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found in Chinese history.
2. Transmission of Traditional Medical Knowledge in China
Traditional medical knowledge in China is composed by three groups that are: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM),
Traditional Ethno-Medicine (TEM) including Tibetan Medicine, Mongolian Medicine, Uyghur Medicine and Dai Medicine, as well
as other Ethno-Medicines of Miao, Yao, Hani, Zhuang and traditional medicines used by other ethnic minorities in China, and folk
medicine of community common uses. All of these traditional medical systems have been practiced for thousands years repre-
senting rich indigenous medical knowledge in literature records and oral traditions, for example, TCM Meterial Medica books
found are over 2000 Volumes; The Dai medicine have recorded 1,776 species of plants and animals for medicine and some 7,000
recipes used in 10 traditional therapies for the treatment of 96 kinds of illness in Xishuangbanna.
At present, mechanism of transmission of traditional medical knowledge in China can be concluded into 4 major
approaches that are: 1) Handing down in the family from generation to generation; 2) Transmission from masters or teachers to
apprentice who are not relatives; 3) Self study by traditional medical practitioners; 4) Educated by modern traditional medical
schools.
According to field survey on transmission of indigenous medical knowledge in China conducted in 2008, current situation
and trends of transmission and inheritance of indigenous medical knowledge of the ethnic groups of Dong, Miao, Yi, Mongolia
and Tibetan in China is not optimistic and even on the crisis in some aspects of the transmission situation, the study reveals that
the main factors of crisis of indigenous medical knowledge are three, one is age of the medical practitioners are getting old and
no more younger people interested in traditional medicine resulting a big gap of medical knowledge transmission; another factor
is decreasing of the number of traditional medical practitioners. For example, in Xishuangbanna the Dai medical practitioners was
decreased from 1,000 in 1960ûs to 200 in 2014; the third fact is the culture changes, due to the introduced modern medicine
become a main stream, traditional medicine is marginalized, especially the intrinsic impact from customary laws, languages and
mechanism of indigenous medical knowledge transmission. (Zhao & Xue, 2008)
The GMR is one of the rich biodiversity regions in the world tropics, where the plant diversity and traditional medical
knowledge diversity are met in large human inhabited region. From ethnobotanical point of view, the medicinal plant richness is
co-related to both plant diversity and medical cultural diversity. However, today global biodiversity is under threat, there are
50,000 medicinal plants recorded in the world of which 20 percent are threatened (Hamilton A. C, 2004); IUCN (2004) evaluated
that 4,400 plant species of China are threatened, which is 15 percent of the total flora of China. Government of China launched
(1999) the list of priority protection plant 393 species, of which 101 species are medicinal plants. Medicinal plants constitute a
major component of global biodiversity which close links to human healthcare and community livelihoods. The Xishuangbanna
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Dai Autonomous Prefecture located in middle Mekong basin, has a land area of 19,220 km and 400,000 inhabitants, of which
390,000 are belonging the Dai Minority making up 40 percent of the indigenous people in the area. A total of 4,347 plant species
are recorded of which 1,776 spp. are medicinal plants used in traditional Dai medicine. Dai medicine has a long history and even
today still provides primary health care for many Dai people living in 660 villages in the area today. Over the last two decades,
modern development in particular un-controlled expansion of rubber plantations has accelerated the lost of forest cover and
medicinal plant, it is believed that about 30 percent of medicinal plants used in Dai medicine is threatened and difficult to find
in their habitat areas. At the same time, associated medical knowledge is being rapid lost among the Dai population, similar
situation is found among other ethno traditional medical knowledge in China. The impact of modern development and changes
on health care systems rapid disappearing of traditional and indigenous medical knowledge and associated medicinal plants are
seen as country wide situation and challenges that we face today in China.
3. Strategy and Action on Protection of Traditional Medical Knowledge in China
Protection of traditional medical knowledge is a systematic operation involving strategies and actions of political, socio-
economic, science & technological and environmental issues and reform. In China, the most important strategy adopted by
government on protection of traditional medical knowledge can be concluded into the following five areas:
1) Policy and law enforcement As early as the year 1956, the first National Constitution of China has made a legal
statement in recognizing and supporting to development of traditional Chinese medicine as public healthcare service in the
country, in 1986 the State Adminisration of Traditional Chinese Medicine was established, in the followed years, related policies
and regulations have been launched by government of China to support and develop traditional medicines in China including
TCM and TEM as legal public health care service ranging from policy on medical doctor and hospital registration, policy on
standardization of traditional medicine, policy on conservation of medicinal plants, and policy on modernization of traditional
medicine etc. all of these policy have been effectively implemented becoming country wide actions to play a leading role in
protection of traditional and indigenous medical knowledge in China.
2) New development of education and training institution Development of education and training institutions on
traditional medicine in China is another important strategy and action for protection of traditional medical knowledge. So far more
than 50 TCM and TEM universities, colleges and training centers have been established in China, Degrees are offered from
diplomatic level to doctoral degree, every year thousands of traditional medical doctors are trained; at the same time, traditional