After Chinese cough syrup takes New York by storm, what will be next ancient remedy to find favour in West?
From ginseng to ginger, cordyceps to congee, traditional Chinese medicine is full of healing mediums waiting to be explored by a new generation
A Chinese cough syrup has taken New York by storm after The Wall Street Journal published an article on its healing powers last week.
Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa, often just “Pei Pa Koa” for short, is not new or secret to Hongkongers. The cough remedy can be found in most households, lining kitchen shelves or medicine cabinets, patiently awaiting its call of duty – a sore throat.
In traditional Chinese medicine, colds are associated with a breakdown of the lung’s dissemination of protective qi (energy flow) over the body, brought on by a disturbance in the balance between the body’s yin and yang. Symptoms of illness are a result of the war waged between external pathogens and the body’s natural resistance with the protective qi.
Made from a blend of herbal ingredients, including the loquat leaf, chuanbei and honey, Pei Pa Koa is a sticky brown syrup often poured onto and eaten off of a soup spoon. The medicine works quickly at soothing the throat and easing itchiness and pain.
The remedy, produced by the Hong Kong-based Nin Jiom Medicine Manufactory since 1946, is rumoured to have been created by a provincial official in the Qing dynasty to cure his mother’s persistent cough.