change of the times in the face of the alternation of the old and the new, Tongcheng Qiushi will continue to shine.
Source: @最桐城 Special article