On the Occasion of 2024 SCO Forum on Traditional Medicine

The main venue of the 2024 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Forum on Traditional Medicine

A TCM specialist gives acupuncture treatment to a patient at Xinjian District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Nanchang, East China's Jiangxi province.

Wu Bingcai, a specialist of TCM, treats a patient during a training session for his students.

Opening ceremony of the 54th Zhangshu National Traditional Chinese Materia Medica Trade Fair

Performance of processing technology of TCM by the "Zhangshu Medicine Trade Association"

CR Jiangzhong modern TCM production base

A TCM materials planting base covering an area of nearly 667 hectares in Tangxia village, Wucheng town of Zhangshu city in Jiangxi province

The "Jiangxi Day" event with the theme of "A Moment to Share" and "Unique Landscape of Jiangxi" is held at the China Cultural Center in Sofia, capital of Bulgaria, on Sept 20, 2023.

Innovative inheritance of the methods of "pottery heating", a kind of unique TCM processing technique adopted by the "Jianchang Medicine Trade Association"

As of May 2024, 33 specialties in Jiangxi had been listed as the key specialties of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Nine State-level scientific innovation platforms of TCM had been established in the province, six ten-billion-yuan industrial clusters with TCM as the mainstay had been developed, and the annual sales of 37 TCM varieties had exceeded 100 million yuan.

In recent years, Jiangxi has thoroughly implemented the guiding principles of the significant discourses of Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, on health and hygiene work, as well as of the important remarks Xi made during his inspection tour in Jiangxi, demonstrating a firm commitment to advancing healthcare development in the province. Focusing on the goal of "striking to take the lead, forge ahead and make best use of its strength", and centered on the CPC Jiangxi Provincial Committee's goal of building "three major highlands" and implementing "five major strategies", Jiangxi proposes its own blueprint and action plan on building "four pilot zones and four highlands of health and hygiene work". Taking the construction of a national comprehensive reform demonstration zone for TCM and a leading province for TCM development in central and western China as the driving force, Jiangxi has accelerated the deepening of TCM reforms, strengthened the construction of service capabilities, enhanced the technological innovation capacity of TCM, expanded the scale of the TCM industry, and intensified international and domestic exchanges and cooperation. All these efforts have continuously broken new ground in high-quality development of the TCM industry.

Deepening Reform Spawns New Driving Forces

As one of the seven national comprehensive reform pilot zones of TCM, Jiangxi has given full play to the policies of the central government, taken the initiative to explore the potential of the practical conditions by deepening reform and optimizing relevant policies, and registered outstanding achievements in all areas.

Industrial development is guided by the policymaking. With the policy advantages of China's support for the development of TCM industry fully leveraged, a series of policies and measures, including The Action Plan on the Dual-wheel Drive by Building the National Comprehensive Reform Pilot Zone of Traditional Chinese Medicine and the Leading Province with a Strong TCM Industry in the Central and Western China as well as The Guidelines on the Implementation of Medical Insurance Policies to Support the Inheritance, Innovation and Development of Traditional Chinese Medicine, have rolled out in Jiangxi. The masterplan for the development of TCM industry all over the province has been further completed.

The Implementation Plan on the National Comprehensive Reform Pilot Zone of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Jiangxi) has been carried out, and it has pointed out the direction for the reform and development of TCM industry in Jiangxi province. Jiujiang city, Fuzhou city and Yichun city, as the pilot areas for the comprehensive reform of TCM industry, have conducted trial projects on the key tasks of the comprehensive reform, so as to promote the reform and development of TCM industry in the whole province. The service capacity-building and the construction of the key specialty of TCM in Jiujiang have been improved rapidly, and 134 key specialties and advantageous specialties (disciplines) of TCM have been established at or above the provincial level as well as at the national level. Fuzhou has been successfully listed among the first batch of national TCM inheritance and innovation demonstration pilot projects (one of 15 nationwide). The 54th National Traditional Chinese Materia Medica Trade Fair was held in Zhangshu, Yichun, with online and offline transactions exceeding 21.6 billion yuan.

