The 'father' of Sao Vang balm and his vibrant life attached to Nghe An land

Pho Duc Thanh, hometown in Da Nguu village, Tan Tien commune, Van Giang district, Hung Yen province, born in 1880 in Ninh Binh.

In 1926, while doing business in Hue as a civil servant and small business owner, Pho Duc Thanh received repeated requests for help from his cousin, Pho Duc Chu. Mr. Chu opened a traditional medicine shop in Hanoi, but was oppressed by the Chinese and could not do business. With the desire to prove that the Vietnamese could compete equally with the Chinese in the field of oriental medicine, Pho Duc Thanh accepted to help and became the manager of Pho Duc Chu's pharmacy.

Physician Pho Duc Thanh.

However, he did not choose to directly confront the Chinese in their own territory, Phuc Kien Street (Hanoi), but he chose Vinh - Ben Thuy as his "base". He believed that: Vinh - Ben Thuy is a young city, with many advantages in transportation. The Chinese's oriental medicine activities here are not as strong as in other places in the South and North. Moreover, Nghe Tinh is the land of Confucianism, so there are many Confucian scholars, many people who know and use oriental medicine.

The business of traditional Chinese and Vietnamese medicine would certainly be favorable. Thinking like that, Pho Duc Thanh boldly gave up everything he had in Hue to start a business in Vinh. From a small pharmacy at first, Pho Duc Thanh gradually established a position in the market in Vinh. When he was quite stable, he decided to make a big investment. In 1928, the event of Vinh Hung Tuong spending 20,000 Dong to buy back the building of the Civil Court located right in front of Vinh market, to use as headquarters, could be considered a big turning point, truly turning Vinh Hung Tuong into the number 1 force in oriental medicine not only in Vinh - Ben Thuy.

To compete with the Chinese, he directly imported Chinese medicine from Hong Kong to "buy at the source". At the same time, he opened agencies in many regions across the North, Central and South to "sell at the tip". In addition to the "General Department" located in Hanoi, Vinh Hung Tuong has 2 "Branches" in Vinh and Viet Tri. Under the "Branches" are "Branch Offices" in: Ha Tinh, Do Luong, Cau Giat, Dong Hoi, Hue, Tourane (Da Nang), Faifo (Hoi An), Hong Kong, Phuc Yen, Yen Bai, Bac Ninh, Phu Tho, Tuyen Quang...

The old Civil Court headquarters (176 Rue Sarrau), in 1928 Vinh Hung Tuong bought it back as the company headquarters (current location is Vinh Market Management Board)

The quality of medicine has always been emphasized as the most important factor that has created the Vinh Hung Tuong brand for a long time and throughout the South and the North. As a salesman, Pho Duc Thanh also highly values ​​​​the reputation of customers. In one of his articles, Pho Duc Thanh divided customers into 7 types according to their own characteristics and the appropriate behavior of the salesman towards each type.

He believes that if any type of customer is not satisfied, it is the responsibility of the seller. Not only creating jobs for more than 30 people at the headquarters and hundreds of others at the branches, Vinh Hung Tuong and Pho Duc Thanh personally also sponsor, preside, organize and manage charity activities at the Tap Phuc Association, Duc Anh Association, the Poor House, activities to spread the national language at the Vinh Temple of Literature, famine relief activities in 1945...

Not only researching and applying available remedies, Pho Duc Thanh was one of the first Vietnamese physicians passionate about collecting, discovering and researching medicinal plants and promoting the cultivation of medicinal plants. In the 1930s, he repeatedly explored the Western region of Nghe An to find medicinal plants and at the same time built a medicinal garden in the Temple of Literature in Vinh.

In particular, he has researched many medicinal recipes and prepared some good medicines from Vietnamese herbs. Among them, the most prominent is Vinh Hung Tuong “balm oil”, named “Van Ung”. At first, Van Ung was just a liquid balm, then a concentrated balm was added and the product was diversified according to each season. Later, when he worked at the Ministry of Health, Pho Duc Thanh transferred the formula for making Van Ung oil to the Central Pharmaceutical Enterprise 2. Since then, this product has developed into the famous “Cao Sao Vang” brand at home and abroad. It is known that he did not receive any “royalty” money for this invention.

