Dried ginger is the rhizome of ginger that has been processed by sun-drying or baking. It is produced all over the country and can be used sliced, either raw or processed, hence the distinctions of dried ginger, baked ginger, and ginger charcoal.
I. Efficacy and Application
Dried ginger has a pungent taste, is hot in nature, and has a heavy aroma, making it a yang medicine within yang. It belongs to the spleen, stomach, heart, and lung meridians.
Efficacy It can warm the middle and dispel cold, restore yang and unblock the meridians, warm the lungs and resolve fluid retention. Its characteristic is that it is good at warming the interior and restoring yang, with strong potency, staying without moving. Zhang Xichun called it the essential medicine for supplementing the yang aspect of the upper and middle burners; Chen Xiuyuan called it the essential medicine for cold in the viscera.
Commonly used for the treatment of cold pain in the epigastrium and abdomen, vomiting and diarrhea, cold limbs and faint pulse, cold fluid retention with wheezing and cough, and other syndromes.
Summary of Famous Works by Renowned Authors:
"Ben Jing": "Treats chest fullness, cough, and rebellious qi rising upward, warms the middle, stops bleeding, promotes sweating, expels wind-damp impediment, and addresses intestinal dysentery and diarrhea."
The Pearl Bag: Dried ginger has four uses: first, to unblock the heart and support yang; second, to remove deep-seated cold and chronic chill from the organs; third, to disperse cold qi from the meridians; fourth, to treat abdominal pain caused by cold.
"Compendium of Materia Medica": "Dried ginger can guide blood-nourishing drugs to the blood aspect and qi-regulating drugs to the qi aspect. It also has the ability to eliminate the old and foster the new, embodying the principle of yang generating yin. Therefore, it is used for those with blood deficiency. For individuals experiencing vomiting of blood, nosebleeds, or bleeding from the lower body due to a condition of yin without yang, it is also appropriate to use. This is an example of treating heat with heat, a method of following the disease's nature."
Changsha Materia Medica: Drying dampness and warming the middle, promoting stagnation and descending turbidity, tonifying fire and earth, digesting food and drink, warming the spleen and stomach to warm the hands and feet, regulating yin and yang to stabilize vomiting, descending counterflow to calm coughing, lifting prolapse and stopping diarrhea.
"Compendium of Materia Medica": "Dried ginger, when combined with black aconite, can enter the kidneys to dispel cold-dampness and revive the pulse in cases of yang depletion. When paired with schisandra, it benefits lung qi and treats cold-induced cough. It dries spleen dampness and tonifies the spleen, warms the heart to support yang and replenishes heart qi, opens the five viscera and six bowels, unblocks the joints of the four limbs, and promotes the flow of all meridians. It treats cold bi syndrome, cold abdominal masses, regurgitation, and diarrhea."
II. Compatibility and Application
1. For cold syndrome of spleen and stomach, manifested as cold pain in the epigastric and abdominal regions, vomiting, and diarrhea. Dried ginger can dispel cold pathogens from the spleen and stomach and assist the yang qi of the spleen and stomach. It is suitable for both excess syndromes caused by external cold invasion and deficiency syndromes due to insufficient yang qi. To treat the aforementioned conditions, it is often combined with ginseng, white atractylodes rhizome, and honey-fried licorice, forming Lizhong Wan.
If treating stomach cold with vomiting, it is often combined with Pinellia ternata, which lowers adverse qi and stops vomiting, known as Pinellia and Dried Ginger Powder.
2. For heart-kidney yang deficiency and yang collapse syndrome. Dried ginger is pungent and hot, unblocks the heart and assists yang, dispels internal cold. It is most commonly paired with aconite to enhance the effect of restoring yang and rescuing from collapse. For treating heart-kidney yang decline with cold limbs, it is often combined with aconite and honey-fried licorice, forming the main formula for restoring yang and rescuing from collapse, known as Sini Tang. This formula is detailed in the section on aconite.
