Why Chinese pour leftover TCM medicine onto roads, hoping others will walk, drive over it
Folk legend has it that a man known as ‘king of medicine’ in Tang dynasty examined leftover TCM on street, came up with better cures
While walking along China’s roads, it is not uncommon to see leftover herbs scattered on the surface.
This is not some random dumping problem, it is in fact Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) leftovers deliberately poured out by the people who cooked them.
Superstition has it that by pouring the TCM leftovers on public roads, other people can walk and drive over them, thereby helping keep illness at bay.
There is a folk legend that the habit originated in the Tang dynasty (618–907).
Sun Simiao, who was hailed as China’s King of Medicine, lived away from the court and was keen on treating ordinary people.
He was said to have passed by a village one time and saw an elderly man pouring leftover TCM ingredients he had cooked outside his door.
Sun was curious at the rare action and checked with the man.
The man told Sun that he had consumed more than 10 doses of medicine, but his condition had not improved.