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education and training mechanism are still maintained, for instance, master and apprentice, family handing down and self studies
are still common transmission ways in China; traditional medical doctor registration policies on masters trained doctor, family
handing down specialized doctor and doctors that qualified from self study throughout experts selection, examination, and
evaluation. All have been implemented in recent years. This new development of integrated education system has great helped
on traditional medical knowledge transmission and protection in China.
3) Scientific research and technology support Scientific research on traditional medical knowledge in China began
with the study of literature recorded medical knowledge in 1960ûs such as Meterial Medica. Field survey on traditional and
indigenous medicinal plant resource has been organized three times and the fourth time country wide field survey on TCM and
TEM medicinal plants is being conducted, and hundreds of ethno-medical surveys on indigenous medical knowledge were
conducted by researchers. As results, inventories on indigenous medical knowledge combined with TCM medical knowledge are
produced. From these studies, we come to know that the total traditional medicine used in China accounts for 12,807 kinds, of
which medicinal plants comprise 11,146 species, including 492 spp. under cultivation and the remaining 10,654 from wild habitats
(SEPA, 1997). The pharmacopoeia was established in 1963, and there has been documentation of more than 9,000 medical
remedies, 1,242 of those have already been listed in the National Essential Medication List. Ethno-medical inventory shown that
the traditional Dai medicine accounts for 1,776 kinds consisting 1715 plants, 47 animals and 14 mineral maters; the Zhuang
medicine in Guangxi accounts for 2,600 plants; Tibetan medicine 3,294 kinds; Miao medicine 1,300 kinds; Yao medicine 980
kinds; and the Yi medicine 1,189 kinds. Another important inventory is on traditional medical therapy recipes, and from many
years survey conducted reveals that there are 20,000 traditional medical recipes are recorded in one traditional Chinese medicine
publication (SEPA, 1997), an estimation suggested that the total number of traditional herbal recipes may reach to 200,000 in
China, which shows a great gap on the survey and documentation works in China.
4) Protection of medicinal plants Protection of traditional medical knowledge always linked with protection of me-
dicinal plants. The use of plants for medicine in the world represents around 20% of the world flora (Schippmann et al, 2001). As
mentioned above medicinal plants used in traditional medicine of China is about 30% of total flora of China (37,500 species), thus
conservation of medicinal plants is particular important in the context of biodiversity. Over the past half century, Natural Reserve
and Protected Areas system has been established in China, till the year 2010, there has been 2,700 Nature Reserves making up
18% of the total land mass, where about 70% of plant species and 80% of wild life are inhabited in protected areas. Ex situ
conservation of plants in botanical gardens has been reached to 220 gardens, of which some are specialized medicinal plant
gardens and living medicine plants collections consisting about 4,000 medicinal plants. More recently, medicinal plants has been
involved in Germplasm Conservation at Germplasm Bank in Kunming. In China cultivation of wild medicinal plants made great
contribution to reduce pressures on over-harvesting of wild medicinal plants, for instance, cultivation of medicinal orchids:
Dendronbium, Gastrodia and many other medicinal plants, such as Paris, Fritillazia, Erigeron, Aquilaria are now fast expanding in
cultivation area (Pei, etal, 2010).
5) Regional and international collaboration Under the WHO, UNESCO and CBD frameworks, China has established
effective collaboration on various international Treats and Agreements to protect traditional medical knowledge including the
Nagoya Protocol (NP) on Access Benefit Sharing on Genetically Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge (ABS), protec-
tion of traditional medical knowledge holders and successors is now included in National Programme on Non-Tangible Heritage
Protection. Several hundred of traditional and indigenous medical doctors have been identified as traditional and indigenous
medical knowledge successors under protection, which is an important policy action responding to the International Agreement
on Protection of Non-Tangible Culture Heritage. Over the past years China has made many efforts to develop collaboration with
the GMR countries and Asian countries on protection of traditional and indigenous medicine, and sharing of knowledge and
experiences, development programmes on training and capacity building, joint research and technology as well as trans-boundary
collaboration on conservation of traditional medical knowledge and medicinal plants, all these actions have positively supported
to revitalize and develop traditional medicines in the region.
4. Perspectives and Suggestions
Over the last half century, government of China has formulated policies to protect, respect and develop all traditional
medicines, including the main streams of traditional medicine TCM and TEM practiced by ethnic minorities. Great progress has
been made in the protection of traditional medical knowledge and preservation of medicinal plants, development of new drugs
from traditional medicines etc. As time has passed, significant achievements have been made in all aspects of traditional
medicines. Today traditional medicine, both TCM and TEM, play very important role in the public healthcare systems for people
and as a component of major industry and agriculture in building up the national economy.
However, the challenges are facing to the development of traditional medicines, in particular more effective protection of
traditional medicinal knowledge in the fast changing economy and societies in China is a major concern, in this context, the
major challenges are: transmission of traditional medical knowledge in the rapid changing society with particular younger
generation value changes on traditional medicine, showing no interesting to learn traditional medicines; another challenge is
rapid lost of traditional indigenous medical knowledge as documentation works much behind the speed of losing; and the