Coming to a Clinic Near You: China's Ethnic Minority Medicines Enter the Global Health Market

Introduction

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has long been China’s medicinal ambassador to the world. Establishing itself outside of China as a complement to biomedicine, the TCM industry is a significant export of China with an estimated market size of USD $86.46 billion in 2025 alone, projected to reach $124.64 billion by 2030 (Mordor Intelligence, 2025). Today, TCM has reached all corners of the globe, being practised in more than 180 countries and regions worldwide (Jin et al., 2020).

TCM is, in many senses, emblematic of the complex relationship between tradition and modernity. In Mao Zedong’s China, TCM became an important force in the nation’s medical provision when a 1956 policy required doctors of biomedicine (also known as Western medicine) to study Chinese medicine, with the aim of taming the bourgeois character of such doctors. This was referred to as Combined Chinese and Western Medicine (中西医结合, zhong-xiyi jiehe) and remained important as China opened up from the late 1970s onward. Indeed, the state's promotion of both traditional medicine and biomedicine was enshrined in the 1982 Constitution (Andrews, 2014), thereby solidifying their status.

Today, the synthesis of these two bodies often tilts in favour of biomedicine, justifying the validity of traditional medical solutions. This can involve laboratory research to explore the scientific basis of TCM, or limiting TCM to more holistic practices while biomedicine handles the surgical and clinical legwork (Lai & Farquhar, 2015). As such, the modernisation and globalisation of TCM have given it an enduring status, but have also forced it to repackage itself for a global audience.

The globalisation of TCM has been successful, with TCM being one of the most commonly used forms of “alternative” medicine amongst the majority of World Health Organisation member states (World Health Organisation, 2019). However, there has also been extensive legislation to ensure the safety of local populations. Following WHO recommendations advocating for patients to seek TCM practitioners with a strong knowledge of biomedicine (Giordano & Strickland, 2004), countries have developed their own legislation to govern the domestic use of TCM (Jin et al., 2020). In France and Italy, for example, acupuncture can only be practised by doctors already qualified in biomedicine. (Candelise & Guill, 2011).

However, TCM is far from being the only medical tradition China holds. In recent years, a new set of contenders has stepped into the limelight: the diverse medicinal bodies of China’s ethnic minority groups. While they join both the Chinese and international healthcare markets, these systems bring distinct histories, diagnostic techniques, and inevitably opportunities and challenges. As China’s ethnic minority medicines enter the market, it is important to understand what is lost when medicine is standardised and regulated. 

A facial acupuncture administered for a woman in Beijing, China. Source: Justin Janes/ Panos

The Development of Ethnic Minority Medicines

A broader look at China’s social landscape reveals a range of Chinese medicines emerging from ethnic minority groups across the nation. The People’s Republic of China officially recognises 56 ethnic groups (民族, minzu, often translated as ‘nationalities’), comprising the Han majority and 55 minority groups (少数民族, shaoshu minzu) (Yang, 2009). Among these groups, the Tibetan, Mongolian, and Uyghur minorities already possess relatively standardised and institutionalised bodies of medicine, but many others are now looking to commercialise (Lai & Farquhar, 2015).

Many scholars argue that the rise of ethnic minority medicine in China is not merely an organic flourishing of traditional practices as the public takes advantage of a growing healthcare market (Lan et. al., 2024). Rather, the sector has been strategically developed by the state because it directly contributes to core policy objectives, such as grassroots public health, and provides new avenues for ethnic minority practitioners to develop their local economies and build new industries within their communities.

Opportunities: New markets and New Momentum 

Not only has the alternative medicine market long reached Chinese consumers, but their recent growth can also be explained by state support. These medicines have been mentioned in recent policy developments as an important part of China’s overall healthcare strategy, including Xi Jinping’s Healthy China Initiative (Lan et. al., 2024). China’s current strategy aims to expand public health services to meet the needs of the country’s diverse population (Tan et. al., 2017), by developing the country’s ethnic minority medicine provision. 

Tibetan, Mongolian, and Uyghur groups have already taken advantage of this standardisation process, building state-supported institutions for their medical practices as early as Deng-Era China. The growth of the Tibetan medical industry, which was penalised during the Cultural Revolution (Janes, 1995) but later became a convenient vehicle for national development, is one such example. 

