Sincere Service Carries Forward the Father's Aspiration; Pingxintang Gathers the Worthy Physicians
In 1999, Zhang Xiaotong founded Pingxintang — seeking out the celebrated physicians, gathering the worthy practitioners far and wide — so that Pingxintang would become the meeting-place of real, good Chinese medicine, so that ordinary people would feel Chinese medicine's power, and so that this treasure of the nation would reach the common people. His passing leaves countless patients bowed in grief.
In memoriam, Mr. Zhang Xiaotong
Sincere service carries forward the father's aspiration,
Pingxintang gathers the worthy physicians.
The Yueli Award lifts the healer's way,
Classic exegesis traces back to the source.
Heart poured out to revive Qi-Huang,
Upholding the true, rejecting Western drift.
Bowed down and spent, gone after service fulfilled —
A clean, spare bearing that lights the world.
Mr. Zhang Xiaotong, walk well on the road ahead.
In deep mourning for elder brother Xiaotong
Startled to hear you rode the crane away,
Past events rise — tears cloud my eyes.
On yellow earth you expressed your resolve,
Rooted among the common people, step by step.
Returning to the city to carry your father's will,
Hanging the gourd to save the world with an even heart.
You recommended physicians to treat stubborn ills,
Gave me fine books, remembering old ties.
Saving lives for the many,
Poised and gracious even in illness.
The wishes you left unfinished in life,
Kin and friends will carry, and a son remains.
I pray that heaven has no pain,
And at the Qingming festival we will console you again.
— Chiping and Tianfen, in respectful mourning, February 18, 2025
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I am a patient of Pingxintang, from Jinan — and I cannot thank Mr. Zhang enough for the effort and the work that made it possible for a person like me to meet the master physicians here and receive Chinese-medicine treatment. What Mr. Zhang did was a good work of accumulated virtue; he is surely on his way to the Pure Land. I also believe Pingxintang will carry on, and will only grow better. Chinese medicine is on the rise in the young generation now, and your promotion and your work are no small part of it. I first heard of Pingxintang from a Douyin interview with Mr. Zhang. Thank you for your effort; thank you Pingxintang; walk well on the road ahead.
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In deep mourning for Mr. Zhang Xiaotong
The year is yisi, and the news has arrived. I am shaken to hear that Mr. Zhang Xiaotong, founder of Pingxintang, has passed into the immortals. Grief is beyond speaking. I was once a patient at Beijing Pingxintang and saw at first hand the refinement of his medical way and the depth of his physician's spirit. Only then did I learn that he was the son of Minister Cui Yueli — one family, one medical inheritance, a clinical care-for-the-world carried over.
All his life his aspiration never wavered, devoted to the spreading of Chinese-medicine culture. Looking back, it was a pure heart, a far-reaching resolve — braving hardship, braving wind and rain. To found Pingxintang was as if scattering the seed of Chinese-medicine hope in barren ground — letting the art of Qi-Huang take root there, bud, flower, and bear fruit. Inside the clinic he arranged every detail to express the tradition's plainness and weight; in the selection of physicians he was strict, taking only the capable, gathering good doctors from every direction, for no other purpose than to give patients the finest care.
In the transmission of the classics, he spared no effort. He pored over ancient texts to seek Chinese medicine's essence, as if dredging up luminous pearls from the long river of history. He convened scholars and specialists for academic exchange, letting the ancient doctrine bloom again in the collision of ideas. At the same time he gave himself to TCM education, teaching by example and raising up batch after batch of Chinese-medicine talent — stars scattered across the vast heaven of Chinese medicine, each contributing to the tradition's continuance.
His virtue we can only look up at, like a mountain. Toward his patients, he was like spring rain — patient in listening to every request, warm in the words he used to console. Of any rank, any means — he treated all alike and gave his most careful attention to each. His compassion and his skill brought countless patients back to health, and carried the name of Chinese medicine from patient to patient.
Now he has ridden the crane into the west, and his face and voice live on only in memory. His departure is a falling star in the Chinese-medicine world — we have lost an outstanding leader. But the Pingxintang he left behind still stands, carrying his dream and his hope, continuing to safeguard those who seek care.
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Mr. Zhang Xiaotong cried out for Chinese medicine's revival, grieved at the thinning ranks of Chinese-medicine talent, and gave all of himself to the development of Chinese-medicine work. Mercifully, over the years, under Mr. Zhang's influence the tide of Chinese medicine has begun to turn. More and more people have begun to love and study it; many outstanding young people have joined the ranks of Chinese-medicine transmission and renewal; many more are speaking up for Chinese medicine and spreading its culture.
Chinese medicine has hope, has a future! We believe the day will come when we can say: "This flourishing age is as you wished." ("這盛世如您所願")