The Implementation Plan on Building a New Highland for the Inheritance, Innovation and Development of Traditional Chinese Medicine to Promote Preventive Treatment of Disease in Jiangxi Province has been promulgated, and it has provided the policy basis for all localities in the province to formulate goal programs, technical specifications, standard systems and service management evaluation systems in line with their own development rules. Guided by the payment reform of TCM medical insurance, Yichun has implemented a package of measures such as preferential reimbursement, increased gains through price adjustments, payment constraints and settlement incentives, so as to ensure the benefits for the people, the development of hospitals, the sustainability of medical insurance and the inheritance of TCM. Xiangdong district, Pingxiang city has pooled together the medical and health resources of the whole district, and established Xiangdong General Hospital, thus strengthening the construction of the TCM system with the district TCM hospital as the core, and forming a high-quality and efficient TCM service system for the districts, townships and villages. The health clinics (community health service centers) in all the 11 towns/townships across the district have completed standardized construction.

Scientific and Technological Innovation Empowers New Development

TCM is the treasure of ancient science in China, and it is also the key to open the treasure house of Chinese civilization. Jiangxi is an important birthplace of TCM. In recent years, with the promotion of scientific and technological innovation, the cause and industry of TCM have ushered in the best time of development, and scientific and technological innovation achievements are taking root and bearing fruit on the land of Jiangxi.

Multiple departments in Jiangxi have cooperated and innovated to establish a joint project model of "science and technology +TCM" and set up a joint project of “science and technology +TCM” in Jiangxi, and nine projects have been launched. Among them, the "National Key Laboratory for the Creation of Classic and Famous Modern Chinese Medicine" was successfully approved, and it is one of the seven national key laboratories in the field of TCM. The research results of "Anti-COVID-19 TCM Research and Development", namely "Clearing Heat and Resolving Dampness Antitoxic Granules and Dispelling Cold and Removing Dampness Antitoxic Granules", were approved for emergency filing of preparations for anti-COVID-19 medical institutions.

Jiangxi has conducted in-depth research and development of TCM by introducing national scientific research institutions and national key laboratories. At present, nine national-level scientific and technological innovation platforms in the field of TCM have been built, and the superior resources of innovative subjects have been accelerated, which has promoted the transformation and application of scientific research results. Last year, the first-class innovative Chinese medicine "Fructus Aurantii Immaturus Total Flavonoids Tablet" was approved for marketing, which was one of the five first-class innovative Chinese medicine drugs approved for marketing nationwide in 2023.

At the same time, focusing on developing the new quality productive forces, Jiangxi has been actively promoted the integration of TCM industry with modern information technologies such as big data and cloud computing, and successfully realized the comprehensive combing and efficient utilization of TCM resources by establishing a big data platform for TCM. This not only provides digital support for the inheritance of TCM, but also contributes to the market expansion and globalization of TCM industry.

In addition, Jiangxi encourages enterprises to increase scientific and technological innovation through policy guidance and financial support. Many Chinese medicine enterprises in Jiangxi have successfully developed a number of new drugs and health products with independent intellectual property rights, and these products have achieved good sales performance and reputation in the market.

Industrial Integration Creates New Potential

As a province with abundant resources of TCM, Jiangxi's TCM industry has advanced by leaps and bounds. Its prominence lies in the diversified integration and development of TCM industry and other industries. In 2023, Hunan-Jiangxi-Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Conference on Promoting Coordinated Development of TCM Industry and the Hunan-Jiangxi-Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao TCM Industrial Chain Collaborative Development Alliance Conference were held. The People's Government of Jiangxi Province chaired the Development Conference on Provincial TCM Industry which aimed to multi-dimensionally construct a new development model of TCM industry, effectively promoting the regional coordination and integrated development of TCM.

The wellness function of TCM has been widely used, and some nursing homes have integrated TCM into elderly care services to provide personalized TCM wellness programs, which are welcomed by the elderly. The elements of TCM are becoming a new highlight in tourism products, and some regions have launched TCM-themed touring routes, attracting a large number of tourists. The rehabilitation function of TCM is also being recognized by an increasing number of people, and many sports events have introduced TCM rehabilitation services to help athletes improve their physical fitness and speed up rehabilitation.

