China's traditional herbal medicine will have a bright future in the 21st century, Chinese medical experts said at a recent symposium in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province.

According to figures released at the symposium, the global trade volume of herbal medicine amounted to 16.4 billion U.S. dollars in 1998 and is showing annual double-digit growth.

This shows that more people in the world have accepted the healing powers of herbal medicine, the experts said.

Some experts at the meeting pointed out that modern diseases are no longer easily treated by Western medicine, which creates its own immunity in the human body if used for a long period. And Western medicine has lots of side effects that have prompted many patients to seek alternative treatments.

Chinese traditional herbal medicines, with their limited side effects and long-term application, have proved to be more effective in treating chronic and difficult diseases, the experts deemed.

In the past, Chinese herbal medicine has been rejected by Westerners because they didn't know much about its medicinal properties, they said.

But with the spread of knowledge on herbal medicines and media coverage of numerous successful treatment cases, the traditional medicines are gaining favor worldwide.

The World Health Organization has praised China's herbal medicines as the "best examples of world traditional medicines" and recommended them to many countries, the experts noted.

The United States, Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Singapore have established special research institutes to study China's traditional cures, and some universities offer courses on the subject.

China boasts 12,807 kinds of medicinal herbs and has a total reserve of 8.5 million tons.