What is Qing Pi? Are Chen Pi, Zhi Shi and Xiang Fu the same?
Official Qing Pi (青皮) is the dried young fruit or unripe peel of Citrus reticulata and its cultivars. The pharmacopoeial name is Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium Viride. Whole Qing Pi is the fallen young fruit; four-petal Qing Pi is unripe peel split into four lobes. Chen Pi is the ripe peel: acrid-bitter-warm, regulates qi, fortifies the Spleen, dries damp and transforms phlegm—milder, middle burner. Zhi Shi is bitter-acrid-sour and slightly cold: breaks qi, disperses accumulation, transforms phlegm and dissipates focal distention. Xiang Fu is acrid, slightly bitter, slightly sweet and neutral: courses the Liver, resolves constraint, regulates qi, eases the Middle and regulates menses. Write Qing Pi or vinegar Qing Pi. Use caution in qi vacuity.
What are the TCM properties and traditional uses of Qing Pi?
According to the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, Qing Pi is bitter, acrid and warm, enters the Liver, Gallbladder and Stomach channels, and acts to course the Liver and break qi, disperse accumulation and transform stagnation. It is used for chest-and-flank distending pain, shan qi (hernia-type pain), breast nodules, breast welling-abscess, and food-stagnation abdominal pain. Bitter-draining, acrid-dispersing and warm-unblocking, it breaks qi more fiercely than Chen Pi—Liver constraint with qi stagnation and food accumulation, not long use in qi-vacuity weakness.
How do you choose raw versus vinegar Qing Pi? Can Chen Pi replace it by equal weight?
Courting the Liver, breaking qi, dispersing accumulation and transforming stagnation use the raw peel or vinegar-fried peel. Practice more often uses vinegar Qing Pi: vinegar guides it into the Liver, eases fierce acridity and strengthens coursing the Liver to stop pain. Chen Pi regulates qi, fortifies the Spleen, dries damp and transforms phlegm; it cannot replace breaking qi and dispersing accumulation by equal weight. Bran-frying can reduce fierceness but is not a required pharmacopoeial grade.
What is the usual dosage? Can it be drunk daily as a Liver-coursing digestive tea?
The pharmacopoeial decoction dose is 3–10 g. It is not a four-season “Qing Pi Liver tea.” Without qi stagnation, breaking only injures the right qi. Flank pain and food accumulation need a practitioner to name a short course; it does not replace hepatobiliary and digestive assessment.
What are the contraindications? Can it be used in pregnancy?
Use caution in qi vacuity. The aged and frail should not take fierce breaking-qi herbs. Pregnancy with moving qi and breaking stagnation needs a practitioner’s assessment; it is not a calm-fetus herb. Stop if shortness of breath, fatigue, sweating and loose stool appear. Severe abdominal pain, jaundice and a hot red swollen breast are emergencies.
Can Qing Pi course the Liver, break qi and transform food stagnation?
It can help Liver constraint with qi stagnation and food-stagnation qi stagnation. Flank pain joins Bupleurum, Cyperus and Chuanxiong in a Chai Hu Shu Gan San type formula. Food-stagnation epigastric pain joins Aurantium immaturus, medicated leaven, Crataegus and malt. Breast nodules and welling-abscess join Trichosanthes and Taraxacum only after pattern differentiation. It courses the Liver, breaks qi, disperses accumulation and transforms stagnation—not a specific for every flank pain, every indigestion or every breast hyperplasia.
Can Qing Pi be drunk daily as a Liver-coursing, digestive or nodule-dispersing tea?
Chest-and-flank distending pain and food-stagnation abdominal pain may enter a short formula; qi vacuity only sinks further as it breaks. “Qing Pi must disperse breast lumps” does not replace breast and digestive assessment. Courting the Liver, breaking qi, dispersing accumulation and transforming stagnation should name Qing Pi or vinegar Qing Pi 3–10 g.
How do you choose among Qing Pi, Chen Pi, Zhi Shi, Xiang Fu and Chai Hu?
Green tangerine peel is bitter-acrid-warm: courses the Liver, breaks qi, disperses accumulation—fierce, Liver-Gallbladder, flank pain, shan qi, breast accumulation and food stagnation. Ripe tangerine peel is acrid-bitter-warm: regulates qi, fortifies the Spleen, dries damp and transforms phlegm—milder, middle burner. Immature bitter orange is bitter-acrid-sour and slightly cold: breaks qi, disperses accumulation, transforms phlegm and dissipates focal distention—epigastric-abdominal fullness. Cyperus is acrid, slightly bitter, slightly sweet and neutral: courses the Liver, resolves constraint, regulates qi and regulates menses—the “commander of qi diseases.” Bupleurum is bitter-acrid and slightly cold: courses the Liver, resolves constraint, raises yang and harmonizes to abate fever. Liver-constraint flank pain often pairs Bupleurum with Qing Pi or Xiang Fu; food accumulation favors Qing Pi or Zhi Shi; phlegm-damp middle burner favors Chen Pi. They may be paired; qi vacuity forbids large Qing Pi and Zhi Shi.
Which herbs is Qing Pi combined with? What are the representative formulas?
Liver-constraint flank pain joins Bupleurum, Cyperus, Chuanxiong, bitter orange, Peony and Licorice in a Chai Hu Shu Gan San type formula. Food-stagnation qi stagnation joins Crataegus, medicated leaven, malt and Zhi Shi. Write Qing Pi or vinegar Qing Pi 3–10 g.
How do you choose and store Qing Pi?
Choose round, green whole Qing Pi with dense oil chambers and a strong aroma, or thick four-petal peel that is yellowish-white inside. Moldy, moth-eaten, scentless lots mixed indistinctly with Chen Pi are discarded. Store cool and dry. Buy pharmacopoeial Qing Pi; do not replace coursing the Liver, breaking qi, dispersing accumulation and transforming stagnation with Chen Pi by equal weight.
