Gan Jiang (干姜) is ginger rhizome after drying, recorded as Rhizoma Zingiberis. It is acrid in flavour and hot in temperature, entering the Heart, Lung, Spleen and Stomach channels. The catalogue files it among the herbs that warm the Interior and expel Cold.

Pinyin

gan jiang

Chinese

干姜

Latin Name

Rhizoma Zingiberis·Rhizoma Zingiberis - Dried

English Name

Dried Ginger Rhizome

Japanese

kankyo

Korean

keongang

Actions and indications

Warms the Middle Jiao and expels Cold

Cold invading the Spleen and Stomach from outside
Deficiency Cold of the Spleen and Stomach, with Yang deficiency: a cold, painful epigastrium and abdomen, little appetite, nausea, vomiting and loose stools

Dispels Wind-Damp from the Lower Jiao

Wind-Cold-Damp Bi affecting the Lower Jiao

Rescues collapsed Yang and expels interior Cold

Collapse of Yang with icy limbs and a faint, barely palpable pulse, usually with Fu Zi, whose warmth it sustains for longer

Warms the Lungs and transforms thin fluids

Cold in the Lungs, with cough or wheezing and thin, watery sputum that is clear or white

Warms the channels and stops bleeding

Bleeding from deficiency Cold, above all uterine bleeding, used only when it is long-standing with pale blood, cold limbs, an ashen face and a thin, soggy pulse; the processed form Pao Jiang is preferred

Combinations

bai zhu

Spleen Deficiency with diarrhea; with both herbs charred, bloody stools, hematochezia and heavy uterine bleeding

bai zhu + ren shen

Deficient Spleen Yang causing diarrhea, vomiting and coldness of the abdomen

zhi fu zi

Weakened Kidney and Spleen Yang with unceasing diarrhea; Devastated Yang; the interior effects of an external Wind-Cold attack; excess Yin fluids from Deficiency Cold; Cold-Damp Bi; warms Kidney and Spleen, benefits Yang and scatters Cold; lessens the toxicity of zhi fu zi (more so when gan cao is added)

huang lian

Nausea, belching, dysentery, a vague gnawing hunger, epigastric distention and pain, and ill-defined abdominal pain or discomfort

huang lian + e jiao

Long-standing diarrhea that has damaged the Yin, producing mixed Heat and Cold with pus and Blood in the stool

zhi ban xia

Congested fluids from Cold causing dry retching or vomiting of saliva

gan cao

Deficiency Cold of the Spleen and Stomach with vomiting and epigastric pain

gao liang jiang

Stomach Cold with vomiting and a cold abdomen

zhi ban xia + ren shen

Deficiency Cold vomiting