Liu Yunfang, Yang Zhiping, Cheng Jing, Fan Daiming
Project Department, Consultancy Program Center, Chinese Academy of Engineering, Beijing, 100088, China.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
Front Med. 2016 Sep;10(3):360-76. doi: 10.1007/s11684-016-0455-x. Epub 2016 Sep 7.
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is one of the unique cultural treasures of Chinese; it represents a significant feature and prominent advantage of the healthcare cause in China. Data in this paper were fromWorld Health Organization, Chinese Bureau of Statistics, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and PubMed. In recent years, TCM has established a solid foundation in Europe, which made great strides in legislation, education, research, and international exchange, and has enjoyed a vast development space in the continent. Now, TCM is embracing unprecedented development opportunities in Europe. At the same time, the stiff international competition poses a grave threat to China's TCM industry. With multiple cultural, legal, and institutional challenges, as well as talent shortages in the way, TCM is now facing many difficulties in Europe. To fully prepare and enact active and vigorous steps to seize opportunities, we should have a clear picture about the serious challenges hampering TCM development in Europe. The TCM development at overseas markets has shifted from a spontaneous trade activity into a national strategy spearheaded by the government and participated in by multiple stakeholders. We should make a systematic, comprehensive, and sustainable push in fields such as TCM therapy, healthcare, education, research, culture, and industry development. The ultimate goal is to bring TCMs to the global market and allow them to play a role in safeguarding public health along with modern medicines.
中医是中国独特的文化瑰宝之一；它代表了中国医疗卫生事业的显著特色和突出优势。本文的数据来自世界卫生组织、中国统计局、中国知网和美国国立医学图书馆数据库。近年来，中医在欧洲奠定了坚实基础，在立法、教育、研究和国际交流方面取得了长足进步，在欧洲大陆拥有广阔的发展空间。如今，中医在欧洲正迎来前所未有的发展机遇。与此同时，激烈的国际竞争给中国的中医药产业带来了严峻威胁。由于面临多种文化、法律和制度挑战，以及人才短缺问题，中医目前在欧洲面临诸多困难。为充分做好准备并采取积极有力的措施抓住机遇，我们应该清楚地了解阻碍中医在欧洲发展的严峻挑战。中医在海外市场的发展已从自发的贸易活动转变为由政府牵头、多方参与的国家战略。我们应该在中医治疗、保健、教育、研究、文化和产业发展等领域进行系统、全面和可持续的推进。最终目标是将中医药推向全球市场，使其与现代药物一道在保障公众健康方面发挥作用。
