Wiseman’s Chinese Medical Database

gān jiāng / 干姜 / 乾薑 / dried ginger

Latin pharmacognostic name: Zingiberis Rhizoma

Alternate English names:

Alternate Chinese names: 均姜 jūn jiāng; 干生姜 gān shēng jiāng; 白姜 bái jiāng; 淡干姜 dàn gān jiāng

Origin: Plant

Use: medicinal

Category: Interior-warming agents

Properties: Acrid; hot.

Channel entry: spleen, stomach, heart, and lung channels.

Indications:

• Warms the center and disperses cold: Cold pain in the stomach duct and abdomen, cold vomiting, and cold diarrhea.
• Returns yáng and frees the pulse: Yáng collapse.
• Warms the lung and transforms rheum: Cough and panting due to cold rheum, with fear of cold, a cold back, and copious thin clear phlegm.

Dosage & Method:

Oral: 3–10g taken as a decoction.

Warning:

Gān jiāng is hot, acrid, dry and harsh; it is contraindicated in frenetic movement of hot blood and in yīn vacuity heat.

Quality:

Ginger roots that are yellowish gray on the outside and grayish white on the cross section are best. They should be farinaceous and not too fibrous.

Product Area:

Sìchuān, Húběi, Guǎngdōng, Guǎngxī.