Qianghuo Fish, commonly known as the Divine Fish, is not actually a fish: a detailed explanation of its effects and how to take it
In Baima Village in Pingwu County, there is an animal called the Qianghuo fish, which is called the “Divine Fish” by locals because of its unique healing effects. These miraculous healing effects, however, are delivered through a way of eating that leaves people dumbfounded……Is the “Divine Fish” Qianghuo fish a fish? What effects does it have? How is it taken?
1. A city dweller’s strange encounter—an “intimate contact” with the Qianghuo fish
Mr. Hu, who lives in Pingwu County town, once had an unforgettable “intimate contact” with the Qianghuo fish.
During last year’s May Day holiday, Mr. Hu took friends to visit Baima Village. While sightseeing, Mr. Hu suddenly suffered unbearable stomach pain. “It was my old stomach problem acting up again, but I hadn’t brought any medicine with me.” In desperation, Mr. Hu asked the owner of the lodging house for help. “The owner warmly said the family had medicine for stomach problems.” When the owner brought out the “medicine,” Mr. Hu was dumbfounded: “It was a live fish-like little animal, all black, a bit like a giant salamander and a bit like a gecko.” Mr. Hu asked what it was and whether it was a fish. The owner explained: this is the Qianghuo fish, a local specialty here, used specifically to treat stomach pain. Mr. Hu said, then please boil it. The owner told him: there is no need to boil it at all; it has to be swallowed alive to be effective. “When I heard that, I was simply dumbfounded,” Mr. Hu said.
“To think there is actually this way of eating it, it’s truly unbelievable!” Encouraged by the elderly man, Mr. Hu mustered his courage and swallowed the Qianghuo fish. “At first I could still feel it moving around in my stomach, and then it gradually settled down.” Mr. Hu said that right after swallowing the Qianghuo fish, because he was somewhat frightened, he felt a little nauseated, but afterward the stomach pain really did gradually ease.
“Although I live in Pingwu, I had never seen a Qianghuo fish before.” Mr. Hu said that later he bought dried Qianghuo fish from a pharmacy, ground them into powder, and “took them internally as the doctor instructed to regulate his condition; the old stomach problem has now eased a lot.”
2. A peculiar way of eating—the Baima people have eaten it for generations, to treat stomach disease and tuberculosis
“When local villagers get stomach disease or tuberculosis, eating this fish can cure it, and it must be swallowed alive to be effective.” Because of its miraculous healing effects, in Baima Village the Qianghuo fish is called the “Divine Fish” by local people.
“The Qianghuo fish looks similar to a gecko, has four legs, and is black on the back; it is an amphibious animal.” Li Songlin, a villager of the Baima Tibetan ethnic group, explained that the Qianghuo fish generally lives and rests under stones by small streams; on clear days it enters the water to eat aquatic organisms, and on rainy days it goes up the slopes to look for food. “According to what the older generation said, the Qianghuo fish mainly burrows into the soil to eat the roots of plants such as rhubarb, fritillary, and Qianghuo, and it especially likes to eat Qianghuo, which is how it got its name.” Li Songlin explained that the Qianghuo fish can only live in water with very low temperatures, so apart from Baima Village and the nearby Huangtuliang, there is no such fish anywhere else in Pingwu.
“The Qianghuo fish has high medicinal value.” Li Songlin explained that the Baima people like to swallow the Qianghuo fish alive. After catching a Qianghuo fish in the forest, they scoop some water with their palm, place the Qianghuo fish in the palm, point the fish’s head toward the mouth, and pinch the fish’s tail with the fingers of the right hand; the startled Qianghuo fish leaps straight into the mouth.
“After swallowing the Qianghuo fish into the stomach, it is slowly digested.” As for the matter of the Qianghuo fish being able to cure diseases, the villagers of Baima Village can all cite one or two examples. “According to what the elders said, in past years they often suffered from stomach disease, and some people, because of excessive fatigue from farming, would also come down with tuberculosis. In the past this place was isolated from the outside world and lacked medical supplies, so most of the time they relied on folk remedies.” Li Songlin explained that even now, there are still villagers who swallow Qianghuo fish alive, “because the Qianghuo fish cured many people’s illnesses back then, so it is called the ‘Divine Fish’ of Baima Village.”
3. Experts explain—it is not a fish, but an amphibious reptile
Ordinary fish all live in water, but the Qianghuo fish has to go ashore to forage. How does it differ from ordinary fish?
