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Xuan Hu Ji Shi (Hanging a Bottle-gourd to Offer Medical Help)
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- Xuan Hu Ji Shi is a phrase praising those who practice medicine or pharmaceutical science in order to relieve the pain and sufferings of others.
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- Behind this phrase is a mythical story. In the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), there was an official named Fei Changfang who was in charge of the management of a market. One day he was sitting upstairs and saw an old man selling herbal medicines in the middle of the crowded market. A bottle-gourd was hung up above him.
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- The strange thing surprised him was that when the gathering market was finished, he saw the old man jumped into the bottle-gourd and disappeared. Fei Changfang was so surprised and concluded that the old man must be an extraordinary man.
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He went to visit the old man later.
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- The old man led him into the bottle-gourd, too. There was a grand palace with a fancy meal on a table. They both enjoyed the big meal before they came out. The old man said to him: “I am immortal. I made mistakes in the heaven and as a punishment was sent down to the earth. Now it is time for me to go back. Would you like to follow me and learn medicine?”
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 - Fei Changfang decided to do so and went to study medicine with him in mountains. Later he began to practice medicine to treat patients.
- This is just a mythical story. Since then those who practice medicine or selling herbal medicines usually had a bottle-gourd hanging above their clinics or pharmacy. As a symbol, when a new pharmacy or clinic opened, people often gave a bottle-gourd as a congratulation gift.
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