Bai Shao Herb Origin Story

by Yvonne Lau
Article originally published April, 2025.

Bái sháoyào 白芍藥, usually just called Bai shao (yào means ‘medicine’), is also known as white peony root and is a very important herb in traditional Chinese medicine. A key ingredient in many classical women’s formulas such as Si Wu Tang, Nu Ke Ba Zhen Tang, Wuji Baifeng Wan, Fu ke Zhongzi Wan, and Yang Rong Wan, Bai shao is bitter, sour, slightly cold in nature, and enters the Liver and Spleen meridians. It tonifies Blood, soothes the Liver, consolidates and astringes Yin, and ameliorates minor or occasional pain. It is suitable for Yin or Blood deficiency, Liver Qi stagnation, and Liver Wind or Liver Yang rising, any of which may contribute to various menstrual imbalances, and alleviates sweating due to Yin deficient Heat.

Appropriately, our herb story on Bai Shao involves women--and even a bit of the supernatural.

The story starts, as they often do, with a man. Not just any man, but the great Eastern Han Dynasty physician Hua Tuo (140-208 CE). In the rear compound of his home, Hua Tuo built a clinic and pharmacy, dug a pond for aquatic herbs, and of course planted an herbal garden. These spaces were used for treating patients and teaching his apprentices, but also for his own research. Hua Tuo personally tasted each herb he grew to determine its medicinal properties before using it on his patients.

One day, a visitor gave him a peony plant, and after being told that it would have beautiful, fragrant flowers, Huo Tuo planted it outside his study. Being Hua Tuo, he later tasted the leaves, stems, and flowers of this peony, but concluded that while beautiful, it was also ordinary and had no medicinal value.

Late one evening, while sitting in his study reading a book by lamplight, Hua Tuo suddenly heard a woman weeping. He looked up and saw a beautiful woman in the hazy moonlight outside his window, crying bitterly as if she had been wronged. Hua Tuo was quite puzzled, and went outside, but the crying had stopped and there wasn’t anyone there. He only saw the peony growing in its usual spot, where he was sure the woman had been standing. Hua Tuo's heart skipped a beat: Could it be the woman just now? He looked at the peony again, shook his head, and muttered to himself: "You can’t heal but at least you’re beautiful, so why cry?" He turned and went back to his study to resume his reading. Just when he had sat down, he heard the weeping again. Again, he went outside to investigate, and it was still just the peony. After a few more rounds of this, and more than a little bothered by this point, Hua Tuo went and woke up his wife, describing to her in detail this strange happening. His wife got out of bed, put on her robe and went to look at the peony. Mrs. Hua then said to her husband, "Every plant and tree here has become a good medicine in your hands. You have used them to save the lives of countless patients. Only this peony has been left out. I think you didn't discover its use, so naturally it feels wronged." Hua Tuo laughed and said: "I have tasted all kinds of herbs, and I can clearly tell the medicinal properties of all of them. I use whatever I should use, without missing a single bit. As for this peony, I have also tasted its flowers, leaves, and stems many times. It is indeed not suitable for medicine. How can it be said that it has been wronged?" Mrs. Hua was tired and a little annoyed with him, so she didn't say anything more and went back to bed.

A few days later, Mrs. Hua suffered from uterine bleeding and abdominal pain, and the herbs Hua Tuo tried on her were ineffective. On an impulse (or was it instinct? Some scholars have suggested that Mrs. Hua was Zhang Miaoxin, the eldest daughter of Zhang Zhongjing, the medical sage and author of the Shang han za bing lun / Treatise on Febrile and Other Diseases), but historical records are spotty at best) she secretly dug up some of the peony’s roots and boiled them in water into a tea. Within half a day, the bleeding and abdominal pain gradually stopped. She told her husband about it, and Hua Tuo realized that he might have really short-changed the peony after all. Chastened, Hua Tuo conducted a detailed examination of the peony’s roots and found that it not only stopped bleeding and promoted Blood circulation, but it was also a Blood tonic and analgesic and began prescribing it routinely to regulate menstruation.

So, we can conclude a few things: that it was a woman who discovered this herb, that even the great Hua Tuo was not infallible, and that the peony is not just very beautiful but has contributed to better health for women for nearly two thousand years!

And if you’re in the mood for another Peony story: Why the Peony is considered both the King and Queen of Chinese flowers

Although the peony is not the official flower of China (there isn’t one), surveys in China have consistently shown that most people think it should be. Since ancient times, peonies have been widely depicted in Chinese art, in literature and poetry, in decoration and embroidery, and as a euphemism for a beautiful woman. It’s been heralded as both the King and Queen of flowers, but why?

The story goes that during the Tang Dynasty, there lived a poor orphan boy named Qiaotong. Qiaotong had been born on Mudan (peony) Mountain and stayed there after his parents’ death, surviving by collecting firewood and selling it to the villagers. True to its name, Mudan Mountain was filled with peonies. Qiaotong loved the peonies so much he never plucked a single blossom and refused to cut a branch from even a fire-scorched plant.

