Time-Honored TCM

The history behind China's secret-formula medicine houses

Among China's old pharmaceutical houses, a small group of formulas have long been treated as trade secrets rather than published recipes. Guangyuyuan (广誉远) is one of the oldest: its lineage traces to Guangshengyi, a Taigu, Shanxi apothecary founded in 1541, and its flagship product Guilingji has been part of that continuous history since the beginning. By the turn of the 20th century Guangyuyuan's predecessor house, Guangshengyuan, was already an overseas trader in its own right — its Guilingji reportedly saw a wave of demand in Nanyang (Southeast Asia) around 1900, a Hong Kong branch opened in 1916 to sell into that same market, and exports peaked at roughly 40,000 bottles in 1928.

This site is a neutral, independent guide to that history and to how it echoes today — alongside the parallel stories of two other well-known secret-formula houses, Pien Tze Huang and Tong Ren Tang, and four more added in this round: Yunnan Baiyao, Lei Yun Shang (maker of Liu Shen Wan), Hua Tuo Zai Zao Wan, and Shexiang Baoxin Wan. It is not an official channel for any of these brands, it sells nothing, and it makes no medical claims. See About This Site for the full disclaimer.