Talking TCM: 7 Natural Remedies to Banish Hangovers

Alcohol has always played an essential role in traditional Chinese culture. It is a gateway to success at business dinners and used for celebration at festivals and weddings, also inspiring poet Li Bai, and even a school of martial arts, zuiquan, or drunken fist boxing.

The history of drinking culture also prompted ancient Chinese to look for natural remedies to limit alcohol's impact at a time when other methods were nowhere to be found. Next time you wake up with a hammering headache, dizziness, nausea, fatigue and irritable, I hope you enjoy the adventure of mixing the following as much as I do.

Kudzu flower (gegen hua葛根花)
This herbal medicine has long been used as a remedy for alcoholism and hangover. As the Chinese idiom literally goes: 1,000 glasses but no drunkenness with gegen hua (千杯不醉葛根花). Drink it the way you make hot tea.

Arhat fruit (luohanguo罗汉果)
The egg-shaped dried fruit has a nourishing and cooling nature that also works for coughing and constipation. Break the sweet and pleasant fruit open and make tea.

Chrysanthemum tea (juhua cha菊花茶)
We often have this tea in Chinese restaurants but many do not know it can also enhance the function of the liver and help to sober us up.

Dried orange peel (chenpi 陈皮)
Dried orange peel works as a booster of qi (energy) circulation and fosters recovery in the body. You can mix this with the herbs above to enhance its function.

Wild jujube（suanzao 酸枣）
This sweet and sour fruit tastes great and is rich in vitamin C. Infuse it with kudzu flower and dried orange peel and you might just have invented your hangover cure favorite recipe.

Ginger (jiang 姜)
It might be the easiest hangover cure to find at home or in the neighborhood, have some on hand because it also relieves the common cold and stomach upset. Feel free to mix your ginger drink with chrysanthemum and Arhat fruit.

Honey (fengmi 蜂蜜)
Alcohol causes dehydration. If you do not have any of the above with you, drink enough water with honey, which is nourishing and serves as an energy tonic. It is also a great complement to any of the herbs above.

Nothing makes a foreign country feel more foreign than being ill and not finding the right remedies. Each week here in Talking TCM, we introduce a household remedy from the TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) cabinet used to combat common ailments.

Clemence Jiang is a young contemporary writer for the Beijinger with a TCM  background. She enjoys going out with friends and creating her own herbal mix to cure the hangover. Need a cure for other ailments? Email c.jiang@truerun.com.