Secret Formulas: What the Designation Means

Disclaimer: This page is for historical and cultural education only and is not medical advice. References to traditional use describe what historical sources and classical texts record or what is traditionally believed — they are not claims that a product treats, cures, or prevents any disease, and they have not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or any other regulator. Consult a qualified physician with any health questions.

A small number of Chinese proprietary medicine formulas are, by long tradition, kept undisclosed rather than published — the opposite of a patent, which requires public disclosure in exchange for protection. Among the best known are the eight great secret formulas (八大保密配方), as they are popularly known in China.

Pien Tze Huang is one of the clearest examples: its formula, traced to an imperial court physician, is protected as a state secret, a status it has held since 1992. Guangyuyuan's Guiling Ji and Dingkun Dan are protected as state-secret formulas as well, and Angong Niuhuang Wan — made by both Tong Ren Tang and Guangyuyuan — is counted among China's famous protected formulas. A formula being kept confidential is a matter of tradition and protection, not a claim about how well it works — see the disclaimer above.

Yunnan Baiyao's formula is widely reported to have been classified the same way since the 1980s — worth pairing with a separate, widely discussed fact: the ingredient list Yunnan Baiyao discloses for products sold in the United States, under US labeling rules, has long been a point of public discussion because of how it compares with the confidentiality kept domestically. Liu Shen Wan, Hua Tuo Zai Zao Wan, and Shexiang Baoxin Wan are each widely reported to hold protected status too, on evidence this site treats as weaker than Pien Tze Huang or Guangyuyuan's — see each brand's own page for exactly how that evidence is weighted.

Seven houses, seven timelines

These are the time-honored houses covered on this site so far, listed side by side with no ranking implied. A higher or older secrecy/heritage designation is not a claim that a formula works better — see the disclaimer above.

Tong Ren Tang (同仁堂)

Founded 1669 · Beijing

Founded in Beijing; today operates as Beijing Tong Ren Tang, including a Hong Kong–listed overseas development arm.

Pien Tze Huang (片仔癀)

Founded 1555 · Zhangzhou, Fujian

Formula traced to an imperial court physician; placed under China's state-secret formula protection in 1992, and listed as national-level intangible cultural heritage in 2011 (third batch).

Guangyuyuan (广誉远)

Founded 1541 (origin point) / 1885 (Guangshengyuan) · Taigu, Shanxi

Traces to Guangshengyi, founded in Taigu in 1541; the direct operating predecessor, Guangshengyuan, was established in 1885 and carried the brand's early overseas trade into Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Nanyang.

Yunnan Baiyao (云南白药)

Founded 1902 · Yunnan

Formula created by Qu Huanzhang; today has the most built-out formal overseas manufacturing and disclosure footprint of any house on this site, including a Thailand production facility.

Lei Yun Shang (雷允上)

Founded 1734 · Suzhou (later also Shanghai)

Suzhou apothecary behind Liu Shen Wan; the name is shared today by close to a hundred separate companies split along a Suzhou/Shanghai historical line.

Baiyunshan Qixing (白云山奇星)

Founded 1875 (Qishengtang) / 1981 (Guangzhou Qixing) · Guangzhou

Maker of Hua Tuo Zai Zao Wan, a family stroke-recovery remedy donated to the state in the 1980s.

Shanghai Hutchison Pharmaceuticals (上海和黄药业)

Founded 2001 · Shanghai

A modern joint venture, not a centuries-old house; makes Shexiang Baoxin Wan, a 1970s pharmacological redesign of a Song-dynasty formula ancestor.

Read the full history of each house and its flagship product on the brand pages.