Traditional Chinese Medicine and the Harmony of the Planet | Lixin Huang
28 Video Views·Sep 2, 2025
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) which is composed of plants and animals, originated in China 3,000 years ago. While a crucial part of Chinese culture, the demand for Chinese medicinal materials has risen both in China as well as in international markets. China's economic growth has allowed Chinese consumers with high purchasing power to seek Chinese herbal medicine and other natural health products. The interest in using Chinese herbal medicine for wellness, medical treatments and longevity by people in other parts of the world has created new markets for TCM products.
The development of TCM depends on natural resources so medicinal wildlife resource conservation is a precondition of sustainable use and continuation of TCM. Unfortunately, medicinal natural resources have declined rapidly, with Chinese manufacturing companies searching for large quantities of supplies inside and outside China to produce old-brand products and to develop new products for profit.
The overuse of resources has caused a number of both animal and plant species to become extinct. The conflict between demand and supply is a big challenge for the development of traditional Chinese medicine and biodiversity conservation.
In her presentation, Lixin will address how the TCM profession views these challenges and addresses them to promote healthy people and a healthy planet? She also discusses strategies that can be developed to bring TCM and conservation communities together to work with a shared vision to protect our one and only planet.
Traditional Chinese medicine is an ancient and profound healing art.
Three thousand years ago, ancient Chinese doctors discovered that humans' body,
mind and spirit were integrally connected and were affected by external environment.
Human beings need to take care of the environment because their health depends on it.
People and the planet must coexist in harmony. As an ancient healing art,
traditional Chinese medicine is formed with a number of very important therapeutic practices,
including Chinese herbs, acupuncture, nutrition, tuina, taijiquan and qigong.
All have profound long-term efficacy to treat a variety of medical diseases and conditions.
Traditional Chinese medicine seeks wellness and harmony for health.
It enhances body's natural resistance and ability to treat diseases.
It takes a macro approach to look at a human being as a whole,
emphasizing prevention, wellness, self-healing, interaction of mind and body.
Western medicine looks at the parts of the body separately,
using technology and drugs to deal with disease and trauma.
By bringing traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine together,
they form a comprehensive and integrative approach to health,
addressing both specific medical conditions as well as human beings as a whole.
Today, traditional Chinese medicine is practiced side by side with Western medicine in numerous
hospitals in China. It is used as an increasingly gained support healthcare profession in the world.
57 countries, including United States. Why people choose to use an ancient healing art
with 3,000 years when they have drugs and hospitals everywhere? Let me tell you a true story.
This is a patient at the teaching clinic of American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine
where I serve as president. This patient is also a dear friend of mine who is a world-well-known
opera singer in San Francisco. When she was extremely successful in her career,
she was diagnosed with late-stage cancer. Tumor had spread in her lung, liver, brain, and spine.
Doctors told her, you only have three to six months to live. My dear friend didn't give up.
She was determined to fight with the cancer. When chemotherapy and radiation treatments started,
she suffered with severe side effects of the drugs. Vomiting, diarrhea, a lot of pain,
she could not eat or walk. Western medicine could not control side effects of the drugs
or reduce patient sufferings. She turned to traditional Chinese medicine for help.
With Chinese herbs, acupuncture, and qigong, her symptoms started to be reduced. Her vomiting
stopped, diarrhea stopped, pain was reduced, she began to eat and exercise. Last week,
I saw her at the clinic. She had a beautiful smile on her face and felt very optimistic about
her recovery. My friend has become an inspiration to many patients like herself. Her story was
reported by Good Morning America and a number of media in the United States to inspire the others.
Her family and friends have just celebrated her three new year of life.
This is just one example of why patients choose to use a 3,000-year ancient healing art,
traditional Chinese medicine. It saves patients' lives, reduces their sufferings,
improves their quality of life. Very often, this is the last option for patients
who could not find help anywhere else. This medicine is very well established as a healthcare
profession. In the United States, graduate students have to spend four academic years
to study this medicine, to practice acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine.
There are 8,000 graduate students studying acupuncture and Chinese medicine in the United
States. You may ask, what's the relationship between traditional Chinese medicine and
the living planet? I could not answer this question if my colleague and I had not been
participating in saving endangered species such as wild tigers, rhinos, and others.
From this point on, I could use TCM for traditional Chinese medicine.
It's very unique to bring the subject of a traditional medicine with 3,000 years history
with the conservation. Many people would say they don't go together. They cannot be related.
I did not realize how this issue exists until 1997. I was invited by WWF
to attend a symposium in Hong Kong. The symposium was focused on research and development
for new alternatives for tiger bone and deer musk. Historically, this medicine used tiger bones
to treat pain and inflammation. However, in 1993, the Chinese government completely banned
the use of any tiger bone in medicine. It removed tiger bone from the medicine
and also TCM pharmacopoeia and medical textbooks. The same ban included rhino form.
