Fu Ling and Empress Cixi: China's Oldest Skin Formula

Poria & Skin Health

1880

Imperial physicians formulated Yurong San for Empress Dowager Cixi in 1880, building on centuries of Fu Ling's documented skin uses. Modern research is now identifying the molecular mechanisms behind what those physicians observed empirically.

Lei et al., Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 2025

2,000+

years Poria cocos has been documented in Chinese pharmacopoeias (Lei et al., 2025)

Pachymic acid

primary lanostane triterpenoid in Poria with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant skin activity (Wei et al., 2022)

Collagen + HA

Poria lanostane triterpenoids enhanced both type I collagen and hyaluronic acid in human dermal fibroblasts (Chao et al., 2023)

Lei et al., Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 2025

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Empress Dowager Cixi, who ruled China for nearly five decades from behind the throne, had a documented skin problem. Court medical records from the mid-Qing Dynasty describe her complexion in middle age as rough, yellowed, and marked by dark discolorations. By the accounts of palace attendants in her later years, including her lady-in-waiting De Ling, her skin had become notably clearer and smoother. Between those two descriptions sits a formula.

In the sixth year of the Guangxu reign (1880), imperial physicians drew on an earlier Qing Dynasty formula called "Eight White Scattered" to create Yurong San: a skin preparation formulated specifically for Cixi that centered on white-colored botanical and fungal ingredients. Fu Ling, the compressed sclerotium of the fungus Poria cocos, was among its primary components.

The Yurong San formula predates modern dermatology by more than a century. But it was built on something real. Researchers have since identified that Poria cocos contains lanostane-type triterpenoids that stimulate collagen and hyaluronic acid synthesis, polysaccharides with humectant properties, and compounds that suppress melanin overproduction. What Cixi's physicians selected empirically, pharmacologists are now explaining molecularly. For the full profile of this mushroom and its place in Chinese medicine, what Poria (Fu Ling) is and why it matters in TCM covers the broader context.

The Imperial Records: What Cixi's Court Documents Actually Describe

Empress Dowager Cixi is one of the most documented figures in Chinese imperial history, and the medical records from her court are unusually detailed. The compilation known as "Cixi Guangxu's Selected Medical Prescriptions" preserves the prescriptions prepared for the Empress and the specific complaints they addressed. Among the recorded concerns was her complexion: rough texture, uneven tone, and discoloration that developed in her 40s.

Chinese imperial medicine during the Qing Dynasty treated skin complaints through a combination of oral tonics and topical preparations. The topical approach was considered essential for visible skin changes, and the imperial physicians who served Cixi operated within a system of skin treatment that had accumulated over several centuries.

The Yurong San formula they created was not invented from scratch. It drew on an existing template called "Eight White Scattered," a Qing Dynasty formula organized around eight white-colored ingredients selected for their traditional skin-clearing properties. White color in Chinese medical ingredient selection often corresponded to substances associated with the lung organ system, which in TCM governs the skin. Poria (Fu Ling) appears consistently in documented versions of this formula tradition.

Palace attendant De Ling, who served Cixi in the early 1900s and later wrote memoirs of her time at court, described the Empress's complexion in her later decades as surprisingly clear and smooth for her age. The attribution to her skin preparation routine, including Yurong San, is explicit in accounts from that period.

The historical record does not offer anything resembling a controlled trial. What it offers is a well-documented, consistently reported observation from a context where outcomes mattered to people in a position to change what they were doing if it didn't work.

What Fu Ling Is, and Why Physicians Put It in a Skin Formula

Fu Ling is the dried sclerotium of Wolfiporia extensa, a wood-decaying fungus that grows underground on the roots of Pinus trees across Asia. The sclerotium is a dense, irregularly shaped mass of fungal tissue, often compared to a hardened tuber. In Chinese pharmacopoeias, it has appeared continuously for over 2,000 years.^[1]

Empress Dowager Cixi's physicians included Poria cocos (Fu Ling) in the Yurong San formula for skin brightening and texture improvement, drawing on centuries of accumulated empirical observation in Chinese medicine.

