{
    "slug": "yin-qiao-san",
    "names": {
        "pinyin": "Yin Qiao San",
        "chinese": "银翘散",
        "english": "Honeysuckle and Forsythia Powder",
        "alternate": [
            "Yin Qiao Jie Du Pian",
            "Yin Chiao",
            "Lonicera and Forsythia Formula"
        ]
    },
    "category": "release-exterior",
    "source": {
        "text": "Wen Bing Tiao Bian (Systematic Differentiation of Warm Pathogen Diseases)",
        "author": "Wu Ju-tong",
        "dynasty": "Qing",
        "year": "1798"
    },
    "summary": "The first-day formula for a hot cold. A sore throat, a fever with only slight chills, headache, thirst, and a cough, with a red tongue tip. Honeysuckle and forsythia cool and clear while the light herbs vent the heat out through the surface. Take it at the first scratch in the throat, not three days later.",
    "picture": "A wind-cold needs warming and sweating out. A wind-heat needs cooling and venting. Yin Qiao San opens a window and fans the heat out before it settles into the chest.",
    "patterns": [
        {
            "slug": "wind-heat",
            "role": "primary",
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/pattern/wind-heat",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/pattern/wind-heat"
            }
        }
    ],
    "indications": [
        "Sore throat at the start of a cold",
        "Fever with slight or no chills",
        "Headache, thirst",
        "Cough that is dry or has yellow phlegm",
        "Swollen glands in the neck",
        "The first day or two of flu, measles, or mumps with heat signs, when prescribed",
        "Hives or a red rash from wind-heat"
    ],
    "signs": {
        "tongue": "Red tip with a thin white or yellow coat.",
        "pulse": "Floating and rapid."
    },
    "ingredients": [
        {
            "pinyin": "Jin Yin Hua",
            "grams": "15",
            "role": "chief",
            "job": "Honeysuckle clears heat and toxin from the surface.",
            "herb_slug": "honeysuckle-flower",
            "english": "Honeysuckle Flower",
            "chinese": "金银花",
            "latin": "Flos Lonicerae",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/honeysuckle-flower",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/honeysuckle-flower"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Lian Qiao",
            "grams": "15",
            "role": "chief",
            "job": "Forsythia clears heat and toxin and settles swollen glands.",
            "herb_slug": "weeping-forsythia-capsule",
            "english": "Weeping Forsythia Capsule",
            "chinese": "连翘",
            "latin": "Fructus Forsythiae",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/weeping-forsythia-capsule",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/weeping-forsythia-capsule"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Jie Geng",
            "grams": "6",
            "role": "deputy",
            "job": "Platycodon opens the Lung and soothes the throat.",
            "herb_slug": "platycodon-root",
            "english": "Platycodon Root",
            "chinese": "桔梗",
            "latin": "Radix Platycodi",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/platycodon-root",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/platycodon-root"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Niu Bang Zi",
            "grams": "9",
            "role": "deputy",
            "job": "Burdock seed clears the throat and vents heat.",
            "unlinked": true,
            "herb_slug": "achene-of-great-burdock",
            "english": "Achene of Great Burdock",
            "chinese": "牛蒡子",
            "latin": "Fructus Arctii Lappae",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/achene-of-great-burdock",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/achene-of-great-burdock"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Bo He",
            "grams": "6",
            "role": "deputy",
            "job": "Mint vents wind-heat and clears the head.",
            "herb_slug": "mentha-peppermint",
            "english": "Peppermint",
            "chinese": "薄荷",
            "latin": "Herba Menthae",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/mentha-peppermint",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/mentha-peppermint"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Dan Dou Chi",
            "grams": "5",
            "role": "assistant",
            "job": "Prepared soybean releases the surface gently.",
            "unlinked": true,
            "herb_slug": "fermented-soybean",
            "english": "Fermented Soybean",
            "chinese": "淡豆豉",
            "latin": "Semen Sojae Praeparata",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/fermented-soybean",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/fermented-soybean"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Jing Jie",
            "grams": "5",
            "role": "assistant",
            "job": "Schizonepeta, the one warm herb, helps the others vent through the surface.",
            "herb_slug": "all-grass-of-fineleaf-schizonepeta-2",
            "english": "Fineleaf Schizonepeta Herb",
            "chinese": "荆芥",
