According to Guo Lanping, director of the Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, the fourth national census of traditional Chinese medicine resources confirmed that there are 18,817 kinds of traditional Chinese medicine resources in China, an increase of more than 6,000 compared with the third census.
The 18,817 kinds of traditional Chinese medicine resources include 3,151 kinds of medicinal plants unique to China and 464 species that need to be protected. The fourth survey of traditional Chinese medicine resources also discovered 196 new species, of which about 100 have potential medicinal value. Guo Lanping said that the third census of traditional Chinese medicine resources confirmed 12,807 kinds of traditional Chinese medicine resources, and the fourth census increased by more than 6,000 compared with the third, which shows that the biodiversity of traditional Chinese medicine resources in China is gradually recovering.
Since the fourth census was carried out in 2011, China has produced a series of achievements in the field of traditional Chinese medicine resource protection: the census database of traditional Chinese medicine resources has been constructed, and a census technology system with geographic information system, global positioning system and remote sensing technology as the core has been formed to ensure the scientificity of the census process and data. At present, China has compiled the census data to form the "List of Chinese Traditional Chinese Medicine Resources", established a physical database of traditional Chinese medicine resource specimens, preserved more than 1.2 million specimens, and is expected to develop a sharing system for the results of the census of traditional Chinese medicine resources.
Wang Zhiyong, deputy director of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, introduced that the fourth census covered 31 provinces and 2,702 counties and districts, and a monitoring system for dynamic resources of traditional Chinese medicine has been established. At the same time, China has also implemented the standardization project of traditional Chinese medicine, supported the standardization of 101 kinds of traditional Chinese medicine decoction pieces and 59 kinds of Chinese patent medicines to carry out the standardization of key products, and carried out poverty alleviation actions in the Chinese herbal medicine industry, and Chinese herbal medicines have become an important starting point for promoting rural revitalization.