Overheated above, chilly in the centre

A dry mouth and thirst, a feeling of fullness along the sides of the chest, heat rising to the face and sweating limited to the head, a quickly irritated mood, while the belly stays chilly, digestion slow and the hands cool; you feel too hot and too cold by turns… In TCM, these signs may be associated with an imbalance of the Shao Yang, the “pivot” between the surface and the interior: Heat lingers there above, while below the Spleen lacks Yang and grows cold.

Chai Hu Gui Zhi Gan Jiang Tang is the work of Zhang Zhongjing (张仲景), at the end of the Eastern Han, around the year 200. It appears in the Shang Han Lun (《伤寒论》), and its name lists three of its herbs: bupleurum, cinnamon twig and dried ginger. It is a variant of Xiao Chai Hu Tang: fresh ginger becomes dried ginger, and this single change turns the formula inwards. It no longer disperses towards the surface; it warms the centre.

Clearing above, warming below, on a single pivot

Bupleurum, the herb with the highest dose, and scutellaria form the reference pair of the Shao Yang: one opens and lifts, the other clears and brings down. Dried ginger and licorice warm the centre, cinnamon twig moves Yang, and trichosanthes root restores the Fluids that the hot herbs could dry out. Tradition calls this harmonising: a cool herb and a hot herb work side by side without cancelling each other out.

Harmonizes the Shao yang: Bupleurum frees the Qi held between the surface and the interior, and scutellaria tempers the Heat it could cause to rise.

Clarifies Heat: Bitter and cold, scutellaria cools the upper body, where the Heat is felt.

Gently warms the body: Dried ginger restores the Spleen’s Yang; with licorice, it reconstitutes Gan Cao Gan Jiang Tang, the small formula by the same author that does nothing but warm the centre. Cinnamon twig spreads this warmth.

Preserves the body’s Fluids: Sweet and cool, trichosanthes root generates Fluids and moistens what the hot herbs could dry out.