Herbalogical Study of QiangWeiXiao Recorded in Dream of the Red Chamber(Hong Lou Meng)
In Dream of the Red Chamber(Hong Lou Meng),Cao Xueqin described a lot about the culture of tra-ditional Chinese medicine in the Qing Dynasty.Many prescriptions were made by himself,involving internal medi-cine,surgery,gynecology,and pediatrics.Among them,QiangWeiXiao is one of the preparations for external use.Although there had been studies on the raw materials and preparation of QiangWeiXiao,they were quite different from the real raw materials of QiangWeiXiao due to lack of systematic research.In order to clarify what QiangWeiXiao is,this paper systematically combed the herb literature,investigated the original plant of rose,rose liquid preparation,and Xiao respectively,and thus speculated the preparation method and efficacy of QiangWeiXiao.The research results showed that the raw material used for QiangWeiXiao was the flowers of Rosa multiflora Thunb.,which was similar to modern rose essential oil made from Rosa multiflora Thunb.,and the Xiao used was Yinxiao,which is similar to mod-ern nano silver.The preparation method of QiangWeiXiao is simple and convenient,and it had the effects of clearing away heat and dampness,dispelling wind,eliminating sores,detoxifying,removing heat toxin,and treating pityriasis simplex.The study results of this paper can provide literature support for the modern development of QiangWeiXiao and provide reference for the discovery of traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions in other ancient literature works.