A Benevolent Heart Illuminates the Land, Upholding Tradition and Forging the Path of Qihuang

—Song Zhaopu and His Journey of Compassion in Traditional Chinese Medicine

Lin Zhi

Abstract

Song Zhaopu is the sixth-generation representative inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage “Song’s Traditional Chinese Medicine External Therapy.” With more than forty years of medical practice, he has long been rooted in grassroots healthcare, dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of External conditions and difficult diseases using Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). He has also developed a systematic integrative TCM approach in the field of cerebral palsy rehabilitation.

This article reviews his academic lineage, clinical characteristics, and public welfare practices, with a focus on the application model of the “Jingeng Rehabilitation Therapy” he founded for cerebral palsy rehabilitation, as well as his practical experience in promoting TCM healthcare systems in frontier regions. It also analyzes his perspectives on TCM education, international dissemination, and standardization.

Song Zhaopu’s work reflects the organic integration of “upholding tradition while innovating” and “benevolence in healing,” offering valuable reference for the contemporary clinical development and global promotion of TCM.

Keywords: Song Zhaopu; TCM External therapy Cerebral Palsy; Rehabilitation Medicine; Internationalization of TCM

I. By the Ru River: The Inheritance of Qihuang Through Generations

In a modest consultation room at Jingeng Rehabilitation Hospital in Ruzhou, Henan, an elderly doctor with graying hair bends over to take a patient’s pulse. The herbal cabinet beside him emits the lingering fragrance of angelica and astragalus. The walls are covered with banners of gratitude from patients, yet he remains too busy to look up.

His name is Song Zhaopu, the sixth-generation inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage “Song’s TCM External Therapy,” and a grassroots physician with 46 years of experience.

When he finally pauses to speak, he says softly, “My father always told me that a doctor should be like a patient’s family member. If the patient is not done the treated, you cannot stop to eat—this is a rule passed down in my family.”

The Song family’s TCM external therapy originated during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty. The first-generation ancestor, Song Diankui, planted the seed of the medical lineage. The second generation, Song Yuqi, established the family precept of “saving lives without counting and refusing rewards,” embodying benevolent healing. The first four generations preserved the art within the family, while the fifth generation—Song Jingeng, Song Zhaopu’s father—broke tradition by training nearly a hundred disciples, initiating broader social transmission.

Song Zhaopu began studying medicine under his father at age 15. Strict training laid a solid foundation, and his father’s example of giving medicine freely to save lives deeply influenced him, strengthening his lifelong commitment to medicine.

II. Technical Expertise: From External Therapy to Neurology—Tradition and Innovation in TCM

Song Zhaopu’s medical expertise began in external but extends far beyond it. While fully inheriting his family’s knowledge, he gradually developed his own distinctive clinical approach.

He has established unique therapies for conditions such as femoral head necrosis, osteomyelitis, herniated discs, and breast diseases. He has also accumulated experience in treating tumors, interstitial pneumonia, syringomyelia, motor neuron diseases, and Sjögren’s syndrome.

He is skilled in using simple, affordable, and effective methods such as acupuncture therapy, massage, and manual bone-setting, earning him the affectionate title of “the people’s doctor.”

As an inheritor of Song’s TCM External therapy, he specializes in treating difficult external conditions like ulcers and osteomyelitis.

In 2009, when he visited an orphanage and saw abandoned children with cerebral palsy—“limp like a puddle of mud,” unable to swallow or even turn over—he was deeply moved. He immediately decided to bring them to his hospital for free treatment.

Over more than a decade of research with his team, he integrated acupuncture, herbal medicine, and rehabilitation training to create the “Jingeng Rehabilitation Therapy,” a standardized and replicable system for cerebral palsy rehabilitation.

This approach includes: “Ice cream therapy” to address swallowing difficulties; Herbal fumigation to improve muscle tone; Combined speech and physical training. Through these methods, many children once considered “beyond help” have learned to stand, speak, and even attend school.

