Some 600 experts from China, France, Germany, Canada and other countries and regions on Saturday gathered here to attend an international seminar on traditional Chinese medicine and natural material medicine.
The sponsor, the organizing committee of the ongoing Beijing High-Tech International Week, wished the experts would focus on the theme of how to hasten the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine.
Yao Xinsheng, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said at the seminar that the new century is likely to become a "century for the use of traditional Chinese medicine."
"The new century will be characterized as an aged society, and traditional Chinese medicine is especially suitable for the aged," Yao said.
Experts attending the seminar advised China to adopt more advanced western medicine methods and equipment, to enhance the protection of natural medicine herbs and to encourage the booming of the traditional medicine industry.
They also agreed that China's entrance to WTO will provide an opportunity for China to modernize its traditional medicine sector.
China now produces some 4,000 traditional medicine products, but these medicine products hold only 3 percent of the world medicine market.
(Xinhua 05/12/2001)
