The Imperial Doctress, a mainland Chinese drama, has been lambasted by viewers because of the questionable validity of prescription medicines used in the drama.

The series, which aired in Jiangsu on February 13, depicts the life of a female doctor living in the Ming Dynasty period.

Tan Yunxian, played by Cecilia Liu, is a female physician from the Ming Dynasty. Her character prescribes several forms of alternative medicine such as porridge from donkey hide glue, lotus seeds for blood supplement and rice water as a hair grower.

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More odd concoctions include a liquid mixture of fingernails, bird excrement and earthworms used as a medicine to treat a fever. Viewers have questioned the accuracy of these forms of traditional Chinese medicine.

Zhang Wei, the series' screenwriter, has explained that the prescriptions were verified from Chinese medicine specialists, according to Jaynestars.

Zhang admits having poor knowledge about Chinese medicine and thus deriving most of the drama's situations from old medical case histories by Zhu Danxi, a Yuan Dynasty Doctor.

She also relied on the Ming Dynasty Doctor Fu Qingzhu's ancient case files.  To further verify the research, three renowned practitioners of Chinese medicine were consulted prior to writing the drama's script.

Zhang said the show's character is an amateur physician, as there was no formal training for a doctor at that time. The screenwriter advised that the prescriptions used in the show should not be tried at home, even if they are historically accurate.

Tagsimperial doctress, lambasted, viewers, inaccuracy