It was really a big support to protect wild tigers and rhinos. The symposium was very informative
and very educational. Unfortunately, there was a poor participation at that symposium
from traditional Chinese medical community. There were no researchers, educators,
government officials from China. They were not there responding to the issue,
joining the discussion, looking for solutions. At that symposium, I learned that wild tigers
were extremely endangered. Due to illegal hunting and trade, their population in the wild
decreased rapidly. I also noticed that the wildlife conservation community did not separate
a very well-established medical profession from unregulated shops and stores that sold
remedies to consumers as folk medicine or nutrition. They labeled both under TCM.
I was concerned there was a wide separation between these two communities. No communication,
no collaboration, no support to one or the other. One worked extremely hard to support a healthy
planet. The other saved people's lives with traditional medicine. They needed to work
together. The issue was very challenging, very complicated, but I was determined that this
relationship must be changed. My colleagues and I have been convinced that traditional Chinese
medicine has its own obligation to support endangered species conservation and to promote
our planet. The medicine itself emphasizes the harmony and balance for people's health.
It should do the same for the wildlife and for the planet. We took the challenge
and worked extremely hard. We made a difference. In 1997, American College of Traditional Chinese
Medicine, China's State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and WWF
organized the first conference in Beijing for healthy people and a healthy planet
to seek working relationships between the two communities to secure the future for
endangered species. We brought 150 leaders from China and from the world, including educators,
researchers, government agencies, policy makers. We brought leaders from international societies,
WWF, and traffic. This was the first time that traditional Chinese medicine profession
worked with the wildlife conservation in China. The three-day conference created opportunities
for the two communities to exchange information, thoughts, laid out the challenges,
and looking for common ground that they could work together to support healthy people and a
healthy planet. At the end of the event, one of the leaders who worked for wildlife conservation
for many years came to me and said this positive collaboration at this conference made her 17-year
dream come true. She could never imagine this would happen in China, supported by Chinese government
and the TCM medical profession. My TCM colleagues and I have continued working since then.
We reached thousands and thousands of people in the world, built effective partnerships,
educated people about the importance of saving endangered species, changed their attitude,
and turned them into supporters to wildlife conservation. Today, endangered species conservation
and sustainable use of Chinese herbal medicine has become an important subject for the TCM
profession. It's included in the work and international annual conference of World
Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies, a leading and most influential TCM organization
based in Beijing, with 197 institutional members from China and from the world,
under the leadership of former director and deputy director of state administration of
traditional Chinese medicine. In 2010, the year of the tiger, the federation made announcement
to the world and made a pledge that they would join international campaign to save wild tigers.
It urged its members in China and in the world not to use endangered species in TCM,
to follow international laws and regulations. It also restated that the ban for tiger bone
in traditional Chinese medicine worked very successfully. The ban reduced the demand
and domestic trade in China. Their pledge to join the wildlife conservation got the attention of
the world and received many positive responses and feedbacks. My colleagues and I felt very
pleased. Our years of work made a difference. In spring, I was invited to attend an international
trade for Chinese herbal medicine in South Africa. My participation was sponsored by the council of
colleges of acupuncture and orange medicine in US. I was a speaker at the event and raised
a number of issues and challenges to the industry that exist for this market. The event
was organized by the trade industry, by the world federation of Chinese medicine societies
and by WWF and traffic as a united group. Truly amazing to see this happen internationally.
The industry has realized as TCM is in globalization, the demand for Chinese herbs
has been increasing rapidly. They faced a number of issues and problems, including
over harvesting, over exploitation, unbalanced demand and market needs, heavy metal and
pesticide in Chinese herbs. They realized all these issues made the industry unsustainable.
They asked for help, training to the industry, certification for the industry. I hope
the conservation community will respond to the industry's request because the globalization of
TCM will continue to create challenges for biodiversity for our planet. We need to take
actions now before it's too late. About many issues, illegal hunting and trade for wildlife
animals remain as really a big threat. One of the examples is recent crisis for African rhinos.
When I was in Africa, I had an opportunity to visit a national park. I met a rhino with no horn.
The horn was cut off from the rhino to be avoid being killed by hunters. It was an extremely sad
situation. According to traffic, 80 wild rhinos were killed in Africa in the first two months
this year. Wild rhinos lived in this planet for millions of years. This is not our planet,
it's also their planet. We want our children to be able to see this beautiful animal in the future.
It's a shame if we lose this species. Traffic also pointed out that the primary trade market
is in Vietnam. I would urge Vietnamese government to take their responsibilities to educate the
people to clean and close that market. As a medical profession, traditional Chinese medicine in the
world would continue supporting the ban of rhino horn from any use. We oppose illegal trade.
This has been a position that this medical profession has never changed since 1993.
Traditional Chinese medicine, an ancient healing art with 3,000 years history,
will continue saving people's lives and helping people stay healthy and improving their quality
of life. People need this medicine. It's no longer the medicine used by Chinese people,
it's used in the world, including in Africa, Asia, America, Europe, and Latin America.
As I mentioned, it's the medicine for the world now. Traditional Chinese medicine
promotes respect to our planet. It emphasizes the harmony between people and the planet.
When our planet suffers, people's health will suffer. Please join me and my colleagues
in the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, in the Council of Colleges of
Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine to continue working hard to promote healthy people and a
healthy planet. Thank you.