Tibetan medicine has provided healthcare solutions for rural localities since the 1980s, as occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic, when many Tibetan communities relied on a combination of Tibetan medicine and biomedicine (Wangmo, 2023). Tibetan medicine has not just become a more common sight across China, but has also begun to find an audience in the Western world (Janes, 2002). For instance, Tibet Cheezheng Tibetan Medicine Co., Ltd., now a leading exporter of Tibetan herbal health products, reported annual revenue of roughly RMB 2.34 billion in the 2024 fiscal year (Reuters, 2025).

Challenges: When Medicine Meets Modern Market Rules

Medicine naturally can be dangerous, so government regulation is essential to protect public health. The state must ensure expertise amongst doctors and the safety of medical substances. Scholars refer to this process as ‘rationalising’ medicine, or regulating, standardising, and clarifying medicinal substances, diagnoses, and treatments to meet industry standards (Farquhar & Lai, 2021). However, while this expansion of medicinal practices can grant legitimacy and commercial viability, it also poses challenges for local communities and existing practitioners.   

A fundamental step that ethnic minority medicine systems must take to be welcomed into the commercial market is to regulate the professionals who can practice their body of medicine. The recent standardisation of Qiang ethnic minority (羌族, qiangzu) medical practices is one example of this. This group recently began expanding its medical treatment system, with the China Medical Association of Minorities establishing its Qiang Medicine branch in 2015 (China Medical Association of Minorities Webpage, 2015).

Yet thus far, the standardisation process has led to a growing division between those considered Qiang doctors, generally expected to have an education in TCM in addition to Qiang medicine, and those called shibi (释比), or rural shamanistic practitioners. Qiang practitioners are admitted to larger hospitals but only if they possess at least basic medical certification. For unqualified shibi, their practices remain in the village, thereby limiting their economic development and removing certain spiritual and cultural elements from Qiang medical practices (dos Santos Pinto Campinas, 2020).

First, as they enter the market, ethnic minority medicines must undergo commercialisation. Each body of ethnic minority medicine has a distinct historical and cultural context that can be used to weave a narrative, create a brand, and sell the product. On a recent trip to Xinjiang’s capital city of Urumqi,  I stumbled across a ‘Uyghur Medicine Experience Centre’ (维吾尔医药体验中心, weiwuer yiyao tiyan zhongxin) associated with the Hospital of Xinjiang Traditional Uyghur Medicine (新疆维吾尔自治区维吾尔医医院, xinjiang weiwuer zizhiqu weiwuer yi yiyuan), offering free consultations for visitors. This hospital, first established in 1954, is the regional-level speciality authority for Uyghur medicine that functions as a clinical hub, research centre, and training facility (Hospital of Xinjiang Traditional Uyghur Medicine, 2024). Many of the customers were Han Chinese tourists, seemingly not seeking serious medical treatment but rather another cultural experience to add to their bucket list.

Here, Uyghur medicine had been positioned not as a serious body of medicine, but as a part of Xinjiang’s overall tourist experience. This follows unprecedented growth in the region’s tourism sector in recent years, with tourist figures hitting record highs of 302 million in 2024 (People’s Government of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, 2025). While medical experience centres can help raise awareness of a medical discipline, they also risk turning a serious medical system into a novelty tourist trap.

What Next for Ethnic Minority Medicines?

If the dominance of TCM amongst the world’s traditional medicines is anything to go by (World Health Organisation, 2019), it is worth acknowledging the potential of ethnic minority medicines. Undoubtedly, bringing these systems to the market bolsters economic development for China’s ethnic minority groups, who lag behind the Han population in urbanisation and educational attainment (Duan et. al., 2023). However, the rise of the ethnic minority medicine industry also poses notable challenges for the very bodies of medicine it aims to promote, creating new obstacles for practitioners and altering practices and perceptions. 

Striking a balance will require strong collaboration between people and policy, as the government must weigh up community and industry needs. As ethnic minority medicines enter the global health market, it remains to be seen whether they will be celebrated as valid medical alternatives or viewed simply as cultural novelties. The answer to this question will shape the future of China’s healthcare landscape and the preservation of diverse medical knowledge across its vast regions.

This article represents the views of contributors to STEAR's online digital publication, and not those of STEAR, which takes no institutional positions.

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