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Meihua Dagu

Also called as Meihua Tune, Meihua Dagu is a category of Dagu that flourished in Beijing and Tianjin towards the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China. It originated from Qingkou Dagu, becoming popular in northern Beijing at the end of the Qing Dynasty.

Meihua Dagu underwent reform and adaptation in the 1920s by Jin Wanchang, a Beiing Dagu artist, who made the Meihua Dagu sweet and lovely in melody. Lu Chengke, the famous Tianjin stringed instrument player, learned a number of popular tunes and enriched as well as improved the Dagu melody and musical effect in accompaniment. He trained a number of girls to sing Meihua Dagu, including Hua Sibao, Hua Wubao, and Hua Xiaobao (Shi Wenxiu). The reformation by Lu led to the development of a woman’s voice in singing high pitch. This resulted in the soft and sweet style of the school of Meihua Daguwith high pitch tunes for female voices. It became known as the Lu or Hua School and differs from the Jin Wanchang School, which is known for its delicate, minute, refined, elegant, bold, vigorous and beautiful rendition. The songs of Meihua Dagu are presented as short pieces, and use Beijing dialect in singing. The more famous works include Thoughts of Husband Surging over the Mind of Wang Er jie and Daiyu Buries Flowers.

After the 1960s, Meihua Dagu again went through a period of formation in vocal music. The routine opening words in the slow movement were dropped. This changed the style of using few words which drag on and on in singing. Fine music filled the air instead. The melody of Meihua Dagu becomes more elegant and pleasing to the ear Two Springs Reflect the Moon performed by the young artist, Ji Wei, leaves a deep impression on the audience. Ji Wei, born in 1956, sings with a beautiful, mellow and sweet voice and acts naturally with a poised manner. She is credited with having made many innovations to the Meihua Dagu. She studied Jingyun Dagu at first. Later she changed her course and studied Meihua Dagu under Shi Wenxiu and Hua Wubao.

Chinese Medicated Diet

1. Laying stress on the whole, selecting medicated diet on the basis of differential diagnosis

By the principle of “laying stress on the whole, selecting medicated diet on the basis of differential diagnosis”, we mean that when prescribing medicated diet, we should first make an overall analysis of the patient’s physical and health condition, the nature of his illness, the season he got ill and the geographical condition, etc., form a judgment on the type of syndrome, and then decide on corresponding principles for dietetic therapy and select suitable medicated diet. Take a patient with chronic gastritis for example, he should take Galangal and Cyperus gruel if the suffering is from chronic gastritis of stomach-cold type.

2. Suitable both for prevention and treatment, and outstanding in effect

Medicated diet can be used either to treat diseases or for healthy people to build up their health and prevent diseases. This is one of the characteristics in which medicated diet is different from treatment by medicine. Although medicated diet is something mild, it has a notable effect on the prevention and cure of diseases, health building-up and preserving. Here are some of the achievements in scientific research of Shandong Traditional Chinese Medicine College:

Eight-Ingredient Food: It is prepared according to the experience of ancient dietetic treatment and health care of imperial court in the Qing Dynasty from eight dietetic Chinese drugs including Chinese yam, lotus seeds, and hawthorn fruit. 97% of the children who took it for 30 days have whetted their appetite, and their growth has improved too.

Nourishing Extract of Laiyang Pear and mushroom: It is made from the juice of Laiyang Pear and extract of mushrooms and tremella. If the middle-aged and senile patients suffering from chronic diseases take it, not only can the symptoms of their illness be alleviated, but also their blood-fat can be brought down when they are suffering from hyperlipaemia, and their immunologic function can be improved.

3. Good in taste, convenient for taking

There goes the saying “Good medicine tastes bitter” among the people, because most of the decoction of Chinese drugs are bitter. Some people, especially children, take an aversion to the bitterness of Chinese drugs and refuse to take them. Most of the drugs used in medicated diet are both edible and medicinal, and retain the features of food: color, sweet-smelling, flavor, and so on. Even if containing Chinese herbs, their nature and flavor are taken into consideration and made into tasty medicated diet by mixing them with food and careful cooking. So it can be said that medicated diet is good in taste and convenient for taking.