Qing Pi (青皮) — TCM Green Tangerine Peel for Liver Qi & Breast Masses

At a Glance

Herb: Qing Pi
Chinese name: 青皮 (Qīng Pí)
Latin name: Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium Viride
Nature: Warm
Taste: Bitter / Acrid
Meridian: Liver / Gallbladder / Stomach
Category: Herbs that Regulate Qi
Introduction: Qing Pi (Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae Viride) is the dried immature peel of Citrus reticulata, harvested when the fruit is still small and green — sharing its botanical source with Chen Pi (aged mature peel) but with fundamentally different actions. First recorded in the Ben Cao Tu Jing (11th century CE), this pungent, bitter, and warm herb has a more forceful, penetrating Qi-breaking action than Chen Pi, directed specifically at the Liver and Gallbladd er channels rather than the Spleen-Stomach. The classical distinction captures it precisely: ‘Chen Pi regulates Spleen Qi; Qing Pi breaks Liver Qi.’ Synephrine and nobiletin contribute to anti-inflammatory, spasmolytic, and hepatoprotective effects in modern research.

Breaks Liver Qi stagnation and relieves hypochondriac, breast, and hernial pain
Disperses accumulation and dissolves masses — Qi-Phlegm lumps in the breast and neck
Reduces Food stagnation from Liver-Spleen disharmony

Liver Qi stagnation — hypochondriac distension and pain, flank pain, and irritability
Breast distension, tenderness, and masses from Liver Qi-Phlegm stagnation
Hernial pain and lower abdominal distension from Liver Qi stagnation
Thyroid nodules and neck lumps from Qi-Phlegm stagnation (combined with Phlegm-dissolving herbs)
Food stagnation with Liver involvement — combined with Shen Qu and Shan Zha

Dose: 3–10 g in decoction
More aggressively breaking and dispersing than Chen Pi — avoid in Qi deficiency, elderly, or weak patients without clear Liver Qi excess
Contraindicated in Qi deficiency, excessive sweating from deficiency, or patterns without Liver Qi stagnation
Strongly dispersing — avoid in pregnancy

Si Mo Tang (四磨汤) — Qing Pi + Wu Yao + Bing Lang + Ren Shen, for rebellious Qi with constraint and fullness
Combined with Xiang Fu, Chai Hu, and Yan Hu Suo for Liver Qi hypochondriac pain
Combined with Zhe Bei Mu, Hai Zao, and Kun Bu for breast lumps and thyroid nodules from Qi-Phlegm

Green Tangerine Peel (青皮) + Bupleurum Root (柴胡) + Turmeric Tuber (郁金) → soothe liver, break qi stagnation, liver qi stagnation with hypochondriac pain
Green Tangerine Peel (青皮) + Frankincense (乳香) + Myrrh (没药) → break qi, activate blood, breast lumps, liver qi stagnation with blood stasis
Green Tangerine Peel (青皮) + Costus Root (木香) + Betel Nut (槟榔) → Mu Xiang Bing Lang Wan (木香槟榔丸) component: break qi, purge accumulation, food stagnation with qi obstruction
Green Tangerine Peel (青皮) + Hawthorn Fruit (山楂) + Medicated Leaven (神曲) → break qi, digest food, food stagnation with liver qi stagnation
Green Tangerine Peel (青皮) + Pangolin Scale (穿山甲) + Vaccaria Seed (王不留行) → break qi, unblock channels, breast abscess, mastitis

Gi stimulant
- synephrine — promotes gastric motility and secretion, stronger than 陈皮
Anti-inflammatory; antioxidant; antitumor; cardiovascular
- synephrine — raises blood pressure, increases cardiac output
Choleretic
- promotes bile flow from gallbladder
Distinction from 陈皮: 青皮
- immature, green) breaks and disperses — enters liver, stronger action
- 陈皮 (mature, aged) moves and transforms — enters lung-spleen, gentler
- rule: 青皮 for substantial liver qi stagnation
- 陈皮 for general qi movement and phlegm

Ben Cao Tu Jing: ‘Governs qi stagnation; promotes food intake; breaks accumulation-binding and diaphragm qi obstruction.’
Ben Cao Gang Mu: ‘Green Tangerine Peel is a qi-aspect medicinal of the liver and gallbladd er channels — hence practitioners use it widely. Its color is green, its qi fierce, its flavor bitter and pungent; treated with vinegar: as the saying goes, the liver desires dispersion — quickly eat pungency to disperse it, use sourness to drain it, use bitterness to descend it.’
Ben Cao Bei Yao: ‘Pungent, bitter, and warm; enters the liver and gallbladder; soothes the liver and breaks qi; disperses accumulations and transforms stagnation; treats liver qi constraint, rib distension and pain, breast nodules, breast abscess, food accumulation with abdominal pain, and hernia.’
Zhen Zhu Nang: ‘Breaks hard accumulations; scatters stagnant qi; removes all dampness from the lower jiao; treats accumulated qi in the left rib from the liv er channel.’