Ceremony marks the opening of Chinese medicinal herbs market in E China's Anhui

Photo shows the opening ceremony of a Chinese medicinal herbs market in Bozhou city, east China's Anhui Province. (People's Daily Online/Wang Rui)

A ceremony was held to mark the opening of a Chinese medicinal herbs market in Bozhou city of east China's Anhui Province on Feb. 8, 2023.

Bozhou is the birthplace of the renowned Chinese physician Hua Tuo who lived in the late Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) and an important birthplace of the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) culture.

The market's opening ceremony is an important platform for promoting the TCM culture and expanding the influence of Bozhou's Chinese medicinal herbs market. Due to COVID-19, the market's opening ceremony hadn't been held in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

During the ceremony, various folklore performances, including dragon dances, lion dances, gong and drum performances, and WuqinxI (a set of exercises inspired by the movements of five animals: monkey, deer, crane, bear and tiger) were held.

A TCM-themed exchange activity was conducted during the opening ceremony for the first time. Moreover, an exhibition of herbal tea, spices, cultural and creative products as well as TCM processing techniques was also held.

According to statistics provided by Bozhou city, there are around 1,000 TCM enterprises, 100,000 TCM dealers and 1 million Chinese medicinal herbs growers in the city. The International (Bozhou) TCM Expo, which has been held for 38 consecutive years in Bozhou, is the world's largest cultural, economic and trade activity in TCM.

Bozhou's TCM dealers are shareholders of more than 80 percent of nearly 2,000 manufacturers of TCM decoction pieces in China, and the transaction volume of Chinese medicinal herbs in Bozhou accounts for 50 percent of the national total.