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Countless herbal medicines of various species quietly grown in China's farmlands or mountains are currently in great demand by foresighted businessmen, as if they were stocks with soaring prices.
Facing the challenges brought by cross-national pharmaceutical tycoons after China's WTO accession, the domestic medicine sector is now actively readjusting its operating strategies, relying on traditional Chinese medicine techniques, to participate in the future competition.
Medicine experts have pointed out that about 97 percent of Chinese-made Western medicines are simply copies of those made in developed countries.
With China's WTO entry, however, the implementation of regulations on intellectual property protection will forbid the random replication of foreign patented medicines, said the experts.
Besides, the high cost of purchasing production permission for a patented medicine will discourage most Chinese drug makers, the experts said.
However, China's ancient therapies, such as acupuncture and moxibustion, are popular abroad.
The experts have predicted that in the 21st century, as the whole world is gradually stepping into a senior-aged society, traditional Chinese medicine, mild but especially effective against the chronic diseases that usually afflict older people, will become very popular.
With the current trend of advocating natural medicine and returning to nature, more and more people worldwide have begun to accept China's ancient herbal treatments.
Statistics show that herbal medicines have been applied in over 130 countries and regions around the world. More than 120 countries have established special organizations for research into and development of traditional Chinese medicine.
China's annual sales of herbs have jumped from one billion yuan (about 120 million U.S. dollars)-worth to over 40 billion yuan (about 4.8 billion U.S. dollars)-worth, according to statistics.
However, the experts pointed out that China's exports of herbal medicines only account for three percent of the 20-billion-U.S.-dollar international market.
Sun Shuhua, deputy director of the Zhejiang Drug Administration, said that traditional Chinese medicine is not easily accepted on overseas markets, because of its theoretical system is completely different from that of Western medicine.
"Scientific scrutiny as applied to Western medicine is not applicable to Chinese medicine," said Tang Liangping, general manager of the Chongqing Peidu Pharmaceutical Company.
Meanwhile, the ancient remedies need to be improved with scientific technologies.
The Chinese government encourages the combination of traditional Chinese medicine with its Western counterpart, so as to use the latter's advanced technologies to decode the mysteries of the former.
Recently, Chinese scientists have developed the technique of chromatographic analysis, which can ascertain the quality and ingredients of a certain batch of traditional Chinese medicine by comparing its chromatography with that of the medicine's standard specimen.
In addition, a type of bio-chip has also been created for the filtration of the effective components in medicinal herbs and confirmation of their curative effects.
Liu Cunzhou, president of the Harbin Pharmaceutical Group, said that domestic medicine manufacturers should attach more importance to quality.
The production of traditional Chinese medicine should employ uniform cultivation standards to prevent pollution from pesticides and fertilizers.
The "purity" of traditional Chinese medicine should also be guaranteed. Producers must give full consideration to the impact of different geographical environments on herbal medicines, and thus establish fixed manufacturing bases.
Meanwhile, the State Planning Commission plans to launch a special project for stepping up the industrialization of traditional Chinese medicine with high technologies.
"The development of China's ancient methods of treatment will depend on their modernization, industrialization and globalization," said Nobel laureate Yang Zhenning.
(Xinhua News Agency December 10, 2001)
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