Why Has China Long Held a Disadvantaged Position in the Export of Traditional Chinese Medicine?

Chinese medicine was invented by China's ancestors and has the broadest influence within China itself, yet China's share of the global TCM export market is only in the single digits. Japan, South Korea, and India all hold a larger share of the TCM export market than China; Japan in particular accounts for the overwhelming majority of the TCM export market.

In Japan, Chinese medicine is known as Kampo medicine. At one time, Kampo medicines were the main means by which the Japanese treated disease; it was only after Western medicine—called "Dutch medicine" by the Japanese—was introduced that the status of Kampo medicines gradually declined. But as a therapeutic modality with definite efficacy, Chinese medicine has not been abandoned by the Japanese. Kampo medicines still have a large market in Japan; even when Japanese Prime Minister Abe fell ill with ulcerative colitis, he was treated with combined Chinese-Western therapy—alongside Western drugs, he also took Kampo medicines.

The Japanese approach to modernizing Chinese medicine research differs from that of their Chinese counterparts. The Japanese have largely stopped developing new TCM formulas and instead concentrate their efforts on researching the efficacy of traditional formulas. They track and follow up on the efficacy of clinically effective Chinese medicines and formulas, compile statistics on effective rates and side effects, and then promote Kampo medicines according to evidence-based medicine principles—the result has been very successful.

For years, by contrast, the Chinese TCM community has tirelessly developed new proprietary Chinese medicines; every year China develops more than a thousand new patent medicines, yet its market share remains small. The inability of China's newly developed patent medicines in collecting evidence-based data and in marketing directly prevents China's TCM enterprise from growing and prospering.

A friend of mine developed only one patent medicine—an external application for treating vitiligo—yet over many years he has tirelessly promoted this topical product, doing excellent marketing and achieving great success. Another veteran TCM doctor I know developed a topical plaster that works very well for cervical spondylosis and lumbar spine disease, but promoting it has been quite a struggle.

Promotion is inherently a marketing process, and modern marketing has long been the weak point of Chinese TCM practitioners. If this weak point can be improved and the gates of safety and efficacy held firmly, there is no reason Chinese medicine cannot develop and prosper.