International students experience TCM culture in Tianjin

Almost 100 international students visited traditional Chinese pharmaceutical businesses and took part in a series of traditional Chinese medicine experience activities recently in Tianjin.

The organizers said that the "Experience China — Tour of TCM Pharmaceutical Group in Tianjin" — a big social practice and cultural experience activity — enabled the overseas students to gain a valuable insight into the sector.

They said the event provided the students with the opportunity to learn about the importance of TCM in its home country, the progress of modern Chinese medicine, the development and applications of traditional medicine and the overall culture surrounding it.

The activity was sponsored by the China Scholarship Council and hosted by Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

The tour involved 96 Chinese government scholarship students and nine teachers from 26 countries. The Chinese-speaking students had good communications with the TCM enterprises.

They visited the Tianjin Pharmaceutical Exhibition Center, the natural and cultural museum of Zhongxin Pharmaceuticals, as well as the cultural exhibition hall of Da Ren Tang, a time-honored Chinese medicine brand in Tianjin.

Later they attended a health lecture and learned about the development, history and culture of the Chinese medicine businesses.

At the Da Ren Tang medicine store and traditional Chinese medicine exhibition hall, the students also sampled Chinese herbal tea, hawthorn pills and helped make up Chinese medicine sachets.

They also witnessed the traditional process of making honey bolus and ready-to-use Chinese herbal medicine tablets.

Officials said the event presented the unique cultural side of TCM to the international students and aroused their interest in this field of endeavor.

They added that it also further promoted the Chinese medicine to the world.