Dr. Chen Sher (陳奢), 1903–1989: the herbalist behind our formulas

My grandfather, Dr. Chen Sher (陳奢), was born in 1903 to a farming family in Tainan, Taiwan. Farmers were poor then, and most could not send a child to school. He was bright and hungry to learn, so an uncle paid his tuition, and he earned a degree in agriculture.

He went to work for the Taiwan Agriculture Department, under Japanese rule at the time, and spent long days doing field research across the island. That is where his interest in medicinal plants began. He started collecting herbs, studying them, and reading the classical Chinese materia medica on his own.

In 1945 Taiwan returned to Chinese rule. Six years later he passed the government examination that licensed him as a physician of Chinese medicine (中醫師). He opened his clinic in Tainan, the 回生中醫診所, and practised there for the rest of his life.

People depended on herbal medicine in those days, and the clinic was always full. He still made time for research and for writing: papers, and a book on his formulas. Physicians in Japan followed his work and invited him to continue it there. He declined, because he loved his hometown, but they kept exchanging findings for years. He served as chairman of what was then the Tainan Chinese Medicine Doctors Association.

He died in 1989. In Taiwanese, his given name 奢 is pronounced tshia, the same sound as 車, “car,” which is how many people in Tainan remembered it.

The next generation

His eldest son, my father, Chen Chao-hsiung (陳昭雄), grew up helping at the clinic counter, weighing and wrapping herbs beside him. My father went on to become a well-known attorney and chairman of the Tainan City Lawyers Association, but he never put the herbs down. After my grandfather died, he gathered the everyday tonic recipes into a family book, Dr. Chen’s Herbal Tea, and wrote its preface. Those are the recipes you will find on this site. He has also passed away. Both of them are the reason this site exists.

What this page is, and is not

It is a family history. My grandfather treated patients in a different era, with the knowledge of his time. We don’t repeat his clinical claims here, and nothing on this site is medical advice. What we share is the part of his work that belongs in a kitchen: teas, soups, and the habits of a careful herbalist.

Written by Grace Chen, his granddaughter.