If treating cold in the spleen and stomach with symptoms of cold limbs, one can adopt the compromise between Lizhong Wan and Sini Tang, which is Fuzi Lizhong Tang.
If treating kidney invasion syndrome, with symptoms such as heaviness in the body and abdomen, cold pain in the waist as if sitting in water, normal urination, and unchanged appetite, it is often combined with licorice, poria, and atractylodes, known as Jiang Gan Ling Zhu Tang, also called Shen Zhu Tang.
"Ben Cao Qiu Zhen": "Dried ginger is extremely hot and non-toxic, it stays and does not move. Whenever there is deficiency and cold in the stomach, and the primordial yang is on the verge of exhaustion, combining it with aconite and administering them together can restore yang and produce immediate effects. Therefore, it is said in the texts that aconite without dried ginger is not hot. Zhang Zhongjing's Sini, Baitong, and Jiangfu Decoctions all use it."
3. For cold fluid retention in the lung, manifested as cough, asthma, aversion to cold, cold back, and profuse clear thin sputum. Dried ginger can warm and disperse lung cold to resolve fluid retention, and is most commonly combined with schisandra, which contains profound principles.
Zou Run'an said: "In the Treatise on Cold Damage Disorders, whenever there is a cough, Schisandra chinensis and dried ginger are always added, and the meaning is very profound. The classic says, 'The spleen qi disperses essence, which ascends to return to the lungs.' Therefore, although coughing is a lung disease, its root actually lies in the spleen. Only when the essence dispersed by the spleen and ascending to the lungs is not clear, then the lungs' function of regulating water passages is not orderly. Later generations treat cough only by moistening the lungs and dissolving phlegm, not knowing that moistening the lungs makes the lungs even less clear, and dissolving phlegm can harm the spleen, and the phlegm remaining in the lungs ultimately cannot be dissolved. Dried ginger warms the spleen and lungs, treating the source of the cough; when the source is clear, the root of the cough is cut off. Schisandra chinensis causes the lung qi to descend and return to the kidneys, treating the pathway of the cough; when the pathway is clear, the qi is orderly and descends. Considering the two herbs together, one opens and one closes. When it should open but closes, it is like closing the door to chase away thieves; when it should close but opens, it may lead to the depletion of body fluids. Therefore, in formulas such as Minor Green Dragon Decoction, Minor Bupleurum Decoction, True Warrior Decoction, and Frigid Extremities Powder, which include cough, both herbs are used without concern for the distinction between exterior and interior."
For those with severe phlegm-fluid retention, adding Pinellia ternata, tangerine peel, Asarum sieboldii, and Poria cocos, which warm the lungs and resolve phlegm, often yields excellent results, demonstrating that Zou's discussion is indeed valid.
If treating cough and asthma, aversion to cold and cold back, copious clear and thin phlegm, it can also be combined with Ephedra, Asarum, Schisandra, and Pinellia, which is the first formula for phlegm-fluid retention in the Treatise on Cold Damage Disorders, Minor Green Dragon Decoction.
On the basis of Xiao Qing Long Tang, Li Ke added Fu Zi, Ren Shen, Long Gu, Mu Li, Kuan Dong Hua, Zi Yuan, Ke Bai Guo and other herbs, which is known as Xiao Qing Long Tang Xu Hua Tang. This formula not only expands the scope of application of the original formula, but also makes the prescription more stable and the efficacy more significant, truly exemplifying the mastery of traditional Chinese medicine.
Ben Cao Qiu Zhen: "When combined with Schisandra, it can unblock lung qi and treat cold cough; when combined with Atractylodes, it can dry dampness and tonify the spleen; when combined with Angelica and Peony, it can enter the qi and generate blood. Therefore, whenever cold invades the interior, leading to obstructions in the organs, blockages in the joints, stagnation in the meridians, cold bi syndrome, cold dysentery, or rebellious stomach with obstruction, it is always used to rescue and dispel cold."
