Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Dog Skin Patch

狗皮膏 literally means "dog skin patch", is a type of common Chinese medicine adhesive patch for muscle pains.

Gou Pi Gao - 02

Check out the first sentence under "Actions and Indications":
To expel wind-cold evils, promote blood circulation and relieve pain.
I didn't know muscle pain relief required exorcism.

"Be gone, you wind-cold evils!"


Note: During World War II, the Chinese resistance called the Japanese flag as 狗皮膏药旗 or 膏药旗.

It was a derogatory term referring to the Japanese flag looked like traditional kind of 狗皮膏, where a dab of medicine paste was smeared in the center of rectangular fabric patch.

This term is still used in many parts of China.

5 comments:

  1. Tian, in Cantonese.. or at least Hong Kong Cantonese we tend to call any medicated patch a 日本膏布 (P:ri ben gao bu) because the Japanese seemingly invented it... is that the same in Mandarin? I suspect not.. and it's an HKism... but I've always wondered.

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  2. I am glad you mentioned it.

    Actually 日本膏布 was a derogatory term referring to the Japanese flag that looked like traditional kind of 狗皮膏, where a dab of medicine paste was smeared in the center of fabric patch.

    During World War II, the Chinese resistance often referred to the Japanese flag as 狗皮膏药旗 or 膏药旗.

    This term is still used in many parts of China.

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  3. thanks for the info. I also wanted to mention by saying 日本膏布, we are referring to the modern instant (stick on stick off) type.. not he traditional type. I believe those are called 石膏布, at least in Cantonese.

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  4. the last chinese character actually mean paste. rather then patch.

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  5. I have been using this product for an ankle injury for the past week. It has helped immensely. It has enabled me to perform my work duties, including hiking, and expelling wind-cold evils. Bravo for Chinese medicine. Bravo, indeed.

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