September 16, 2025

Jing Fang Formulas for Colds and Coughs

Eran Evan, Ph.D, Dr. TCM

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Cold and flu season arrives on schedule every year. Patients walk with symptoms of not being quite well and if you’re paying attention—you can discern the pattern as it shifts and moves. The body tells you where the pathogen has landed, and what it’s up to.

In this shoptalk with Eran Evan, we investigate the colds both from the Jing Fang perspective and also take into account the habits of modern life. You might see the progressions the old books speak about because our patients rarely do something about an external invasion at the beginning.  Eran comes out of the Jing Fang lineage, and has years of study with Dr. Huang Huang. He’s got a knack for understanding how to apply old formulas in the modern day.  We’ll be discussing both garden-variety colds and the lingering effects of long-COVID.

Listen in as we wander through why a sore throat points to a Shaoyang pattern, what Zhang Zhongjing’s little postscripts can still teach us, and how formulas like Chai Hu Gui Zhi Gan Jiang Tang or Xiao Chai Hu Tang aren’t just prescriptions—they’re snapshots of a physiology in motion.

In this Shoptalk, we discuss:

  • Why patients rarely show up in the very first hours of a Taiyang cold
  • Sore throat as a giveaway sign of Shaoyang involvement
  • The difference between wind strike, cold damage, and Shaoyang presentations
  • How formulas like Gui Zhi Tang, Ge Gen Tang, and Ma Huang Tang cover different kinds of “first stage” colds
  • Why Ge Gen Tang is the supermarket remedy in Japan—and why it makes sense
  • The role of Chai Hu Gui Zhi Tang in lingering or long-COVID cases
  • Using Zhang Zhongjing’s postscripts and modifications as a clinical guide
  • Thinking about coughs differently: not just pushing down qi, but instead drawing it down
  • Clever pairings like Gan Jiang and Wu Wei Zi, and how they work from the in

A sore throat does not necessarily indicate a Yin Qiao San presentation.

Eran Evan, Ph.D, Dr. TCM

In 2015 Eran completed his studies in Classical Chinese medicine through the Institute of Classics in East Asian Medicine in Portland, Oregon, earning the designation of Diplomate in Canonical Chinese Medicine.

In 2013 Eran returned to China to train with Professor Huáng Huáng (黄煌) at the Nánjīng University of Chinese Medicine.  Professor Huáng is a world renowned specialist in Classical Chinese medicine. In 2015 Eran again returned to Nánjīng to begin his Ph.D studies through the Nánjīng University of Chinese Medicine with Professor Huáng as his clinical advisor. In 2019, Eran became one of the first non-Chinese practitioners in Canada to receive a doctorate degree from a Chinese university.

In addition, Eran continues his studies in both modern and classical Chinese and works on translations of various medical texts and articles.

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