            "latin": "Herba Schizonepetae",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/all-grass-of-fineleaf-schizonepeta-2",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/all-grass-of-fineleaf-schizonepeta-2"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Dan Zhu Ye",
            "grams": "4",
            "role": "assistant",
            "job": "Lophatherum clears heat and irritability.",
            "herb_slug": "lophatherum-herb",
            "english": "Lophatherum Herb",
            "chinese": "淡竹叶",
            "latin": "Herba Lophatheri",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/lophatherum-herb",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/lophatherum-herb"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Lu Gen",
            "grams": "12",
            "role": "assistant",
            "job": "Reed rhizome clears heat and generates fluids for the thirst.",
            "herb_slug": "reed-rhizome",
            "english": "Reed Rhizome",
            "chinese": "芦根",
            "latin": "Rhizoma Phragmitis",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/reed-rhizome",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/reed-rhizome"
            }
        },
        {
            "pinyin": "Gan Cao",
            "grams": "5",
            "role": "envoy",
            "job": "Licorice soothes the throat and harmonizes.",
            "herb_slug": "root-of-ural-licorice",
            "english": "Raw Licorice Root",
            "chinese": "甘草",
            "latin": "Radix Glycyrrhizae",
            "_links": {
                "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/root-of-ural-licorice",
                "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/root-of-ural-licorice"
            }
        }
    ],
    "actions": [
        "Disperses wind-heat and clears heat",
        "Relieves toxicity and soothes the throat"
    ],
    "how_it_works": "Honeysuckle and forsythia are the cooling core. Mint, schizonepeta, and burdock seed are light and move outward, which carries the heat to the surface and out. Platycodon and licorice aim at the throat. Reed rhizome replaces the fluid the fever burns. It is cooked briefly and drunk often, because the light herbs lose their strength if boiled long.",
    "modifications": [
        {
            "for": "Strong sore throat",
            "add": [
                "Ban Lan Gen",
                "Xuan Shen"
            ],
            "note": "Isatis root and scrophularia."
        },
        {
            "for": "Cough with yellow phlegm",
            "add": [
                "Xing Ren",
                "Huang Qin"
            ],
            "note": "Apricot kernel and scutellaria."
        },
        {
            "for": "High fever and thirst",
            "add": [
                "Shi Gao",
                "Zhi Mu"
            ],
            "note": "Gypsum and anemarrhena."
        }
    ],
    "cautions": [
        "Not for a cold with heavy chills, no thirst, and a white wet coat; that is wind-cold and needs warming.",
        "Works in the first day or two. Once the cold is in the chest with thick phlegm, the formula changes.",
        "Cook for only a few minutes; long boiling ruins it.",
        "Pregnancy: use only under a qualified practitioner."
    ],
    "forms": [
        "tablets",
        "teapills",
        "granules",
        "decoction"
    ],
    "typical_dose": {
        "tablets": "As the label directs, usually every few hours at the start of a cold",
        "decoction": "Simmer no more than five minutes; drink a cup every four hours while awake",
        "course": "Two to four days."
    },
    "cousins": [
        {
            "slug": "gui-zhi-tang",
            "difference": "For a wind-cold with chills and sweating. Warms where Yin Qiao San cools."
        },
        {
            "slug": "yang-yin-qing-fei-tang",
            "difference": "For a dry, burning sore throat with no fever, in a dry person."
        }
    ],
    "commerce": {
        "store": "supplementsapothecary.com",
        "store_name": "Supplements Apothecary",
        "store_slug": "yin-qiao-san",
        "store_url": "https://www.supplementsapothecary.com/supplement/yin-qiao-san",
        "status": "planned",
        "label_check": "The box reads Yin Qiao San or Yin Qiao Jie Du Pian with the characters 银翘. Ten ingredients led by Honeysuckle and Forsythia. Some cheap versions add drugs; buy a tested herb-only brand."
    },
    "conditions": [
        "wind-heat",
        "common-cold",
        "sore-throat",
        "fever",
        "upper-respiratory-infection",
        "tonsillitis",
        "pharyngitis",
        "urticaria"
    ],
    "sources": [
        {
            "title": "Bensky, Scheid, Ellis and Barolet, Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas and Strategies, 2nd edition",
            "note": "Composition, actions, indications, cautions, and the short-cooking instruction."
        },
        {
            "title": "Wu Ju-tong, Wen Bing Tiao Bian, 1798",
            "note": "Source text."
        }
    ],
    "meta": {
        "status": "published",
        "last_updated": "2026-10-12",
        "reviewed_by": null
    },
    "_links": {
        "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/yin-qiao-san",
        "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/yin-qiao-san",
        "index": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formulas"
    }
}