古時候的遊方郎中無論走到哪裡，身上都要背著個葫蘆。把葫蘆作為行醫的招牌，為什麼行醫要背葫蘆呢？這還有個來歷。
In ancient China, a wandering doctor of Chinese medicine would carry a gourd, which was the sign for Chinese medicine. Why so? There was a story.
據《太平廣記》記載，河南汝南有 個當市掾的人叫費長房，忽然看見壺公從遠方來到街上賣藥，壺公是一位道教真人，可人們都不認識壺公，他賣藥不許還價，他的藥服後不管什麼病都能治好。壺公 把藥賣出之後，總要囑咐買藥的人，說服了藥之後會吐出什麼東西，哪一天病會好，他說的話每一次都很應驗。他每天賣藥都能掙好幾萬錢，然後就把錢施舍給街上 那些飢寒貧窮的人，只留下三五十個錢。他經常把一個空壺掛在屋頂上，太陽落山之後，他就跳進壺裡。這事誰也沒發現，只有費長房在樓上看見了，他知壺公不是 凡人。費長房就天天清掃壺公的屋子，供給壺公吃的東西，壺公也不推辭。日子長了費長房仍堅持不懈地照常掃地供食，也不敢對壺公有所請求。
According to Tai Ping Guang Ji (Extensive Records of the Taiping Era) , in the Runan area of today's Henan province, there was an official called Fei Changfang. He saw an old man coming into town to sell medicine. The old man's name was Hu Gong. He was an enlightened Taoist but nobody knew who he was. Hu Gong didn't allow people to bargain with him on the price of his medicine. After taking his medicine, any illness could be cured. Every time after Hu Gong sold his medicine, he would tell the buyer what would be vomited after taking his medicine and on which day the illness would be cured, and every time it came true. Hu Gong could earn tens of thousands of coins every day, but he would give them away to those poor people on the street, leaving only thirty to fifty coins for himself. He always hung an empty gourd on the ceiling of his house, and after sunset, he would jump into the gourd when nobody was watching. One day Fei Changfang was sitting in a room on the second story of his house, and he happened to see Hu Gong jumping into the gourd. He knew that Hu Gong was not an ordinary man. He began to clean Hu Gong's room everyday and supply him with food. Hu Gong accepted everything. Fei continued to clean the room and provide food for Hu quietly for a long time, not daring to ask for anything from Hu Gong.
壺公看出來費長房心地很虔誠，有一次就對他說：「到晚上沒人的時候你到我這兒來吧。」費長房晚上來到壺公屋裡，壺公對他說：「你看我跳進壺裡時，你也和我一 樣跳。」費長房照他的話一跳，果然不知不覺地已在壺中了。進去後並不覺得在壺中，只見樓觀重重疊疊，閣道橫空，宛若飛虹，費長房發現自己進入了一個神仙的世界。後來壺公給費長房一卷封著的符說：「你有了這符就能驅使鬼神，長期當天神的使者，還可以治病消災。」 從此費長房為紀念壺公，便懸壺行醫，成為當時的一代名醫。所以中醫除了有岐黃、青囊、杏林等三個名字外，還有第四個名字叫「懸壺」。
Hu Gong could tell that Fei Changfang was very sincere, so he told Fei one day, "Come here tonight when nobody is around." Fei Changfang came. Hu Gong told him, "After you see me jumping into the gourd, follow me." Fei Changfang did as he was told, indeed he found himself already in the gourd without knowing it. But he didn't feel that he was in a gourd. Seeing layers and layers of buildings and towers, and pavilions built in the air, he found himself in a paradise. Later on Hu Gong gave Fei Changfang a roll of sealed incantations and said, "With this you can drive demons away, serve as the deities' long term messenger, and also cure illnesses and remove misfortune."
懸壺的 「壺」不是酒壺，而是葫蘆的一個名字。古代典籍中，對葫蘆的稱呼是不一樣的，僅在《詩經》中就有四種叫法，《邶風》云：「匏有苦葉，濟有涉深」；《衛風》 云：「齒如瓠犀」；《幽風》云：「七月食瓜，八月斷壺」；《小雅》云：「南有木，甘瓠累之」。詩經中所說的：「匏」、「瓠」、「壺」、「甘瓠」，都是指葫 蘆，只是品種不同而已。因此懸壺實際上是懸葫蘆，以後人們就把醫生腰間挂的和診所前懸的葫蘆，看成了中醫的標誌。
From then on, to commemorate Hu Gong, Fei Changfang hung a gourd and practiced Chinese medicine, and became a famous doctor of his era. Therefore one of the names of Chinese medicine is "Xuan Hu (Hanging a gourd)."
