For eight years, Guangyuan city in Sichuan province has been committed to developing a modern health and wellness industry featuring the integration of eldercare and medical services. 

Healthcare and Eldercare 

In building a city of health and wellness, Guangyuan has focused on the integration of eldercare and medical services.

In earlier days, eldercare and medical services were offered separately. In traditional models, their functions are almost entirely segregated. To address this, Guangyuan has worked to develop and enhance the integration of healthcare and recuperation services to construct a Chinese ecological health and tourism city. 

As early as 2013, Guangyuan first piloted this integration program. Since then, in line with the national and provincial policies on the health and wellness industry, the city has issued a series of policies and measures, including the "implementation opinions on promoting healthcare and eldercare services," the "notice on launching pilot projects on integrated health and eldercare services in rural nursing homes" and the "standards on constructing a community care services station in Guangyuan municipality".  

Three years later, in 2016, Guangyuan city was officially granted the status of a pilot unit on integrated health and eldercare services by the National Health Commission and Ministry of Civil Affairs of the People's Republic of China. 

Statistics show that Guangyuan has invested in medical resources substantively to provide fundamental support for the development of the health and eldercare services industry. The city now has four 3A hospitals and 3,665 medical institutions at various levels (including private hospitals and clinics), with a total of 20,925 beds supported by 22,603 medical professionals. The Guangyuan Central Hospital was selected by the national and provincial health commissions as one of the 10 medical centers in Sichuan province for its scope of planning.  

In promoting integrated eldercare and medical services, Guangyuan has done boundary-breaking work to allow eldercare to be provided at medical institutions and clinics and dispensaries set within nursing homes. The rural nursing homes in Guangyuan are operated in partnership with local town hospitals to offer direct medical services to their seniors.

The "integration of eldercare and medical services" is a new model that uses available resources to provide long-term senility care for seniors in need, while freeing up more hospital beds.  

Preventive Treatment of Diseases

The time-honored practice of traditional Chinese medicine advocates the concepts of preventive treatment of diseases and prevention of disease deterioration. 

In 2020, Guangyuan released the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting Chinese Medicine Inheritance and Innovation-driven Development" to provide clarifications on six areas to enhance the traditional Chinese medicine service system and promote whole-industrial chain development. Relevant goals and tasks were specified, with a clear focus on protecting Chinese medicinal resources and promoting the development of the traditional Chinese medicine industry.

Cangxi Medicine Expo Park, located northwest of the county at Laochi Mountain, takes up a total land area of 638 mu (0.425 square kilometers). The park follows the overall layout of "one center and four sections": a tourist service center, edible herb care experience section, herb bathing experience section, traditional Chinese medicine culture exhibition section and Chinese medicinal species display section. It intends to showcase the Chinese medicine plantation culture in Cangxi, as a superb medicine-themed park with education, research, entertainment, experience and production functionalities.

Aerial view of Cangxi Medicine Expo Park [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Cangxi, a reputed production base of Chinese herbs, hosts a Medicine Expo Park to celebrate Chinese medicine culture, advocate health and wellness tourism and drive the growth of the local economy.  

Jianmen Dendrobium Health Tourism Industrial Park hosts a large dendrobium plantation. In 2017, tissue culturing via slicing and transplanting wild dendrobium collected from cliffs in Jianmen Pass was realized, creating the Jianmen Pass No. 1 Dendrobium. With a variety of life-enhancing effects, dendrobium is also known as the "life-saving herb" and the "giant panda" of medicine.

Dendrobium [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

In addition to high medical value, dendrobium has high ornamental value. In blooming seasons, the park attracts hundreds of visitors every day. They will not only observe flowers, but also shop for fresh flowers, dried flowers and other dendrobium products. Thanks to increasing R&D efforts, dendrobium product lines such as toothpaste, facial mask, soap, hand sanitizer and laundry detergent have been established, extending the industrial chain to achieve higher industrial competitiveness and value-added.  

