NEXT month, Li Qizhong will travel to Paris to give a speech before his peers in praise of Traditional Chinese Therapy and Traditional Chinese Medicine in today's China.

"I have made similar speeches several times in the past year," said Li, a professor from Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine University.

"To some extent, it is Western people's enthusiasm for researching Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that is making us Chinese recognize its value again," he said frowning.

Traditional Chinese Medicine is not only based on "empirical medical science" but has its own academic system reflecting the light of Oriental thinking.

Although it has long been regarded as an original national treasure, Li was puzzled by the fact that TCM was in crisis in China while people in the West, who might lack knowledge about China generally, were showing a great interest in learning about TCM.

Potential threat

In China's medical industry, TCM is the only one that enjoys intellectual property rights. In contrast to most of China's Western medicine producers - who depend mainly for their existence on copying foreign formulas -the development prospects for Traditional Chinese Medicine should, in theory, be more optimistic.

However, TCM accounted for only 5 per cent of the international market in medicinal products and nearly 70 per cent of that came from the export of Chinese medicinal ingredients. The amount of prepared herbal medicines of a high technical quality that was exported was very low.

Ironically, China's imports of "Yangzhongyao" (prepared herbal medicine made by foreign countries possessing advanced technology and high quality standards) has exceeded the volume being exported since 1998. In 2000, the total value of imports stood at US$600 million.

The potential threat arising from Yangzhongyao has further darkened the prospects for the development of TCM. "The way out is to be geared to international standards," said Wang Mingwei, executive deputy director of the Chinese National Centre for Drug Screening. By that he means, China has to prove the validity of TCM in clinical practice according to international standards.

Quality control

Wang Zhengtao, a professor at the Shanghai Research Centre for Standardizing Traditional Chinese Medicine, said: "Traditional Chinese Medicine attaches much importance to its practical use, yet it does not have enough theoretical support to back it up."

A lack of precise information about the medical components used in TCM and their effects on patients has greatly affected exports as many Western people don't dare to try any kind of medicine without being assured of reliable quality control.

"At least, we should let foreign people understand our traditional medicine and try to maintain the consistency of our products," Wang said.

To standardize TCM involves a joint co-operative process that would determine the quality and quantity of ingredients used in TCM prescriptions. This would ensure TCM became a commercial product through strict quality control and the use of scientific language to explain its effectiveness.

"But Traditional Chinese Medicine originated in China and it ought to share equal status with Western medicine," Li said. "If it has to be brought into line with international standards, who should it line up with? And how can we evaluate our national medical science in terms of the standards of Western medical science?"

According to professor Zhang Ruqing, a professor at the Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine University, TCM is based on ancient Chinese philosophy. This philosophy emphasizes looking at problems in a dialectical way and puts less stress on micro research, a foundation of Western medical science.

Last year, Zhang went to Japan on an academic exchange and he found that Japanese doctors involved in researching TCM always tried to follow the prescriptions set out by doctors in ancient China. "What they are pursuing is to be original and genuine. And their criteria are none other than the ancient requirements," Zhang said.

Panic and confusion

In spite of its long-standing history, TCM suffered its heaviest body blow in the 1920s and 1930s when Western medicine made a major breakthrough with the discovery of antibiotics, especially the introduction of penicillin in the 1940s.

"Later, the development of Western medicine became more and more elaborately divided. Faced with this situation, traditional Chinese Medicine was thrown into panic and confusion," Zhang said. From then on, the "struggle" between the two branches of medicine has never stopped.

Speaking about the situation in today's China, professor Li said he felt deeply pained. In ancient China, people were very particular about the process of making TCM. "Now, some important production links are being ignored," Li said.

In addition, the pursuit of business profits has also influenced the way factories produce TCM. These factors have caused a gradual decline in the quality of TCM. But this was not a reason to hide the unique medical benefits to be derived from TCM.

"A distinguishing feature of Traditional Chinese Medicine lies in the numerous ways different medicines can be compounded," Zhang said. "And even for a specific kind of medicine, its components might vary from person to person."

Zhang said he was worried that the standardization of TCM would result in formulistic medical analyses and finally lead to the giving up of TCM's ancient academic essence.

Looking back at the development of medical science, there were once various traditional medicines in use throughout the world, most of which have gradually vanished. "The continued existence of Traditional Chinese Medicine in itself is a miracle," Li said. In fact, modern research into TCM involves only a small portion of the medical science that was known in ancient China. "Some really effective and valuable Traditional Chinese Medicines are going to become extinct," Zhang said. "People who work in the field of Traditional Chinese Medicine should be confident about the value of this science, otherwise, we will lose what belongs to us."