Across the country, there are now over 6,000 Chinese medical halls.
It is 10.30am at Ban Choon Medical Hall in Kuala Lumpur and the establishment’s 51-year-old owner Hin Yau Leong is busy tending to customers who have come in to purchase an assortment of dried herbs and other goods.
“We get customers of all ages here – from the young to the old,” he says.
As if on cue, an elderly gentleman shuffles in alongside a bespectacled young lady, the former after a range of dried herbs to alleviate a health condition and the latter looking for soup packs.
Ban Choon has been around since 1971 and was opened by Hin’s father. Hin himself studied traditional Chinese medicine before taking on the family business. The family’s roots in running Chinese medical halls runs deep – Hin’s grandfather was in the business too and had a Chinese medical hall in Penang in the 1950s.
In Malaysia, knowledge of Chinese medicine has been around since the 1400s, possibly bolstered by Chinese merchants and traders who came to Melaka in that era. The earliest known Chinese medical hall was opened in 1796 in Penang by Koo Suk Chuan.
Ooi’s shop is one of five surviving Chinese medical halls along a road which once had 10 of these establishments. — ALAN TEH
In the 19th century – with the increase in Chinese migrants arriving at the behest of the British – more Chinese medical shops were set up by new arrivals equipped with medical knowledge to provide nutritional supplements for their fellow clansmen working as coolies in tin mines.
Over time, these outlets proliferated by shadowing the movement of the workers as they moved all over the country in search of alternative employment when the mines closed.
Famed local Chinese medicine brand Eu Yan Sang for instance, started as a small shop in Gopeng, Perak in 1879 and 145 years later, it has nearly 200 stores across Asia.
Across the country, there are now over 6,000 Chinese medical halls, all of which play an important role in the daily diets of Malaysian Chinese denizens.
There are hundreds of both plant-based and animal-based ingredients that are part of the traditional Chinese medicinal ingredient arsenal. — ALAN TEH
Traditional Chinese medicine has been instrumental in the development of traditional Chinese medicinal cuisine, which works on balancing yin (passive) and yang (active) elements in the human body and the influence of the five elements (water, fire, earth, wood and metal). The ancient pedagogy uses natural foods as nutrition as well as to heal or prevent health conditions and ailments.
The development of Chinese herbal remedies is over 2,000 years old with the earliest known written record of Chinese medicine tracing its roots to the 3rd century BCE and The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine.
Chinese medical hall owners and operators (who typically have studied traditional Chinese medicine) apply the knowledge of these fundamental tenets and stock an arsenal of traditional plant and animal ingredients like dried seahorse, abalone, bird’s nests, black fungus, water chestnut, sea buckthorn and wolf berries, among a long list of ingredients.
Ooi has been working in his father’s Chinese medical hall since he was a teenager and says what he does is very specialised and viable. — ALAN TEH
In Singapore, the Singapore Food Agency has a comprehensive list of 148 mostly plant-based Chinese medicinal materials commonly used in food.
Chinese herbal remedies are also inculcated in the bones and DNA structure of Chinese cuisine, especially in the brewing of herbal teas and soups, which are rife with ingredients like goji berries, ginseng, dried scallop and dried wild yam – and are prepared almost daily in most Chinese homes to stay the course in terms of health.
Common Chinese soups include the like of four herbs soup (Si Shen Tang) which is said to be good for the digestive system; ginseng chicken soup with goji berries for improved brain function; and chicken and cordyceps flower soup which is thought to improve immunity.
Many Chinese dishes also include traditional medicinal ingredients, like stir-fried vegetables enhanced with gingko for memory function; and tofu dishes imbued with dried scallop, which is said to nourish the kidneys.
Both old and young customers continue to go to Chinese medical halls, and demand among younger consumers has gone up since the Covid-10 pandemic sparked health concerns.
Multi-generational shops
Chinese medical halls often serve as purveyors of traditional east Asian medicinal ingredients as well as information points on what to consume, brew or boil to maintain optimum health.
Many of the older establishments are built off the strength of family ties with knowledge passed down through the generations and bolstered by formal education in traditional Chinese medicine.
