Dong Ethnic Minority

　　-- Dong Medicine

　　The Dong people live in the area with rich herbal medicine resources. Till now, there have been 687 kinds of Dong medicine collected through investigation, among which 294 kinds in 134 families and genuses have been included in published books. Most of the medicinal herbs are wild plants. Some costly or rare herbs have been planted at family plots. There are only a few kinds of exotic herbs. The Dong medicine knowledge, including medicinal liquor, plaster, pill and medicinal powder, has been accumulated consistently in the long history. Medicine and iatrology have been developed at the same time.

　　-- Unique Therapies

　　There are a lot of ways of treating acute diseases, of which commonly used ones are as follows:

　　Scraping: A treatment for sunstroke by scraping the patient's neck, chest , back or arms and legs with one or more kinds of ginger, Chinese onion, vinegar, oil or herbs till the skin turns red or purplish red.

　　Gripping: Grip the skin of the patient's chest, back, or arms and legs with curved forefinger and middle finger and pull up three to five times till the skin turns purplish red.

　　Patting: Pat the patient's feet, hands and aching parts with liquid medicine, liquor or vinegar till the skin turns red.

　　Sneezing: Puff medicine powder into the patient's nasal cavity when the patient feels difficult to breathe. The patient can be rescued by sneezing.