However, what makes Pho Duc Thanh's reputation and name in the oriental medicine community special is his tireless dedication, not afraid of danger, to the cause of preserving and developing oriental medicine in the country. Under the French colonial period, the State's policy not only did not encourage oriental medicine, but also sought to strictly manage it in order to gradually eliminate it.

Advertisement for Van Ung special oil, the predecessor of Sao Vang balm, in Thanh Nghe Tinh Tan Van newspaper, issue August 10, 1934.

In that context, from 1930 to 1943, Pho Duc Thanh wrote many articles about Oriental medicine in Vietnamese and French, published in many different newspapers. Not only writing articles, he also took advantage of every opportunity to promote Oriental medicine, such as bringing medicinal plants and traditional medicine to participate in fairs; taking advantage of friendship with French officials to influence them to understand traditional medicine... In particular, he devoted all his efforts to establishing an organization of Oriental medicine practitioners. As soon as he bought a new headquarters, in 1928, Pho Duc Thanh reserved a separate room to be the meeting place of the "Oriental Medicine Home", gathering famous and virtuous physicians in the region. From 1928 to 1936, he persistently and diligently prepared the necessary premises to move towards establishing the Central Oriental Medicine Association.

In 1936, the Central Medical Association was officially established, and physician Pho Duc Thanh was nominated to hold the position of Permanent Manager of the association. This was a position that had to be approved by the Protectorate government.

The Association published the Oriental Medicine Magazine, opened Oriental Medicine classes, opened clinics, etc. The Association had its own headquarters. A few years later, it even rented a spacious two-story headquarters on Cua Ta Street, Vinh City. The Association also had its own car and a fairly abundant budget. All of this was thanks to the great efforts and skillful management of Pho Duc Thanh.

After that, Pho Duc Thanh also traveled to the North to campaign for the establishment of the Tonkin Medical Association, and to the South to campaign for the establishment of the Cochinchina Medical Association. On July 17, 1943, the De Coux government issued a decree on management, essentially banning Oriental medicine. Pho Duc Thanh continued to write many articles stating the view that "Such bans and restrictions are unreasonable". He also traveled to many places, met many French officials with high positions in the Western medical community to campaign. Finally, his tireless efforts were rewarded: the De Coux government had to abolish the above decree.

After the August Revolution, Pho Duc Thanh participated in many social activities. He was a delegate of the Vinh City People's Council (1945 - 1947). In 1954, he became a Standing Member of the Executive Committee of the Fatherland Front of Inter-Zone 4. On February 4, 1956, he concurrently held the position of Chairman of the Fatherland Front Committee of Vinh - Ben Thuy town. In December 1956, he was transferred by the Ministry of Health to the Ministry to work in the field of Oriental Medicine, promoting the establishment of the Vietnam Oriental Medicine Association. He died in 1968, during a business trip to Cao Bang due to a tragic traffic accident.

Cao Sao Vang is a product of Physician Pho Duc Thanh.

During his active career, physician Pho Duc Thanh spent 30 years working in Vinh city. That was also the period when his career flourished in all fields. It can be said that Pho Duc Thanh was a distinctive face of Vinh city in the first half of the 20th century.

“A patriotic intellectual, famous physician of the 20th century” is the title that the President of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Oriental Medicine Association, Doctor Nguyen Xuan Huong, gave to Pho Duc Thanh.

After 1975, Vietnam and the Soviet Union increased the exchange of goods. Cao Sao Vang was one of the products exported to the Soviet Union. The product was assigned to 5 pharmaceutical factories for production. The pharmaceutical factory in Da Nang alone was assigned an annual production target of 10-15 million boxes. The peak was 1983, with an assigned output of 20 million boxes, the lowest was 1986, the last year with a production target of 4 million boxes.

After the export to the Soviet Union ended, the consumption of Sao Vang balm decreased. Many units registered to produce Sao Vang balm, however, few businesses maintained stable output. In addition to the domestic market, businesses sought to consume products in foreign markets such as Russia, Germany, etc.

After a period of stagnation due to products with similar effects such as balm, eucalyptus oil... competing in the domestic market, in 2013 - 2014, Cao Sao Vang was mentioned again when it became a best-selling item in the international market. On leading online sales sites, this product is priced dozens of times higher than the original price in Vietnam.