Writing Its Own Prescription

By+Chi+Wenshu

With its distinctive curative properties， traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） is known for curing difficult or complicated illnesses. Carefully developed for thousands of years， now more and more people are accepting the practice worldwide.

Chinese medical scientist Tu Youyous winning of a Nobel prize for her TCM-based antimalaria drug has brought recent attention to the possibilities herbal medicine can provide.

As TCM goes global， there has been a complete industrial turnover in plantations， production， trading and related cultural activi- ties. The industry is now increasingly featuring intensive scale production.

Bozhou of Anhui Province， also known as the capital of TCM， is considered particularly reputable. One 10th of the countrys medicinal herbs are planted in Bozhou， which is also one of the worlds largest distribution and price formation centers of medicinal herbs. Its herbal medicine exports rank third in China.

With the goal of increasing both trading and output value of herbal medicine to 100 billion yuan （$15.75 billion）， Bozhou has been improving its industrial environment and introducing more investment into TCM production. To date， nearly 100 companies have set up workshops in the citys herbal medicine industrial park， and most of these workshops have become part of future production.

The International （Bozhou） TCM Expo， also known as China （Bozhou） Herbal Medicine Fair， is held once a year in Bozhou. This years expo， which spanned September 9-13， attracted participants from all over the country， as well as countries and regions including South Korea， India， Sweden， Hong Kong， Macao and Taiwan. A total of 31 contracts worth 2.4 billion yuan （$377.95 million） were signed during the fair.

“With different themes， the TCM expo aims at attracting investors from all over the world， bringing more business opportunities to herbal medicine producers and promoting tourism in Bozhou，” Chai Yonggang， an official with the Information Office of the Bozhou Municipal Government， told Beijing Review. “In addition， we hope the expo can further spread the TCM culture.”

With a well-developed medicinal industry， Bozhou offers an example from which other cities can learn.

A new market model

Located in the new district of south Bozhou， Kangmei Chinese Medicine City is a landmark of the city. Resembling a beautiful red peony， the building definitely catches the eye.