Zhang Xichun said, "Dried ginger has an extremely pungent taste and possesses the power to disperse and unblock. When used with Magnolia officinalis, it treats cold phlegm obstructing the stomach cavity, leading to indigestion; when used with cinnamon twig, it treats cold phlegm accumulating in the chest, causing shortness of breath; when used with Astragalus, it treats cold phlegm soaking the lungs, resulting in lung atrophy and cough; when used with Schisandra chinensis, it treats cold-induced failure of lung qi to descend, causing wheezing and shortness of breath; when used with hematite, it treats cold-induced failure of stomach qi to descend, leading to vomiting blood and nosebleeds; when used with Atractylodes macrocephala, it treats spleen cold failing to control blood, causing bleeding in stool and urine, or spleen-stomach deficiency and cold, often resulting in diarrhea; when used with licorice, it can moderate its pungent taste, preventing irritation, while its warming and tonifying power becomes more prolonged."
Wang Haogu said, "Taking dried ginger to treat the middle burner will inevitably affect the upper burner, so it is advisable to use jujube as an adjuvant."
Li Dongyuan said: "It is appropriate to use licorice to moderate it."
III. Usage and Dosage
Dried ginger is warm and drying in nature, easily damaging yin, so the dosage is relatively small. The usual dosage in decoctions ranges from a few grams to over ten grams. For phlegm-fluid retention or severe yang deficiency conditions, it can also be used in doses of several tens of grams or more.
In modern traditional Chinese medicine, the "Fire God School" often uses large doses of pungent and warm herbs such as ephedra, aconite, and ginger. This is considered a "highly skilled" practice, and beginners should not blindly follow suit.
Regarding the difference between fresh ginger and dried ginger, fresh ginger acts on the exterior, excels at moving water qi, and relieves the exterior to stop vomiting; dried ginger warms the interior, stays without moving, excels at dispelling cold fluid and reviving yang to rescue from collapse.
Hu Xishu said: Fresh ginger mainly warms the middle and harmonizes the stomach, lowers adverse qi and stops vomiting, and can also induce sweating and release the exterior; dried ginger mainly warms the middle and dispels cold, warms the lower body to stop diarrhea and bleeding, and is particularly effective in restoring yang and rescuing from collapse.
IV. Application Notes
Dried ginger is pungent, hot, and purely yang, so it should be avoided by those with yin deficiency and internal heat, as well as those with intense heat. Use with caution during pregnancy.
Wang Ang said: "Excessive use damages yin and consumes qi, and it is contraindicated for pregnant women."
Peng Ziyi said, "Unless it is truly due to internal cold, dried ginger must not be used."
Attached Medicinal: Efficacy and Application of Processed Ginger
Paoshengjiang is made by stir-frying dried ginger until the surface turns slightly black and the interior becomes brownish-yellow. It has a bitter and astringent taste and a warm nature. Its efficacy is similar to that of dried ginger, but its warming effect on the interior is weaker than that of dried ginger, and it excels at warming the meridians to stop bleeding. It is suitable for bleeding due to deficiency-cold, such as hematemesis, bloody stools, and metrorrhagia, accompanied by dull-colored blood, cold hands and feet, a pale tongue, and a thready pulse. It can also be used for abdominal pain and diarrhea due to spleen and stomach deficiency-cold. The usual dosage ranges from a few grams to over ten grams.
"Compendium of Materia Medica": "Roasted ginger is pungent and dispersing. It warms the meridians and stops bleeding, stabilizes vomiting and resolves phlegm, and removes deep-seated cold and chronic cold from the internal organs. It can eliminate the old and generate the new, promoting the growth of yang and the nourishment of yin. Therefore, it is suitable for conditions such as vomiting, nosebleeds, and bleeding from the lower body when there is yin but no yang. It can also guide blood-nourishing herbs into the qi aspect to generate blood, making it suitable for cases of blood deficiency with fever and postpartum high fever."
Practical Notes on Traditional Chinese Medicine: Revised on the afternoon of January 12, 2021#TCM Practical Notes#