“The Qianghuo fish is not a fish, but an amphibious reptile.” On this point, an expert from the Wildlife Protection Office of the Pingwu County Forestry Bureau explained: in biological classification, the Qianghuo fish belongs to the amphibian family Hynobiidae, genus Batrachuperus, and its scientific name is Batrachuperus tibetanus. It is distributed in Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu, and northwestern Sichuan, and has the habit of hibernation. “The Qianghuo fish has smooth skin all over, with shallow concave marks on the sides of the head. In life its body color varies considerably, generally olive green, with dark fine speckled lines on the back interwoven into mottled spots; the belly is lighter in color with fewer mottled spots. Preserved specimens are brownish gray or dark brown, with clear mottled spots.”
“The medicinal properties of the Qianghuo fish are not necessarily closely related to the food it eats. The Baima villagers’ accounts of the Qianghuo fish’s effects and habits are based on traditional knowledge and word of mouth, so some aspects are not scientific.” The expert explained that when ordinary people catch the Qianghuo fish, they easily catch it under the Chinese medicinal herb Qianghuo, so it got the name Qianghuo fish. Because Qianghuo mostly grows by small streams, with some fibrous roots below, and below the fibrous roots there are some aquatic insects, “ordinary people mistakenly believe it eats the roots of Qianghuo, but in fact it mainly eats insects and some small plankton.”
The expert also said that the Qianghuo fish has been included in the “List of Terrestrial Wild Animals under State Protection That Are Beneficial or of Important Economic or Scientific Research Value,” issued by the State Forestry Administration on August 1, 2000. “The Qianghuo fish is a wild resource. In Pingwu it is distributed only in Baima Village and the Huangtuliang area above it; its distribution range is very small, and protection efforts should be increased in the future.”
4. Doctors investigate—it does have healing effects, but internal use is advocated
What healing effects does the Qianghuo fish actually have? Are they related to the medicinal properties of the Chinese medicinal herb Qianghuo?
In a local specialty shop in Pingwu County town, the reporter saw dried Qianghuo fish: the skin and flesh all over the body were shrunken, appearing withered, the four limbs were thin and withered, the toes clearly distinguishable, the back brownish or withered brown, the belly yellowish brown, and when smelled there was no fishy odor. “These dried Qianghuo fish were transported from Aba and sell for 5—6 yuan each.”
“Qianghuo is a plant, a perennial herb, with a thick rhizome extending in a bamboo-joint-like shape. It is warm in nature, dispels cold and dampness, and is used for externally contracted wind-cold, headache without sweating, cold-damp impediment, and rheumatic pain of the upper limbs, among others. It grows at an altitude of 2000 m to 4000 m in forest margins and shrub thickets, and is mainly distributed in western China.” A traditional Chinese medicine doctor in Pingwu County town explained: Qianghuo is a traditional Chinese medicinal material, while according to modern medicine, the main effects of the Qianghuo fish are treating gastritis, stomach cold, hyperacidity, and other stomach diseases.
Other doctors explained that the Qianghuo fish is pungent and salty in taste, neutral in nature, and non-toxic. It is mainly used to make medicinal liquor, and has the effects of reconnecting tendons and bones and promoting qi to relieve pain. It is effective for injuries from falls and blows, fractures, liver-stomach qi pain, blood deficiency, spleen deficiency, and other conditions. “To prepare the Qianghuo fish, take the original medicinal material, remove ash and impurities, wash it, cut it into sections, dry and grind it, and take it internally; only then is the effect in treating stomach disease optimal.”
Is there any scientific basis for the way the Baima Tibetan people swallow the fish alive? This old traditional Chinese medicine doctor admitted frankly: “From the perspective of formal medicine, the Baima villagers’ peculiar method of taking it is not very scientific, and I do not advocate that everyone imitate this way of swallowing Qianghuo fish alive to treat stomach disease. But this is a custom handed down from their ancestors, and it can achieve real effects, which is indeed very peculiar.” The old traditional Chinese medicine doctor explained that there may be two main reasons the Baima Tibetan people swallow Qianghuo fish alive to treat disease: first, the Qianghuo fish really does have healing effects; second, the Baima Tibetan people live in a remote, high-altitude cold region and have used this primitive and special method to treat disease since ancient times, and they understand and trust its medicinal effects very much, so it has been passed down to this day.