| The history of Wanghwa Herb Lane may trace back to Ching Dynasty. In the traditional agricultural society, either Chinese herbal shops or traditional Chinese practitioners were few. The sick only could rely on secret herb formulas down from mouth-to-ear by family or neighbors, prescription lots drawn from temples, or herbalist's advice as medication. At that time, people from all areas in Taiwan came to famous Lungshan Temple at Mengchia (the old name of Wanghwa), to pray to the medical deity Hua To for prescription lots, and turned to the herb market outside the Temple to buy herbs from street rickshaw vendors, based on the instruction of prescription lots, and then went home to decoct herb soup for curing patients. |
Herb Lane
The current herb lane formed
around 40 decades or half a century ago.
The majority of herbal shops gather at
Alley 224th, Hsichang Street. Surrounding
blocks between Hsichang Street and Kuangchou
Street many herb merchants congregate
as well. Old shops operate as both wholesalers
and distributors. Summer is the high season
of herb tea market. Herb merchants learn
of dispensing and identifying herbs in
a hereditary way passed from master to
apprentice or from father to son. Based
on their experiences and the symptoms
that buyers describe, herbal shop owners
give advice on sickness-curing herbs or
provide their hereditary secret formulas.
Enquired by tourists about how many varieties
of herbs and Chinese medicinal materials
are on shelf, those shop owners often
reply:' they are too many to count and
probably 200 or 300 items.' There are
a few familiar herbs, including Artemisia
indica, Vitaceae, Ligusticum chuanxiong
Hort, Mallow Rose, Ocimum basilicum Linn,
and Cactus. In addition, some herbs are
rarely heard with funny names, such as
'white-horse-dung', 'bird-not-stay', and
'nothing-left.' Fresh herbs like vegetables
only can be maintained at most 3 days.
Thus, herbal shops must operate in both
retailing and wholesaling in order to
keep the goods flow smoothly.
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