Beijing Tongrentang is a time-honored brand in the traditional Chinese medicine industry. Its original name was "Tongrentang Lejia Old Shop" and it was founded in the eighth year of Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1669). The store sells Chinese herbal medicines and various Chinese patent medicines such as pills, powders, ointments, and elixirs. It is famous for its authentic selection of ingredients, exquisite processing, complete medicinal flavors, and remarkable medicinal effects.

The founder of Tongrentang Pharmacy, whose surname is Le, is originally from Ningbo Prefecture, Zhejiang Province. My ancestors came to Beijing as early as the Ming Dynasty. At first, he just rang a bell and walked around the streets to practice medicine and sell some medicine to make a living. It was not until the early Qing Dynasty that Le Zunyu, a descendant of the Le family, entered Taiyuan Hospital and opened the "Lejia Old Shop", which was later renamed "Tong Ren Tang". This laid a solid foundation for the future development of Tong Ren Tang.

In the 41st year of Kangxi (1702), Le Fengming moved the medicine shop to the south of Dashilan Road, Qianmen. Tongrentang has a shop in front and a shop in the back, producing and selling by itself. Its workshop is located near the grinding factory not far from Dashilar. In 1706, Le Fengming summarized the pharmaceutical experience of his predecessors on the basis of palace secret recipes, folk prescriptions, and ancestral formulas, and wrote the book "Le's Ancestral Pills and Powders and Cream Preparations". The book clearly stated that "Although the preparation is complicated, it must be done." "Don't dare to save labor; although the taste is expensive, you must not reduce material resources". Tongrentang people of all generations have always adhered to the motto left by their predecessors and established a sense of self-discipline that "no one can see the cultivation, and God knows the intention". Make Tong Ren Tang’s golden brand name last forever.

Thanks to Tong Ren Tang’s efficient management, after decades of painstaking operation, the pharmacy has begun to take shape. The greater development of Tongrentang began during the Yongzheng period when it was dedicated to the Imperial Pharmacy of the Qing Palace. In the first year of Yongzheng's reign (1723), the emperor designated Tongrentang to be dedicated to the Imperial Pharmacy of the Qing Dynasty and to handle official medicines alone. For the next 188 years (through eight generations of emperors), Tongrentang provided medicines for the Qing Palace Yushan Pharmacy.

At first, Tong Ren Tang only provided some raw medicinal materials to the Imperial Pharmacy. However, because the Chinese patent medicines produced by Tong Ren Tang had reasonable formulas, good quality, and high efficacy, the Imperial Pharmacy in the palace also asked Tong Ren Tang to send people to the palace to help with the preparations. . Tong Ren Tang supplies medicines to the imperial palace, which not only improves Tong Ren Tang's social reputation, but also provides Tong Ren Tang with strong economic strength. The biggest advantage of Tongrentang's dealings with Royal Pharmacy is that the medicines are collected first and delivered later. In this way, Tongrentang's economic power will be greatly strengthened and it will become more competitive.

Tongrentang is very particular about both the selection of materials and production. They have more than 400 kinds of Chinese patent medicine formulas with reasonable formulas, appropriate dosages and remarkable curative effects.

In terms of purchasing goods, in the late Qing Dynasty, there were four major drug stores in Beijing: Tianhui, Tiancheng, Longsheng, and Huifeng. These four major drug stores all have business dealings with Tong Ren Tang. Tong Ren Tang is a major pharmaceutical company, and Tong Ren Tang is the first to select products from the four major drug stores. Go to Yingkou drug store to buy ginseng and deer antlers, and go to Henan to buy musk.

In terms of production technology, Tong Ren Tang always adheres to the production principle of "no matter how complicated the preparation is, we must not save labor; no matter how expensive the taste is, we must not save material resources". Some medicines have strong dryness. The longer they are stored, the less dryness they have, the purer their flavor and the higher their efficacy. For example, tiger bone wine must be stored in a vat for two years before being sold; reconstituted pills must be sealed and stored for one year before being sold. This approach not only accumulates costs, but also takes up more equipment and warehouses. However, in order to improve the efficacy of drugs, Tong Ren Tang persisted in doing so and won the trust of drug buyers.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Le family multiplied into four major branches. They are the four brothers Le Mengfan, Le Zhongfan, Le Fan and Le Jifan.

Tongrentang is jointly managed by these four branches, and each branch is stipulated to receive 10,000 taels of silver from Tongrentang every year. In addition, they are also allowed to consign their own pills, powders, ointments, elixirs and other medicines in Tongrentang.

At that time, most of the employees in Tongrentang stores were either relatives or friends, so the employees were also divided into factions. When they sell medicines to customers, they all compete to introduce the medicines consigned by their dependents to customers who come into the store to buy medicines. This method harmed the public interests of Tongrentang and made the business situation very chaotic, which was very detrimental to the development of Tongrentang.

Later, representatives of the four Lejia families met and agreed to cancel the consignment system and allow each branch to open a shop outside. The signs of "Lejia Old Shop" can be used, but not "Tongrentang". "Store name. Since then, each branch has opened medicine shops outside one after another.

In the 10th year of the Republic of China (1921), Le Mengfan opened the old Lejia "Hongrentang" drugstore. Later, Le Zhongfanzhi opened the old Lejia store "Hongjitang" drugstore, and Leji Fanzhi opened the old Lejia store "Darentang" drugstore.

In the seventeenth year of the Republic of China (1928), the Nationalist Government moved from Beijing to Nanjing. Le Duzhou of Lemeng Fanzhi opened Nanjing "Tongrentang" in Nanjing. This approach violated the "family agreement" originally formulated, and was unanimously opposed by the other three branches, who quarreled over the matter.

Under the pressure of everyone, Le Xinshen (Le Duzhou's brother), the big boss of Beijing Tongrentang at the time, had no choice but to resign, and the matter finally came to an end.

After the Lejia branch, the Lemengfan branch opened one Nanjing Tongrentang, three Hongjitang, five Lerentang, and four Hongrentang; the Lezhongfan branch opened one Yilingtang, one Yilingtang, There are three Yong Ren Halls, one Huairen Hall, and one Pei Ren Hall; Le Shufan Branch opened two Ji Ren Halls, one Le Shun Kee Hall, and one Hong De Hall; Le Ji Fan Branch opened ten Daren Halls, Shue Yan Tang one. These more than 30 "Lejia old stores" are located in Tianjin, Shanghai, Changchun, Xi'an, Changsha, Fuzhou, Hong Kong and other places. Beijing Tongrentang is spread all over the country and has had a significant and far-reaching impact on the development of Tongrentang.