In addition, the therapeutic concept of TCM is being widely received. More and more food enterprises have begun to develop and produce healthy food with TCM characteristics to meet consumers' needs for health.

The diversified and integrated development model not only creates new market space for TCM industry, but also enhances its social influence and promotes its development. Utilizing TCM as a pillar, Jiangxi has currently built 66 "Customized Medicinal Gardens" and revised Processing Standards of Traditional Chinese Medicine Decoction Pieces in Jiangxi Province by modifying 499 varieties and adding 55 varieties. Within the overall layout of "A Traditional Chinese Medicine Innovation City, A Capital of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Numerous Pharmaceutical Industry Parks", the number of TCM enterprises has reached 170 in the province and the high-quality development of TCM has been continually improved.

Cultural Inheritance Ushers in a New Era

As an important component and a representative feature of Chinese culture, TCM is a vivid carrier that highlights the distinctive characteristics of Chinese civilization. In recent years, Jiangxi has been deeply exploring the cultural connotations and contemporary values of TCM in Jiangxi, continuously conducting surveys on the inheritance of TCM schools, sorting out the development context of schools such as "Apricot Trees (Medicine) Culture", "Xujiang Medicine", "Zhangshu Traditional Chinese Medicine Trade Association", and "Jianchang Traditional Chinese Medicine Trade Association", extracting connotative elements and the spiritual symbol of Jiangxi TCM culture, and restoring and compiling over 10,000 volumes of ancient books on TCM.

Great efforts have been devoted to the promotion of the TCM culture. Jiangxi has continuously advanced the construction of 42 TCM cultural education and publicity bases, selected and established 13 TCM science popularization workstations. Thirteen medical institutions, 26 primary and secondary schools, and 39 villages are chosen as the epitome to practice the scheme to integrate TCM culture with the construction of business ethics, school education, and daily life of common people, fostering the sound development of TCM. Institutions such as Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine and Nanchang Hongdu Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine have long been conducting TCM-themed teaching activities in multiple schools, which have been warmly welcomed by students.

TCM is increasing its overseas presence. Along with the progress in the Belt and Road cooperation, Jiangxi has been closely engaged in international and domestic exchanges and cooperation in TCM. Jiangxi has established the Confucius Institute at Semyung University in the Republic of Korea, which specializes in TCM. Furthermore, Jiangxi co-founded the first National Traditional Chinese Medicine Education Internationalization (Nanchang) Pilot Zone in China with the China National Center for Education Development Research and Jiangzhong Group, engaging in interactive exchanges with international friends. These efforts have attracted increasing international attention and recognition, with a large number of international students coming to Jiangxi to study TCM every year. Over 3,000 medical talents from more than 40 countries have finished their TCM studies in Jiangxi.

TCM has gradually entered the international system of medicines. Besides providing TCM-themed training programs for overseas students, Jiangxi has also taken the lead in establishing the Specialty Committee of Heat-sensitive Moxibustion of the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies. TCM centers or heat-sensitive moxibustion branches have been built in Portugal, Sweden, Tunisia, Canada and other countries, providing heat-sensitive moxibustion and acupuncture treatment to the local people. The localization strategy of these platforms accelerate Jiangxi's integration into the international system of medicines and promote the going global of TCM. Meanwhile, Jiangxi has actively participated in the Hunan-Jiangxi-Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao TCM Industrial Chain Collaborative Development Alliance, guiding enterprises to register in Hong Kong and Macao to achieve overseas expansion. According to statistics, in 2023, Jiangxi's TCM export value surged 54.2 percent year-on-year to 577 million yuan. Its export value ranked sixth in China in 2023, jumped three spots in the rankings compared to the previous year.

Forging ahead on the new journey in the new era, TCM industry in Jiangxi is expected to achieve greater breakthroughs and development in the future.