Standing on the antique Hefang Street, Fang Hui Chun Tang is a flagship pharmacy of Hangzhou’s traditional Chinese medicine industry. It was founded in 1649 by Fang Qingyi, a much-acclaimed local clinic doctor. An accomplished pediatrician born to a long line of pharmacists, Fang was said to have successfully cured the baby grandson of the local county magistrate, who awarded the pill the title of “Xiaoer Huichun Wan” (literally meaning “a pill that is sure to bring infants back to life”). Hence the name of the pharmacy the Fangs later founded.

Having built up a reverberating reputation in treating infant patients, Fang expanded the clinic into a pharmacy, sited on Hefang Street, a commercial center of ancient Hangzhou. Fang Hui Chun Tang managed to flourish amid competition, and by the end of the 19th century, it had developed into one of the top six pharmacies that held controlling stakes on Hangzhou’s medicines market.

Turbulences of the first half of the 20th century plunged most trades into depression. Though having survived the wars (both against Japanese Invasion and the Civil War), Fang Hui Chun Tang, along with most other pharmacies, merely struggled to keep operating until being nationalized in 1956. It was not until 45 years later that it was reorganized and reopened under its previous brand name.

The business philosophy of Fang Hui Chun Tang is summarized in the Fangs’ ancestral doctrine, reading “it is all right to make a profit, but despicable to sell under-quality products”.