China Advances a TCM
Preventive Health Policy
China’s central health authorities continued to strengthen and formalize Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) within its national health strategy, with a series of policy updates emphasizing preventive health, standardization, and integration of traditional practices like Taijiquan and Qigong into mainstream healthcare.
A major milestone came on July 24, 2025, when the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine issued a revised guideline. This updated guideline underscores the core TCM philosophy of “治未病” — treating health imbalances before disease manifests — and offers a detailed framework for building and managing “treating pre-illness” departments within licensed TCM hospitals. The new version expands the scope of clinical services, specifies stronger departmental functions, and adds traditional movement practices such as Taijiquan (太极拳) and Baduanjin Qigong as clinical-advisory offerings, reflecting a broader commitment to holistic health management beyond conventional medical treatment. It also includes modernization measures such as AI and digital health technologies to support service outreach and patient engagement.
Beyond clinical department structure, China also made strides in public guidance for preventive health. The administration released 20 specialized TCM “treating pre-illness” intervention guidelines, targeting adults and older populations with actionable dietary, herbal, and lifestyle regimens designed to prevent common seasonal ailments. These guidelines emphasize TCM-based dietary adjustments and practices like herbal tonics and manual therapies, aiming to raise community awareness of proactive health maintenance ahead of cold and flu seasons. The effort aligns with China’s broader 健康中国 (Healthy China) initiative.
In tandem with disease prevention initiatives, the administration is also focusing on standardization across the TCM field. In late 2025, a new edition of the 中医药标准体系表 (TCM Standardization Framework) was published, providing a blueprint for prioritizing and structuring national, regional, and institutional standards. This framework is expected to help unify clinical procedures, quality benchmarks, and safety practices across herbal medicine, acupuncture, functional exercises, and hospital management.
These policy movements are part of a sustained effort by Chinese health authorities to embed TCM more deeply into national health systems, enhance the scientific and standardized delivery of traditional practices, and promote preventive care for an aging and health-conscious population. They signal a continued shift toward integrative health models that leverage centuries-old wisdom alongside modern technologies and clinical governance.
Source: https://cj.sina.com.cn/articles
