THE Chinese Medicine Commission of the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Association was established in Beijing on Saturday.

The commission aims to enhance the protection, inheritance and innovation of Chinese medicine’s intangible cultural heritage. Cao Hongxin, former head of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, was named head of the Chinese Medicine Commission.

According to Li Jinzao, vice minister of China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism and director of the commission, so far 137 traditional Chinese medicines have been listed as items of China Intangible Cultural Heritage. Since 2012 China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism has spent 113 million yuan (US$16 million) from a national special fund to protect intangible cultural heritage to protect and maintain traditional Chinese medicine’s intangible cultural heritage.

The traditional Chinese medicine techniques of acupuncture and moxibustion and China’s Lum medicinal bathing of Sowa Rigpa were listed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010 and 2018.

(Xinhua)