China's Yunnan promotes high-quality development of traditional Chinese medicine via innovation

Southwest China's Yunnan Province -- one of the provincial-level regions with the most abundant biological resources and natural medicines in China -- has stepped up innovation efforts in recent years to bolster high-quality development of its traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) sector.

In 2023, the acreage of traditional Chinese medicinal herbs in Yunnan exceeded 10 million mu (about 666,667 hectares), ranking the first in the country.

However, for a long time, most Chinese medicinal herbs in Yunnan were sold as primary raw materials instead of stellar medicines.

In efforts to promote the high-quality development of its TCM industry, Yunnan has worked flat out to make breakthroughs in developing new products, improving production techniques and quality control standards.

A key laboratory of TCM clinical research in the province focuses on preventive treatment of diseases with the TCM, and carries out scientific research in the research and development of preparation products, optimizing production techniques and application of sci-tech achievements.

For a long time, the medicinal ingredients and mechanism of the TCM have not been fully revealed and confirmed. Hence, it is difficult to be accepted and recognized by Western science.

By scientific experimental means of modern medicine, the laboratory has gradually disclosed the mysteries of the TCM in pharmacology and molecular biology.

"Multiple groups have been established to make our basic scientific research experiments of the TCM, with each group having at least six biological duplicate samples, to ensure veracity and reliability of our scientific research experimental results," said Luan Yunpeng, director of the lab.

The accelerated fusion of the TCM with modern medical technology has also promoted its innovation and upgrading.

"This technology is called flow cytometry, which allows us to see the changes in the cell life cycle, such as proliferation and apoptosis. For diabetes, we can see the changes in the pathological process of insulin beta cells in their early stage and the repair effect of the TCM on them after early intervention. This is a very good example of integration of modern science and technology with the TCM industry," Luan said.

Through innovative research and technological application, the lab has improved both quality and efficacy of TCM products and has rolled out a number of excellent TCM brands.

In recent years, researchers with the lab have done a flurry of scientific research in the prevention and treatment of diabetes and metabolic syndrome, wishing to give full play to the advantages and role of the TCM to reduce the incidence of diabetes, hypertension, atherosclerosis and other diseases.

"Today, the cultivation of high-level TCM talents is no longer limited to observation, listening, asking, pulse-taking and prescription making. It also includes the mastery of scientific research and experiment skills of modern biomedicine and production of high-level scientific research results, to make our TCM brands better known around the world," Luo said.

China's Yunnan promotes high-quality development of traditional Chinese medicine via innovation

The leading stars of '100 Yards,' a martial arts action movie, spoke in Beijing on Friday at the film's premiere about their challenging yet rewarding experience of learning martial arts.

The story, set in north China's Tianjin City in the 1920s, concerns the fierce fights between the son of a martial club's leader and his leading student.

Xiang Zuo and Tang Shiyi, the leading actor and actress of the film, shared their experience of learning martial arts from Liang Shaohong, their Kung Fu teacher in Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province, in southern China.

Xiang, a long-time action movie star, said that learning Wing Chun, a concept-based traditional southern Chinese Kung Fu style, and Bazhandao, a series of techniques using a pair of short swords, still posed a challenge for him.

"Wing Chun and Bazhandao use strength in the opposite direction compared with the martial arts I learned before. I had to relearn how to use my strength. So, my martial arts teacher Liang spent a lot of time teaching me, about three to six hours per day," said Xiang.

Tang, a professional dancer with no prior experience in martial arts, said that learning Kung Fu alongside fellow actors and actresses helped forge strong, genuine bonds within the film's production team.

"Because of the movie, director Xu Haofeng invited me to come to Zhuhai, and I am very honored to have learned Wing Chun from martial arts teacher Liang Shaohong. We learned a particular style of Wing Chun, and we learned it step by step from the teacher and the senior martial artists. We were just like a huge family and the atmosphere there was relaxed," said Tang.

"100 Yards" stars share their experience of learning martial arts