In Penang’s Kedai Ubat Weng Aun Thye, owner Ooi Pin Seng is hard at work separating feathers and other debris from a sizeable pile of bird nest shreds.
A second-generation traditional medical hall owner who started out as a 13-year-old juggling between schoolwork and helping out at the shop in the early 1960s, providing essential tips to help customers make informed choices has been Ooi’s long-held business philosophy.
Although consumer demands have evolved over the decades, the recurring need for herbs and delicacies to maintain good health remains.
The recent pandemic, for instance, sparked a rush for products to boost immunity and improve overall health. Even the younger generation, who seldom visited medical shops in the past, turned up to purchase herbal products during the early days when Covid-19 stoked widespread fears and uncertainties.
Younger Chinese consumers are looking for convenience, which is why many Chinese medical halls like Hin’s offer soup packs and herbal tea packs that contain all the ingredients necessary for quick brews.
Crowds, however, thinned when strict social distancing regulations encouraged people to embrace e-commerce platforms. Despite this setback, general awareness of the importance of traditional Chinese medicine among the younger generation is a silver lining to the scourge that has claimed many lives and caused countless hardship. Hin meanwhile believes that the key to attracting a younger demographic is to adapt and innovate.
“Most younger people want things fast and easy. That’s why I developed my own brand of soup packs and herbal teas, with all the ingredients clearly labelled in transparent packaging so they can see what’s in it.
“This way, they can just cook the soups using the ingredients in the packs – they don’t have to consult me or wait for too long. And I have noticed that this is what attracts young people now – they want traditional foods, but in easier applications,” he says.
Many people of Chinese descent continue to believe in the healing properties of traditional Chinese medicinal ingredients, which they source from Chinese medical halls. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
The future of Chinese medical halls
Over the years, the ingredients used in traditional Chinese medicinal cuisine have become de rigeur in supermarkets and larger stores scattered across malls.
Retiree May Goh for instance says that while she used to occasionally go to Chinese medical halls in the past, these days she prefers to shop for Chinese medicinal ingredients in her neighbourhood mall.
“Everything is labelled clearly and there is a large selection of herbs so I normally shop in supermarkets or shops in the mall to buy ingredients for my cooking, like dates, white fungus and fish maw,” she says.
Goh prefers to buy all her traditional Chinese ingredients from supermarkets and shops in malls. — MAY GOH
Today, even though pandemic fears have long subsided, the convenience of purchasing things online also persists. While some traditional medical outlets have adopted this novel marketing strategy, the rest, including Weng Aun Thye, continue to welcome loyal customers who prefer to turn up physically to seek advice and evaluate the merchandise first-hand before making the necessary purchases.
With escalating overheads and dwindling customer base, the going has definitely been tough. Today, only five out of the original nine traditional medicine shops remain in Penang’s Beach Street. While acknowledging this decline, Ooi remains steadfast and believes in his business viability.
“This is a very specialised trade and not everyone can do it,” he declares with conviction while expressing appreciation to both his wife and daughter for helping out at the shop and harbouring hope for his grandson to helm the business one day.
Hin’s daughter is studying traditional Chinese medicine and will be taking over his business when he retires. — Photos: ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
Hin meanwhile has embraced change and now provides delivery services on a local delivery platform. He also firmly believes in the survivability of a business like his and says that for people who prioritise value, a small Chinese medical hall provides more personalised service and better pricing.
“If you look at larger brands in malls, their rental is like RM20,000 a month so their products are priced at least 10% to 20% more. So my advantage is that I can offer the same ingredient at a better price as well as my own expertise based on over 30 years of doing this,” he says.
Hin also believes that there is a very bright future for Chinese medical halls. In fact, his own daughter is pursuing a five-year diploma in traditional Chinese medicine in China and he expects her to take over his business when he retires in the next 10 years or so.
“This industry has a future. Western medicine is based on science but traditional Chinese medicine is rooted in natural ingredients. Many people now prioritise natural ingredients over chemical components, so there is definitely going to be room for the industry to grow in the future,” he says.
