{
    "slug": "ping-wei-san",
    "names": {
        "pinyin": "Ping Wei San",
        "chinese": "平胃散",
        "english": "Calm the Stomach Powder",
        "alternate": [
            "Ping Wei Wan",
            "Magnolia and Ginger Formula"
        ]
    },
    "category": "dispel-dampness",
    "source": {
        "text": "Tai Ping Hui Min He Ji Ju Fang (Imperial Grace Formulary of the Tai Ping Era)",
        "author": "Imperial Medical Bureau",
        "dynasty": "Song",
        "year": "1078"
    },
    "summary": "Four drying, moving herbs for a damp, stuffed stomach. Bloating and fullness, no appetite, nausea, belching, heavy limbs, loose stools, and a thick greasy white coat, in a person who is not weak so much as waterlogged. It dries the damp and gets the stomach moving.",
    "picture": "A kitchen floor under an inch of water. Nothing is broken; it just needs mopping and the windows opened. Grey atractylodes is the mop; magnolia bark and tangerine peel are the windows.",
    "patterns": [
        {
            "slug": "spleen-dampness",
            "role": "primary",
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/pattern/spleen-dampness",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/pattern/spleen-dampness"
            }
        },
        {
            "slug": "phlegm-damp",
            "role": "in the stomach",
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/pattern/phlegm-damp",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/pattern/phlegm-damp"
            }
        }
    ],
    "indications": [
        "Bloating and fullness after meals",
        "No appetite, a sticky or bland taste",
        "Nausea, belching, acid",
        "Heavy limbs, tiredness, a wish to lie down",
        "Loose stools",
        "A thick greasy white tongue coat",
        "Overeating heavy food, the day after"
    ],
    "signs": {
        "tongue": "Thick white greasy coat.",
        "pulse": "Slippery or moderate."
    },
    "ingredients": [
        {
            "pinyin": "Cang Zhu",
            "grams": "12",
            "role": "chief",
            "job": "Grey atractylodes dries damp and wakes the Spleen.",
            "herb_slug": "rhizome-of-swordlike-atractylodes",
            "english": "Rhizome of Swordlike Atractylodes",
            "chinese": "",
            "latin": "Rhizoma Atractylodis",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/rhizome-of-swordlike-atractylodes",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/rhizome-of-swordlike-atractylodes"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Hou Po",
            "grams": "9",
            "role": "deputy",
            "job": "Magnolia bark moves qi downward and eases the fullness.",
            "unlinked": true,
            "herb_slug": "",
            "english": "",
            "chinese": "",
            "latin": ""
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Chen Pi",
            "grams": "9",
            "role": "assistant",
            "job": "Tangerine peel moves qi and dries damp.",
            "herb_slug": "dried-tangerine-peel",
            "english": "Dried Tangerine Peel",
            "chinese": "陈皮",
            "latin": "Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/dried-tangerine-peel",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/dried-tangerine-peel"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Zhi Gan Cao",
            "grams": "3",
            "role": "envoy",
            "job": "Honey-fried licorice harmonizes.",
            "herb_slug": "prepared-liauorice-root",
            "english": "Honey-Fried Licorice Root",
            "chinese": "炙甘草",
            "latin": "Radix Glycyrrhizae Praeparata",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/prepared-liauorice-root",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/prepared-liauorice-root"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Sheng Jiang",
            "grams": "3",
            "role": "envoy",
            "job": "Fresh ginger settles the stomach.",
            "herb_slug": "fresh-ginger",
            "english": "Fresh Ginger",
            "chinese": "生姜",
            "latin": "Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/fresh-ginger",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/fresh-ginger"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Da Zao",
            "grams": "3",
            "role": "envoy",
            "job": "Jujube dates protect the Spleen from the drying herbs.",
            "herb_slug": "jujube-chinese-date",
            "english": "Chinese Date",
            "chinese": "大枣",
            "latin": "Fructus Jujubae",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/jujube-chinese-date",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/jujube-chinese-date"
            }
        }
    ],
    "actions": [
        "Dries dampness and strengthens the Spleen",
        "Moves qi and harmonizes the Stomach"
    ],
    "how_it_works": "Grey atractylodes is the strongest damp-drying herb in common use. Magnolia bark and tangerine peel move the stuck qi so the fullness drains. Ginger, dates, and licorice keep the drying crew from scraping the Stomach. It clears a damp stomach fast and is the base of the damp family.",
    "modifications": [
        {
            "for": "Food stagnation after overeating",
            "add": [
                "Shan Zha",
                "Shen Qu",
                "Mai Ya"
            ],
            "note": "Digestive herbs."
        },
        {
            "for": "Damp heat with a yellow coat",
            "add": [
                "Huang Lian",
                "Huang Qin"
            ],
            "note": "Cooling herbs."
        },
        {
            "for": "Diarrhea with water",
            "add": [
                "Fu Ling",
                "Ze Xie"
            ],
            "note": "Combined with Wu Ling San this becomes Wei Ling Tang."
        }
    ],
    "cautions": [
        "Drying. Not for a dry person with a red peeled tongue or dry stools.",
        "Short courses; it clears damp but does not build the Spleen. Follow with a tonic if weakness is underneath.",
        "Pregnancy: use only under a qualified practitioner."
    ],
    "forms": [
        "teapills",
        "granules",
        "powder",
        "decoction"
    ],
    "typical_dose": {
        "teapills": "8 pills, three times a day, the usual label dose",
        "course": "One to three weeks."
    },
    "cousins": [
        {
            "slug": "xiang-sha-liu-jun-zi-tang",
            "difference": "Tonifies as well as dries, for the weak, damp, bloated person."
        },
        {
            "slug": "er-chen-tang",
            "difference": "For damp that has become phlegm: a wet cough and nausea."
        },
        {
            "slug": "bao-he-wan",
            "difference": "For food stagnation: the stuffed, sour-belching stomach after overeating."
        }
    ],
    "commerce": {
        "store": "supplementsapothecary.com",
        "store_name": "Supplements Apothecary",
        "store_slug": "ping-wei-san",
        "store_url": "https://www.supplementsapothecary.com/supplement/ping-wei-san",
        "status": "planned",
        "label_check": "The box reads Ping Wei San or Wan with the characters 平胃. Four main ingredients: grey Atractylodes, Magnolia bark, Tangerine peel, and Licorice, with ginger and dates."
    },
    "conditions": [
        "abdominal-distension",
        "indigestion",
        "dyspepsia",
        "nausea",
        "poor-appetite",
        "diarrhea",
        "acid-reflux"
    ],
    "sources": [
        {
            "title": "Bensky, Scheid, Ellis and Barolet, Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas and Strategies, 2nd edition",
            "note": "Composition, actions, indications, and modifications."
        }
    ],
    "meta": {
        "status": "published",
        "last_updated": "2026-10-12",
        "reviewed_by": null
    },
    "_links": {
        "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/ping-wei-san",
        "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/ping-wei-san",
        "index": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formulas"
    }
}