In TCM classification, Fu Ling's primary actions are draining dampness and strengthening the spleen. "Dampness" in TCM describes a physiological state associated with sluggish fluid metabolism, poor nutrient distribution, and (when it accumulates in the skin) complexion problems including dullness, discoloration, and textural roughness. The spleen, in TCM, governs the transformation and transport of nutrients, including to the skin.

This framework is foreign to biomedical terminology, but its practical implications match observable phenomena. A substance that improves fluid circulation and nutrient delivery to skin tissue, reduces inflammatory processes, and supports the metabolic functions that maintain pigment balance would produce exactly the effects described in both the dampness-clearing theory and the modern pharmacology.

Fu Ling was also selected for another traditional reason: it was white and bland in flavor, properties associated in TCM with gentle action and long-term tonic use. It was considered safe for sustained use, which made it appropriate for a preparation intended for regular application over years.

For the broader 2,000-year history of Poria in Chinese medicine, Poria cocos in Traditional Chinese Medicine covers the pharmacopoeial record in detail.

The Compounds in Cixi's Preparation: What Modern Chemistry Found

Rios (2011, Planta Medica) published the reference-level chemical characterization of Poria cocos that established the scientific basis for its pharmacological activities.^[2] The two primary chemical classes are directly relevant to Poria's skin effects.

Lanostane-type triterpenoids. These include pachymic acid, poricoic acids A through H, dehydropachymic acid, and tumulosic acid. The lanostane triterpenoids are fat-soluble compounds structurally related to the precursors of sterols. They are biologically active at the level of enzyme activity, gene expression, and cellular signaling. In skin biology, these are the compounds relevant to collagen metabolism, pigmentation control, and inflammatory regulation.

Polysaccharides. The primary polysaccharide is pachymaran, a beta-1,3-glucan with extensive branching. Poria also contains other beta-glucan structures with varying chain lengths and branching patterns. Polysaccharides are water-soluble and hydrophilic, meaning they attract and hold water. This is the chemical basis for Poria's traditional moisturizing reputation.

Any preparation of Fu Ling, including historical ones, would have contained both classes. The exact concentration and ratio would have depended on preparation method. The traditional topical preparations documented from Qing Dynasty cosmetic formulas involved grinding dried Poria to powder and combining it with other ingredients for application to the face. This would have delivered both the triterpenoid and polysaccharide fractions directly to skin.

For a deeper look at the specific bioactive compounds and their individual mechanisms, Poria bioactive compounds: pachymic acid, triterpenoids, and beta-glucans covers the pharmacology in detail.

From "Clearing Dampness" to Collagen and Hyaluronic Acid

Wei et al. (2022, Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine) published a comprehensive review of pachymic acid specifically, synthesizing the pharmacological evidence for the compound most likely responsible for Poria's skin-relevant effects.^[3]

Pachymic acid is anti-inflammatory through multiple pathways: it suppresses NF-kB signaling (a central control switch for inflammatory gene expression) and inhibits the production of inflammatory mediators including TNF-alpha and various interleukins. Skin inflammation drives many of the processes associated with aging and complexion problems, including collagen degradation, uneven melanin distribution, and loss of barrier function.

Pachymic acid is also antioxidant. Oxidative stress from UV exposure and environmental pollutants drives photoaging: the formation of reactive oxygen species that damage collagen fibers, activate collagen-degrading enzymes, and create the visible changes of sun-damaged skin. Wei et al. (2022) found pachymic acid activates the Nrf2 pathway, the cell's master antioxidant switch, providing a mechanism for protection against this kind of oxidative skin damage.

Lei et al. (2025, Journal of Ethnopharmacology) situate these findings within the 2,000-year context: Poria cocos has been described in Chinese medical texts across the Han, Tang, Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties, with skin-related applications appearing consistently.^[1] The 2025 review explicitly documents the bridge between the TCM dampness-clearing framework and the modern molecular pharmacology, noting that the empirical observations of traditional practitioners align with the biological activities now being characterized in cell and animal models.

The "clearing dampness" action maps onto something real: reduction of inflammatory fluid accumulation, improvement in metabolic clearance, and normalization of processes that maintain tissue quality. These are not the same as the biomedical descriptions, but they describe overlapping observable phenomena.

