Traditional medicine a gift of good health for the world

Traditional Chinese medicine has spread to 196 countries and regions and won recognition for its special advantages and clear efficacy, a member of the country's top political advisory body says.

Xu Fengqin, a member of the National Committee of the 14th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said on Friday that in 2022 she led the country's first TCM team to Cambodia to help with local epidemic prevention and deliver TCM medical services.

Xu, a former vice-president of Xiyuan Hospital of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences in Beijing, said: "The clear efficacy of TCM enabled Cambodians, who knew nothing about the medicine before, to begin learning about and trying TCM and eventually becoming enamored with and benefiting from high-quality TCM medical services."

In one case, a Cambodian woman who had been hearing impaired for more than 20 years received treatment from the Chinese medical team, gradually regained her hearing and opened a new chapter of her life, Xu said.

In the year after the Chinese TCM doctors arrived, they provided 34,000 medical consultations and the patient revisit rate reached 67 percent.

A China-Cambodia TCM team was eventually set up, Cambodian medical workers were schooled in TCM therapies and a Chinese pharmaceutical company detected a novel antiviral component in a local soup.

"The success this Chinese medical team presents is an example of the overseas dissemination of TCM," Xu said, adding that a beneficial medical tradition can cross mountains and rivers to garner recognition worldwide.

"Traditional Chinese medicine … will continue to promote the dissemination of Chinese civilization and the exchange of world civilizations ... and help build a community of a shared future."