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Chinese Medicine Base Eyes International Market
East China's Zhejiang Province, a major production base of traditional Chinese medicine, is seeking a lion's share in the international market with enhanced efforts in research and development of new recipes.
"Presently, China takes up only 5 percent of the 16 billion-U.S. -dollar international herb market," said a source here at the provincial capital.
The newly established Chinese medicine research and development center, a joint venture between two provincial medical research bodies, aims to find new recipes for diseases that cannot be cured effectively with chemical medicine, such as tumor, hepatic diseases, angiocardiopathy and insomnia.
In addition, a 167-square-kilometer industrial park called "new medicine port" will be built in Hangzhou, to focus on the development of natural herbs and pharmacy.
The park is expected to yield some 5 billion yuan (602 million U.S. dollars) of industrial output by 2005, said a source here.
China boasts rich herb resources and over 12,800 herbs have been identified and put into medical use. Zhejiang is home for many precious herbs and famous doctors in China's history.
As the world comes to know more about China, traditional Chinese herbs are becoming more popular in the international market. Many countries in the world have set up Chinese medicine research bodies and offered relevant courses for medical students.
On the other hand, China is also importing over 600 million U.S. dollars of herbs from abroad each year to boost its medical industry.
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