Next to the hillside path on Mudan Mountain inexplicably was a statue of a stone man, believed by the villagers to be a celestial flower guardian sent by the God of Flowers. Qiaotong passed by the stone man each time he went up the mountain to collect firewood. Each time Qiaotong would hang his bag of meager food on the stone man's neck with a smile and say, "Brother Stone Man, please eat some steamed buns!" and continue up the mountain to collect firewood. On the return trip, Qiaotong would take the bag from the stone man's neck and say with a smile, "If you don't eat them, I will!" and ate his meal sitting next to the stone man. Being an orphan and without relatives, Qiaotong often thought, “How nice it would be if the stone man could talk, so I could have a family too!”

Years passed, and Qiaotong grew into a strong young man of seventeen. One day, as he rested next to the stone man as usual, a young woman suddenly dashed out from behind it. When Qiaotong stood up to leave, he found her sitting on his bundle of firewood. The girl told him her name was Hua Nu (“flower girl”), that she was alone and without a home, and that she was willing to be his wife for a hundred years. Qiaotong was of course, a bit shocked and replied, "We just met by chance. We don't have a matchmaker or a witness. How could that be proper?" Hua Nu answered, "The stone man in front of us is the matchmaker, and the Peony Mountain under our feet is the witness. Isn't that good?" Qiaotong said, "The stone man and the Peony Mountain can't speak, so how can they be matchmakers?" Immediately, a gravelly voice came from the stone man, "Little brother, I will be the matchmaker. Please agree!" As it spoke, a bright bead appeared in its stone hand, "This is a celestial treasure called the 'Two Flowers Longevity Bead'. Take it as a token of love." Qiaotong was both amazed and happy. He looked at Hua Nu, and although she was dressed in rags, he found her shining eyes and sweet smile incandescently lovely. Blushing, Qiaotong said to Hua Nu, "Brother Stone Man has spoken. I can hardly believe my good fortune, but it must be divine will. So yes, please marry me!"

Qiaotong and Hua Nu thanked the stone man and took the bead from his hand. The stone man said, "This bead is a token of love, and you and your wife should take turns holding it in your mouth for an hour every day. But don’t swallow it. If one of you should swallow it, you will be separated." Qiaotong was of course confused by that and asked, "Brother Stone Man, this pearl is a token of love, but why would you need to hold it in your mouth every day?" The stone man replied, "Come back and ask me in a hundred years!" and didn't speak again.

Qiaotong and Hua Nu lived happily together, and the seasons and years passed like a dream. A hundred years went by as the great Tang Dynasty became the Song Dynasty. Although they were both over a hundred years old and white-haired, Qiaotong and Hua Nu remained healthy and strong. Qiaotong still went up the mountain to collect firewood and still hung his food bag around the stone man’s neck, but the stone man remained silent. Then one day, as Qiaotong sat and ate his lunch, he recalled the stone man’s words and asked, "Brother Stone Man, a hundred years have now passed, and I still don't understand what you said. Can you speak to me again?" The gravelly voice answered "Little brother, you were born and raised in Mudan Mountain, and you love and treasure the peonies more than any human being. That bead I gave you is actually a celestial elixir, and you and your wife have lived so long and in such good health because you held it in your mouth and digested it slowly. You can continue to live on Mudan Mountain for a good long time!" Qiaotong replied, "Brother Stone Man, I really don't want to leave Mudan Mountain, but now my hair is all white. How long can I live?" The stone man asked, "How big is the elixir bead now?" "As big as a mung bean," Qiaotong replied. "Ah," The stone man said, "You have been nourished by the elixir for a hundred years, and the elixir is nearly completely dissolved. Now you can divide it into two halves, and if each of you eat half, you will know how long you can live!"

Qiaotong thanked him and returned home, telling his beloved Hua Nu the stone man’s words. He then took out a knife to divide the bead, but was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to divide it evenly and didn’t dare cut it. Hua Nu gently took the knife from her husband, and without even seeming to look at it, with one stroke cut the tiny bead neatly in half. She placed one piece in her husband’s hand and together they swallowed the remaining elixir.

In an instant, both became young again, and this time Qiaotong could see that his beloved wife was clearly a celestial being. To his astonishment, he had become one as well, and hand in hand they ascended into the sky.

It turned out that Hua Nu was actually a purple flower fairy of Peony Mountain. She had fallen in love with the hardworking and honest orphan boy who loved peonies. Hua Nu was willing to suffer as a mortal to be with him, and asked the stone man, who really was the celestial flower guardian, to act as a matchmaker. Moved, the stone guardian had presented them with the 'Two Flowers Longevity Bead' as a magical gift.

After Qiaotong and Hua Nu disappeared into the sky, two handkerchiefs, one yellow and one purple, floated down from the sky and landed in front of the small house where they had lived. The handkerchiefs immediately sprouted into two blooming peony bushes, one with yellow flowers and the other with purple flowers. The flowers were unmatched in beauty and fragrance, and the villagers heralded the yellow as the King of flowers and the purple the Queen of flowers in honor of Qiaotong and Hua Nu. And this distinction has endured to the present day!

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And if you’re in the mood for another Peony story: Why the Peony is considered both the King and Queen of Chinese flowers

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