Dong Feng, the founder of the Fengyang Chinese Medicine system, lived in Fengyang City on Lu Mountain in China during the Three Kingdoms period (220-280 AD). There he freely shared many of his powerful secrets on improving personal health and curing diseases with the locals, as many of them were sick and poor. Dong Feng, himself, is said to have lived to over 300 years old. Perhaps it is possible that his practices were able to greatly improve his health and longevity. 

Dong Feng, courtesy name Junyi, was born in Houguan (now Minxian in Fujian Province). As a young man, he worked very hard to study the classic works and medicine of China, wanting to become a doctor to help the people. Later on by chance, he met a Taoist monk, who taught him Taoist practices. Not only did he become very skilled in medicine, he could also predict the weather, among other abilities. People regarded him as a celestial being with special powers.

Taoist practices are known to be beneficial in improving one’s health and wellness. Dong Feng was able to stay looking young for the rest of his life. According to legend, a young man who was born in the same town first met Dong Feng when he was in his forties. Fifty years later, when he came back to visit his hometown, he saw Dong Feng still looked the same as when they first met. Out of curiosity, he asked Dong Feng, “You were a middle-aged man when I was young. Now my hair has all turned white and you still look the same. Is it because you have achieved the Tao?” Dong Feng answered, “It is just by luck.” Throughout history, immortality has been the dream of many emperors and powerful people. When more and more people came to Dong Feng, wanting to get special medicine or to learn practices to achieve immortality, his life was greatly disturbed. He finally left his hometown, and started traveling around the country, helping people with his medical skills.     

When he arrived at Jiaozhou (now Guangxi Province), the local governor, Shi Xie, had been in a coma for three days. Dong Feng treated him and nursed him back to health. This news spread quickly to the whole of southern China. Shi Xie and his family were very grateful. They built a tall building by their house for Dong Feng and provided him with delicious food. A year later, Dong Feng declined respectfully of Shi Xie’s invitation to stay longer, and continued his travel northward.  

When he arrived at Haozhou (now Fengyang in Anhui Province), he saw that the locals were suffering greatly from poverty and diseases due to the war between the three countries. He was sympathetic of their situation, so he decided to settle down in a poor hilly village 18 miles south of the Phoenix Mountain. Considering local geology and weather conditions, he wanted to teach the locals advanced agricultural skills from southern China, and encouraged them to plant apricot trees on the barren mountains to increase income. However, the locals were doubtful because they saw him as just a travelling doctor, and did not want to accept his advice. 

Dong Feng thereby announced a rule: he would not charge his patients any money. However, every patient he cured who had a severe illness was asked to plant five apricot trees on the hill next to his house, and every patient with a minor illness plant one apricot tree. Because of his excellent skills and ethics, many patients from near and far came to seek his help. After just a few years, his patients had planted over 10,000 apricot trees. The hill near Dong Feng’s house had become an apricot tree woods. When the apricots ripened, Dong Feng posted a note saying that anyone who wanted to buy apricots could trade one bag of grains for one bag of apricots. He then gave those grains to the poor. It was said that he helped 20-30,000 poor people every year. 

During the Three Kingdoms period, Dong Feng’s powerful methods became well known in the Fengyang area. The four basic kinds of medicine from Dong Feng are: 1. Fengyang Ointment for Furuncle (boil), 2. Fengyang Medicated Liquor for Bruise, 3. Fengyang Medicinal Powder for Stopping Bleeding, and 4. Fengyang Medicine for Burns.

Dong Feng’s methods were summarized into a system called “Fengyang Health and Wellness Practices and Treatment Methods Using Qi and Pressure Points,” which was based on Feng’s deep medical knowledge, ancient Taoist teachings and Zen Buddhism practices. It remained in widespread use until the Ming Dynasty many centuries later. Even though many of the locals who practiced these methods were monks and the descendants of the military officers who helped establish the Ming Dynasty, they were suppressed when the new government took over, and could only secretly practice Feng’s methods.

After the fall of the Ming Dynasty in 1644, the rulers of the new Qing Dynasty tightened their grip on Fengyang to prevent rebellion. People could still only practice Dong Feng’s methods in secret. By the end of the Qing Dynasty in the early 1900s, almost everyone in Fengyang forgot how to practice Dong Feng’s ancient healing methods. The practice had almost been entirely destroyed.

Fortunately, some of Feng’s disciples moved to what is now called Guangdong Province, where his healing practices were passed down practitioner-to-practitioner, and continued to the present. There it is known as Medicine from Fengyang.