How Chao 2023 Confirmed the Anti-Aging Mechanism

The most direct modern evidence for the moisturizing and anti-aging properties traditionally attributed to Poria came from Chao et al. (2023, Life), who used a purified lanostane triterpenoids extract (the trademarked Lipucan preparation) in an aging rat model and in human dermal fibroblast cells.^[4]

In D-galactose-induced aging rats, where the premature aging process produces skin changes that include loss of elasticity and hydration, the Poria extract ameliorated aging skin parameters. In the human dermal fibroblast cell experiments, the same extract significantly enhanced type I collagen expression, the structural protein that gives skin its firmness and resilience, and increased hyaluronic acid levels.

Hyaluronic acid is the skin's primary water-retention molecule: it holds up to 1,000 times its weight in water and is responsible for the plump, hydrated appearance of young skin. Its loss is a central driver of the dehydrated, thinner skin associated with aging. The finding that Poria's lanostane triterpenoids stimulate hyaluronic acid production in skin cells means the mushroom isn't just acting as a surface moisturizer. It stimulates the skin to produce more of its own hydration infrastructure.

This finding provides a molecular explanation for why Fu Ling appeared consistently in Qing Dynasty moisturizing formulas. The physicians who used it didn't know about hyaluronic acid. They observed that preparations containing Poria produced moisturizing effects on skin. They were right. The mechanism Chao et al. (2023) identified is precisely the one that would produce those effects.

Cixi's physicians had no way to identify lanostane triterpenoids or measure hyaluronic acid. But they had centuries of accumulated observation across imperial patients. Their selection of Fu Ling as a skin ingredient appears to have been a reliable empirical finding, not superstition.

Why This Historical Formula Still Matters to Modern Cosmetic Science

The Empress Cixi connection is compelling as a story. But it also points toward something practically relevant.

The Yurong San formula was multi-ingredient, combining Fu Ling with other white-colored herbs including bai zhi (Angelica dahurica), bai lian (Ampelopsis japonica), and other botanicals with documented skin effects. The multi-compound approach reflects a Chinese medicine principle of synergistic formulation: ingredients selected to reinforce and balance each other's effects.

Modern cosmetic science is arriving at a similar conclusion through different means. Single-ingredient skin preparations tend to produce modest effects. Multi-mechanism approaches, combining compounds that address brightening, hydration, collagen synthesis, and inflammation simultaneously, produce more comprehensive outcomes. The Yurong San formula was designed around exactly this logic.

For the skin brightening mechanism specifically, Poria and melanogenesis: skin lightening research covers the tyrosinase inhibition pathway that modern research has identified as the likely mechanism for Poria's skin tone effects. For the hydration side, Poria polysaccharides and skin hydration covers what the polysaccharide fraction contributes.

What the Empress Cixi story offers is something more specific than general historical interest. It documents a sustained, intentional application of Poria for skin outcomes in a population (Qing Dynasty court women) who had both the resources to use anything available and strong incentives to use only what produced observable results. That doesn't prove efficacy by modern standards. But it does suggest that the connection between Fu Ling and skin improvement is old enough to have accumulated substantial empirical grounding before any laboratory ever looked at a tyrosinase assay.

The laboratory work is now catching up. The 2025 review by Lei et al., which synthesizes the ethnopharmacological history alongside the current molecular pharmacology, represents the most complete account of how the traditional and modern pictures fit together. The picture they describe is one in which the empirical observations made over 2,000 years of clinical use in Chinese medicine were, in the main, pointing in a scientifically valid direction.

For the comprehensive overview of all three Poria skin mechanisms and what the current evidence shows, Poria for skin health: brightening and anti-aging research covers the full scientific landscape.

The Bottom Line

The Empress Cixi connection to Fu Ling (Poria cocos) is documented in Qing Dynasty imperial medical records and represents one of the most historically specific uses of a mushroom in cosmetic medicine. The compounds in any Poria preparation, including historical ones, include lanostane triterpenoids (pachymic acid and relatives) with anti-inflammatory and collagen-supporting activities, and polysaccharides with humectant properties. Chao et al. (2023) found Poria lanostane triterpenoids enhanced both type I collagen and hyaluronic acid in human dermal fibroblast cells. What remains to be established is whether the concentrations achievable in topical preparations produce clinically meaningful effects, and whether the synergistic multi-ingredient formulation approach of traditional Chinese medicine offers benefits that single-extract preparations do not.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Fu Ling in Chinese medicine?

