China News Service Taipei, April 4th Title: Taipei Qingcao Lane: Timeless and fresh, century-old inheritance
China News Service reporter Long Min Liu Shuling
Crowded stalls, piles of herbs, high and low medicine cabinets, old account books... A wall separated from the ancient temple Longshan Temple in Taipei, hiding the oldest streets and alleys in Taipei that are small, short and narrow.
Recently, a reporter from China News Service made a special trip to visit this Qingcao Lane in Taipei, known as the "Shennong Treasure House".
Data photo: Taipei Mengjia Longshan Temple China News Service reporter Chen Xiaoyuan Photo by
Longshan Temple is one of the most incense-popular temples in Taipei. It is located in the southwest of the city. The local name is formerly known as Mengjia. It uses the temple as the center of folk belief, bringing together traditional communities and rich and diverse folk culture. Many tourists from home and abroad come to see the architecture and festival beauty of Longshan Temple, but the Qingcao Lane 30 meters away from the temple has long been less well known.
, the standard name of Qingcao Lane is "Lian 224, Xichang Street, , Wanhua District, Taipei City", and is the most concentrated place for selling Chinese herbal medicines in Taiwan.
Green grass represents a health preservation method in Fujian-Taiwan culture. The materials are mostly taken from the most common weeds in the mountains, such as , wormwood, five-clawed gold wings, mint, aloe , and bitter vegetable flowers. The formula mostly comes from the accumulation of life experience and is passed down from generation to generation.
100 years ago, the Mengjia area where Qingcaoxiang was located was the earliest and most prosperous place in Taipei City. At that time, once the disease prevailed, the people went to Longshan Temple to seek medical signatures, and then took medicine at the surrounding herbal medicine shops. Over time, the number of herbal medicine shops opened more and more, and the green grass alleys gradually became a climate.
With the transfer of Taipei commercial center, the rise of Western medicine and the implementation of national health insurance, although century-old stores such as De'an Qingcao Store and Wan'an Qingcao Store still survive, Qingcao Lane is no longer in its former glory.
is the turn of spring and summer. When you walk into the centenary alleys, fresh and tender green grass is still hanging or placed in front of each green grass shop. There are many medicinal materials such as dandelions, left hand fragrance, and half-length lotus that can detoxify. The air was filled with bitter fragrance of medicine. Occasionally, in the dark and hazy light, you can see several old men carefully picking up the grass.
Jian Yixian, the owner of De'an Qingcao Store, said that business is not easy now, and the older generation is slowly leaving, and I still remember that fewer and fewer people in Qingcao Lane.
De'an Qingcao Store, which has a century-old history, entered Qingcao Lane more than 70 years ago. Jian Yixian, 40 years old this year, just took over the business from her father a few years ago. He introduced that most of the shops in Qingcao Lane have been passed down from generation to generation, each with its own unique skills.
Where can I go to the old alley? Jian Yixian believes that there should be two major selling points: culture and health, so that the grass can not dry up and the old alleys cannot die. He believes that green grass cannot be sold only to grandmas over 50 years old, but should seek a "breakthrough" in the direction of medicinal food, hydrotherapy and health care, tea bags, and facial powder grinding of herbs.
Faced with the severe reality, Zheng Qionghui, the owner of another Qingcao restaurant, went to the entrance of the alley to set up stalls and sell Qingcao tea drinks. She told reporters that green herbal tea drinks are quenching thirst and maintaining health, which is actually very popular among young people. They sell hundreds of cups every day, among which aloe vera green herbal tea is the best.
Learning that China News Service reporters came from the mainland, Zheng Qionghui said that he hopes that when mainland tourists visit Longshan Temple, they will have time to go to this alley, stroll around the century-old streets, and have a glass of green herbal tea.
"Greencao Lane is like a medicinal fragrance that cannot be melted in the air, timeless and fresh." Jian Yixian said that Greencao Lane has cultural tourism value, and it has the oldest Taipei Street , the most traditional Chinese herbal medicine, and the most mysterious secret recipe of ancestral history. (End)
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