Wang Laoji, a famous Chinese herbalist, created one of the most popular herbal treatments:
Many of us may have wondered who Wang Laoji was as we downed the bitter and bracing Wanglaoji liangcha (herbal tea) to relieve a sore throat – or what the Chinese here say shanghuo (having excessive internal heat).
Of course, Wanglaoji liangcha is not bitter at all, and most Malaysian Chinese as well as Chinese people living in other parts of the world are familiar with it.
But northerners in China are rather unfamiliar with the tradition of drinking liangcha, although it is surely gaining a competitive edge because of the Chinese approach of yangsheng (the concept of health care by maintaining balance among the body’s five elements).
You can hardly find a herbal teashop in Beijing. But in Guangdong or Guangxi province, there are tea stalls and shops everywhere.
The history of this herbal tea can be traced back to the early 18th century when Guangzhou was hit hard by an epidemic.
It is said that Wang Zebang took his family to a mountain to get away from the city. On the way, he met a Taoist who gave him a herbal tea recipe to cure the disease. Wang then looked for the ingredients and prepared the tea, which proved to be effective. He later opened the first Wanglaoji herbal teashop.
According to the popular Chinese Web portal Sohu.com news, Wanglaoji liangcha was established in the Daoguang Period of the Qing Dynasty by Wang who tested different herbal formulas on himself in his attempt to cure zhangli (a communicable subtropical disease).
His decoction saved many lives and he was summoned by Emperor Wenzong and honoured as tai yi yuan yuan ling (a prestigious title of the Imperial Academy of Medicine in ancient times).
The story also goes that national hero Lin Zexu took the decoction when he became ill while on an assignment in Guangzhou to suppress the opium trade there.
It is said that Lin tried many other medicines but only recovered after taking the inexpensive Wanglaoji liangcha, and he made known that the value of medicine was not in how much it cost but in how effective it was.