So far, his team has provided free treatment to thousands of abandoned children with cerebral palsy. More than 1,600 have approached normal development, and over 860 have been adopted by caring families.

This therapy has been designated by the Ministry of Civil Affairs as part of the “Tomorrow Plan” and was included in a national promotion program for ethnic regions by the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 2021.

“TCM is not just for treating colds,” Song says. “It is a complete life science system. The key is to explain it in modern language and verify its effectiveness scientifically.”

III. Boundless Compassion: A 3,000-Kilometer Relay of Life

In 2015, a patient from Xinjiang came to Ruzhou and described how many children with cerebral palsy in the Hotan region remained bedridden due to lack of medical care.

Song Zhaopu could not sit still: “These children can still be saved—I must go!”

In June of that year, he funded his own trip to Hotan for a free clinic. Although only 30 patients were expected, nearly 500 children arrived. Afterward, he selected 10 severely ill children and brought them back to Henan for free treatment.

That journey turned into a decade-long commitment.

He has traveled to Xinjiang 22 times, covering over 200,000 kilometers, screening more than 10,000 children with cerebral palsy. He established four rehabilitation hospitals in Moyu, Luopu, Hotan, and Kashgar, and trained 668 local rehabilitation therapists—helping TCM take root in frontier regions.

Many parents of treated children have said:

“My child recovered, and I transformed from a farmer into a rehabilitation therapist.”

In 2023, this model was recognized by UNICEF as a “replicable grassroots health intervention example.” He is affectionately called “Father Song at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains” by local people.

IV. TCM Without Borders: A “People’s Ambassador” with a Global Vision

Song Zhaopu’s clinic often receives international patients who come seeking treatment. He has treated patients from 27 countries.

He has also trained over a dozen foreign disciples from Germany, the United States, and Switzerland. One German student even speaks fluent Henan dialect and has promoted TCM at UNESCO events.

“TCM is meant to save lives—it should not be confined to any one country or ethnicity,” Song says. “A doctor’s ability is limited, but by passing on knowledge, more lives can be saved.”

He shares family remedies through short videos, bringing simple, affordable, and effective TCM wisdom into everyday life.

He also strongly advocates that: Western medical students should learn traditional Chinese culture; TCM universities should increase classical studies; Clinical practice should account for more than two-thirds of training.

V. Future Vision: Let the Light of Qihuang Illuminate Human Health

Song Zhaopu often calls for accelerating legislation on intellectual property protection for TCM, establishing databases of classical formulas, and promoting international standards for TCM.

“TCM is not mysticism—it is a medical system with theory, methodology, and proven efficacy.”

He actively promotes clinical research. Jingeng Rehabilitation Hospital has established a TCM Research Center, collaborating with universities such as Henan University of Chinese Medicine to conduct multicenter randomized controlled trials. These studies aim to verify the mechanisms and effectiveness of Song’s therapy for cerebral palsy and autism, earning multiple national and municipal honors.

In an interview, he stated firmly:

“Tu Youyou won the Nobel Prize with artemisinin —that was a gift from TCM to the world. Why can’t the next one be us? If we uphold tradition and innovate, TCM can stand at the pinnacle of global medicine and illuminate human health.”

Conclusion 

A Contemporary Answer from a TCM Practitioner

From the banks of the Ru River to the foot of the Tianshan Mountains, from a small clinic to the global stage, Song Zhaopu has spent 46 years demonstrating compassion and responsibility as a modern TCM practitioner.

He not only heals patients but also rekindles cultural identity and confidence in TCM. Through his practice, he connects tradition with modernity, bridges East and West, and narrows gaps between urban and rural areas and among ethnic groups.

One of his remarks is deeply moving:

“As long as even one patient still needs me, I will not put down my pulse pillow. As long as TCM needs guardians, I will always be on the road.” This is the voice of a devoted healer—and a profound answer to our times.