During Wang Anshi's political reform, natural disasters occurred many times in various places. Although he said that "death is nothing to fear", he was often deeply disturbed to see so many suffering patients. Especially when he learned that patients were short of medicine and some people took the opportunity to manufacture and sell counterfeit drugs, he had mixed feelings. At this time, it was suggested to set up a special organization. On the one hand, various dosage forms of traditional Chinese medicine with certain specifications, such as pills, powders, ointments, pills, etc., should be developed and sold by national patents, and individuals or other departments are not allowed to manufacture them privately. On the one hand, when floods, droughts and plagues occur, medicines are distributed to the people. Wang Anshi was overjoyed and immediately adopted the opinion and organized a special person to implement it.
After the establishment of "Taiyi Bureau Cooked Medicine Institute", it greatly facilitated patients and won rich profits for the government, which was well received by the ruling and opposition parties. Therefore, although Wang Anshi's political reform ended in failure, the "business" of "Cooked Medicine Institute" has maintained a good development momentum. In the second year of Chongning in Song Huizong (A.D. 1 103), the number of pharmacies increased to seven. A few years later, five "cooked medicine institutes" were renamed as "Medicine Huimin Bureau" and two "medicine repair institutes" were renamed as "Medicine Bureau". At the same time, similar pharmacies have sprung up all over the country.