Livin' In The Chonx

Yao Dian/Yao Fang 药店/药房

Pharmacies can be found all over the city and are typically easy to spot with their counters and walls lined with medicine. Most are divided by Chinese and Western medications, and you may be surprised what you can purchase over the counter here (cough syrup with codeine for instance). Surprisingly, you won’t be able to find Tiger Balm. Two of the largest chains in Chongqing have money-back guarantees that none of their medicine is fake—which begs the question, what are the smaller pharmacies selling at half the price?? These are the two large chains: He Ping Yao Fang 和平药房 (green sign with white letters) and Tong Jun Ge Yao Fang 桐君阁大药房 (blue sign with gold letters). Tong Jun Ge is slightly cheaper than He Ping.

Here is a list of some common medications that can be purchased (often the face-down side of the box has English).
• Tylenol Cold 泰诺 (Tai Nuo)
• Fenbid Ibuprofen 芬必得 (Fen Bi De)
• Pepto Bismol 佩托比斯摩 (Pei Tuo Bi Si Mo)
• For diarrhea – Xie Li Ting 泄痢停
• For allergies – Clarityne 开瑞坦 (Kai Rui Tan)