Zhaohua Medicine Expo Park is situated northwest of Zhaohua district. Capitalizing on local geographical conditions and resources, the park plans to grow 2,400 mu of Chinese herbs from more than 200 species, such as Fructus aurantii, Magnolia, Acorus calamus and Prunella vulgaris. The park follows the principle of arbor-shrub-grass compound plantation and integrates medicine and tourism. It also plans to offer seed-tech greenhouses for breeding purposes and develop medicated food homestay businesses with featured food and soup-making products. In addition, the park plans to expand the 3,000-square-meter pre-processing base for traditional Chinese medicine to enhance capacities such as drying and slicing. It will also boost marketing and circulation to drive forest business upgrading, promote the interactive and integrated development of agriculture, industry and services, and formulate an experience and ornamental base featuring the integration of tech-driven Chinese medicine agriculture, science education, production, shopping and rural tourism.

Zhaohua Medicine Expo Park [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Rated as a leading city for ground-level Chinese medicine work in China, Guangyuan boasts more than 2,500 species, including 30-plus high-quality species such as Eucommia, Gastrodia and Bupleurum. Now, the city offers accommodation services featuring rehabilitation and recuperation, as well as medicated food, drinks and other health products. It aims to advocate the health-strengthening attributes of Chinese medicine to more people. 

Hot Springs 

As one of the Ministry of Land and Resources' first batch of "Chinese Hot Spring Towns", Guangyuan boasts hot-spring-themed hotels such as Tianci Hot Spring Hotel in Jianmen Pass and Linzekaer Hot Spring Hotel in Zhaohua. These spots are perfect for anyone interested in the health-preservation qualities of hot springs.

Tangshan Empress Hot Spring is a radon-enriched hot spring, and its water source is 2,921 meters underground. Reputed as a "royal hot spring", this kind of hot spring is rich in minerals, trace elements and protein, hence its beautifying effects.

 Tangshan Empress Hot Spring [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The water supply for Jushi Hot Spring, located in Pingle tourism district, comes from around 2,000 meters underground. With a substantial reserve of 38- to 42-degree Celsius water all year round, the hot spring offers high medical value and reaches all relevant national concentration standards for mineral content. An ideal option for natural hot spring therapy, it is also known as the "celestial spring".

Capitalizing on its rich hot spring resources, Guangyuan welcomes guests with home-like experiences. The city aims to endorse physical health, as well as healthy states mentally, psychologically, socially, environmentally and aesthetically. Soaking in hot spring water is a great way to naturally detox and relax.

Luting Hot Spring [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

A well-known spring in Sichuan province – Luting Hot Spring – sits at the foot of Hanwang Mountain next to Luting Stream. With hydrogen sulfide, strontium, fluorine, calcium sulfate and other beneficial substances, the hot spring has healing effects on dermatosis and rheumatism. 

Along with social and technical development, Guangyuan has kept pace with the times and developed a new mechanism for "smart healthcare". It will set up a municipal medical care intelligent platform, promote high-quality and smart eldercare businesses, integrate databases on residents' health profiles, e-medical records and public health, upload data via terminals and wearables, provide online analysis, and construct a smart eldercare service chain. This service chain will be collectively engaged with multiple stakeholders, including doctors, nurses, caregivers, social workers, medical institutions and eldercare institution administrations.

As the first implemented healthcare industrial demonstration program, Kinbel's Life Town has a planned area of more than 2,900 mu, with a total investment of 3.217 billion yuan. It is set to be the first high-standard comprehensive green demonstration base with integrated health, recuperation, tourism, teaching, research and accommodation functions in northern Sichuan. A global recuperation center, built with leading medical resources arranged by Kinbel, enables real-time health condition updates, professional health checks and assessment services via health profiling, checking, risk assessment and data collection enabled by intelligent wearable devices.   

Guangyuan is dedicated to establishing a solid, comprehensive healthcare and eldercare industry. It is developing herbal medicine, hot springs, medical institutions and smart healthcare systems to safeguard the health and life of more and more people.