Fu Ling is the dried sclerotium (compact fungal mass) of Wolfiporia extensa, also known in Western botany as Poria cocos. It has appeared in Chinese pharmacopoeias for over 2,000 years and is classified in TCM as a substance that drains dampness, strengthens the spleen, and calms the mind. Its skin applications in Chinese medicine were traditionally based on its dampness-clearing action, which modern research is now mapping onto specific mechanisms including anti-inflammatory triterpenoids and polysaccharides with moisturizing properties.

Did Empress Cixi use Poria for skin?

Yes, according to imperial medical records from the Qing Dynasty. In 1880 (the sixth year of the Guangxu reign), imperial physicians created a skin formula called Yurong San for Empress Dowager Cixi that drew on the earlier "Eight White Scattered" formula tradition. Fu Ling (Poria cocos) was among its primary components. Palace attendant De Ling later documented that Cixi's skin in her later years appeared notably clear and smooth. The formula is recorded in "Cixi Guangxu's Selected Medical Prescriptions."

What is Yurong San traditional Chinese formula?

Yurong San is a traditional Chinese skin preparation developed during the Qing Dynasty. Its name translates roughly to "Jade Countenance Powder." It was formulated around white-colored botanical and fungal ingredients selected for skin-clearing and brightening properties, including Fu Ling (Poria cocos), bai zhi (Angelica dahurica), and bai lian (Ampelopsis japonica). The formula used by Empress Cixi in 1880 was based on the earlier "Eight White Scattered" formula tradition documented in Chinese medical texts. It was applied topically as a powder mixed with liquid.

What Chinese herbs were used for skin whitening historically?

Qing Dynasty skin formulas like Yurong San and "Eight White Scattered" drew on a consistent group of ingredients: Fu Ling (Poria cocos) for dampness-clearing and brightening, bai zhi (Angelica dahurica) for circulation and whitening, bai lian (Ampelopsis japonica root), bai ji (Bletilla striata) for skin repair, and bai fu zi (Typhonium or Aconite) in some formulations. The selection principle was often color-based (white ingredients for skin whitening) combined with theoretical TCM properties. Modern research has identified that several of these ingredients contain compounds with documented effects on melanin synthesis.

Is Fu Ling good for skin brightening?

The laboratory evidence supports that Poria cocos compounds inhibit melanin overproduction, though most evidence comes from cell models and animal studies rather than human clinical trials. The mechanism involves suppression of tyrosinase (the enzyme that produces melanin) and related signaling pathways. Rios (2011) documented the chemical constituents responsible. The historical sustained use in Chinese cosmetic medicine, including by Empress Cixi's physicians, represents a long empirical record that modern research is beginning to explain mechanistically. What has not yet been established in rigorous human trials is the magnitude of the brightening effect from topical or oral Poria preparations at achievable doses.

Sources & References

1. 1RTHM-02126·Lei, Juanhong et al. (2025). “A multidimensional perspective on Poria cocos, an ancient fungal traditional Chinese medicine..” Journal of ethnopharmacology.Study breakdown →PubMed →↩
2. 2RTHM-00431·Ríos, José-Luis (2011). “Chemical constituents and pharmacological properties of Poria cocos..” Planta medica.Study breakdown →PubMed →↩
3. 3RTHM-01632·Wei, Chunyong et al. (2022). “Pharmacological profiles and therapeutic applications of pachymic acid (Review)..” Experimental and therapeutic medicine.Study breakdown →PubMed →↩
4. 4RTHM-01668·Chao, Chien-Liang et al. (2023). “Poria cocos Lanostane Triterpenoids Extract Promotes Collagen and Hyaluronic Acid Production in D-Galactose-Induced Aging Rats..” Life (Basel.Study breakdown →PubMed →↩