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How to transform the resource advantages of the snowy plateau into economic and developmental strengths? The high-quality development of the Tibetan medicine industry is one of the breakthrough points. Recently, when reporters visited Tibetan hospitals, Tibetan medicine companies, and planting bases for research, they found that various regions are continuously optimizing and upgrading their industrial structures to promote the inheritance and innovation of Tibetan medicine. Traditional Tibetan medicine is showing new vitality, not only bringing health to the people of the snowy plateau but also promoting ethnic interaction, integration, and consolidation of national unity, and strengthening the consciousness of the Chinese national community in the inheritance and innovation of Tibetan medicine culture.

Inheriting the essence to benefit the public widely

In the golden autumn season, at the Danwang Preparation Center of the Tibetan Hospital in Ali region of Tibet, Deng Qiuwangse, who is responsible for drug production, is stuffing a full bag of medicine into the hands of village doctor Awang and explaining the precautions for taking the medicine.

"This medicine is given to the villagers for free," Deng Qiuwangse told reporters that providing Tibetan medicine to villagers for free on a regular basis is a common practice of the Ali region Tibetan Hospital. "Village doctors from nearby towns come to pick up the medicine themselves, and we will deliver it to the remote towns."

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The Ali region Tibetan Hospital was established in 1984. After more than 30 years of development, the hospital has been built into a "second-class first-grade" Tibetan hospital integrating medical treatment, rehabilitation, teaching, scientific research, prevention, and preparation.

"In terms of the construction of the Tibetan hospital medical consortium, the Ali region Tibetan Hospital has renewed the medical consortium agreement with 7 county people's hospitals," said Long Xiaowen, director of the Health and Health Commission of Ali region in Tibet. At present, all 149 Tibetan medicines registered by the regional Tibetan hospital have been included in the scope of medical insurance reimbursement.

Tibetan doctors and Tibetan medicines, with their unique therapeutic effects, have relieved the pain of many patients and are welcomed and trusted by people of all ethnic groups.

"In 2023, the proportion of Tibetan medical services in Ganzi Prefecture reached 48%. Thanks to the attention of the Party and the state to the inheritance and development of Tibetan medicine, the recognition of Tibetan medicine by the people is getting higher and higher now," said Jiang Jicun, a national representative and secretary of the Party Committee of the Tibetan Hospital in Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan Province. The special physiotherapy services of the Tibetan Hospital in Ganzi Prefecture, such as medicinal bath and pottery therapy, have attracted patients from all over the country.

With the "Tibetan medicine bath method" included in the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and the Tibetan medical masterpiece "Four Medical Treatises" included in the World Memory List, the popularity of Tibetan medicine is continuously improving.

The industrial characteristics and advantages are emerging.At present, Tibetan medicine in Tibet has essentially formed a new pattern of comprehensive development in medical treatment, health care, scientific research, education, industry, and culture. Tibetan medicine production enterprises have achieved the transformation from manual workshops to industrialized production, gradually moving towards standardization, regulation, and scaling, with further highlighting of their distinctive advantages.

In 2023, Milin City in Tibet introduced a Yunnan enterprise to establish Tibet Milin Tibetan Huangjing Resource Development Co., Ltd. in Bangzhong Village, Milin Town, planting wild-simulated Huangjing under the forest. "The land here is desertified, and the humus under the forest is deep, which is very suitable for the growth of Huangjing, and the quality is good, with high medicinal value," said Li Wei, the person in charge of planting technology at the company. According to statistics, there are currently 2,000 acres of Tibetan medicine planting area in Milin City, with an output of about 1.2 million jin (a unit of weight) and a value of nearly 200 million yuan.

Inheriting and innovating for development to better benefit the region, Tibet has explored a path of integrated development of "enterprises + scientific research + bases + farmers". In Langbaj Village, Sakya County, Shigatse City, Tibet, the highland Tibetan saffron project has driven the employment of 2,000 farmers and herders, achieving an economic income of about 400,000 yuan for local farmers and herders. Shen Jialiang, the leader of the Shanghai Aid Tibet cadre group in Sakya, the executive deputy secretary of the Sakya County Committee, and the executive deputy county head, introduced that the Tibetan saffron produced in Sakya relies on the Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine Slice Quality Traceability Platform to strengthen quality control. "Next, the technical teams from Shanghai and Tibet will continue to promote technical research and further popularize the planting technology of saffron."

Walking into the production workshop of Tibet Ganlu Tibetan Medicine Industry Group Co., Ltd., the modern Tibetan medicine production line is busy, and the production environment and equipment level of Tibetan medicine preparations have been greatly improved. "Tibetan medicine, which has been inherited for thousands of years, has its own unique resource advantages, and many medicinal materials have outstanding curative effects on cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases," said Danzeng Pingsuo, the person in charge of the Science and Technology R&D Department of Tibet Ganlu Tibetan Medicine Industry Group Co., Ltd.

With the establishment and growth of Tibetan medicine enterprises in the snowy plateau, a number of well-known Tibetan medicine brands have been formed. In 2023, the total output value of Tibetan medicine industry enterprises in Tibet has broken through 3 billion yuan.

In recent years, various places have taken the industry as the medium, driven the innovation chain with the industrial chain, explored the "Tibetan medicine +" new model, and promoted the deep integration of Tibetan medicine with culture, tourism, health care, etc. From the primary industry represented by the planting industry to the modern service industry represented by the integration of culture and tourism, the industrial chain of Tibetan medicine has been effectively extended, and the product supply has become increasingly rich.

Ganzi Tibetan Hospital has not only cooperated with Zhengzhou Yu Shang He Mei Trading Co., Ltd. to develop characteristic medicinal bath health products but also opened a South School Tibetan Medicine Bath Experience Store in Liuliu City, Kangding City, to replicate and promote Tibetan medicine clinics across the country. Maqu County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, has promoted the deep integration of Tibetan medicine with the tourism industry, relying on Tibetan hospitals, setting up marketing centers for Tibetan and Chinese medicine health experience products in key areas inside and outside the province, and actively carrying out market marketing and brand construction.

The continuous development of the Tibetan medicine industry, talent is the key. Tibet Tibetan Medicine University is based on training high-level innovative talents in Tibetan medicine for the country and is the only higher education institution for Tibetan medicine set up separately in the country.

"Now, there is a shortage of compound talents who master cutting-edge knowledge," said Duojie Renqing, a professor at Tibet Tibetan Medicine University and the president of the affiliated hospital of Tibet Tibetan Medicine University. Tibet Tibetan Medicine University has done a solid job in the inheritance of Tibetan medicine, but there is still a lack in carrying out high-level scientific research cooperation, and it is necessary to continue to deepen the reform of training models and so on."Promoting the development of Tibetan medicine can not only cure diseases but also create wealth. Tibetan medicine has a solid foundation among the people on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and has now been widely inherited and further developed with innovation," said Cheng Yue, a first-level inspector of the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences. Accelerating the development of the Tibetan medicine industry will become an important economic growth pole for Tibet and also contribute to promoting people's health and advancing the construction of a healthy China.

Kan Zhaoben, a researcher at the Institute of Tibetan Medicine of the China Tibetology Research Center, believes that the industrial development of Tibetan medicine is a systematic project that requires the joint efforts of the government, Tibetan hospitals, and enterprises. Local governments should provide support in aspects such as the approval of Tibetan medicine numbers and the transformation of Tibetan medicine research results to help speed up the industrial development of local Tibetan medicine; Tibetan hospitals should actively cooperate with enterprises to provide technical support for enterprises in the large-scale cultivation of Tibetan medicinal materials, drug research and development, and production.