Not long ago, I went to Linqi Town, Chun’an County in Zhejiang Province, and visited the local Chinese herbal medicine planting and processing bases. This little mountain town is rich of a variety of genuine medicinal materials, such as raspberry, polygonatum and so on. When I tasted the fresh raspberry fruits and drank the tea made from polygonatum, I couldn’t help thinking that these traditional Chinese herbal medicines with obvious Chinese characteristics have played a unique and important role in the fight against the COVID-19 that is raging in the world. Traditional Chinese herbal medicine and Chinese tea are treasures of people all over the world. We should further understand and explore their potential values.
Chinese herbal medicine has a long history of thousands of years, which is accompanied by the birth and growth of Chinese civilization. Many ideas advocated by the culture of traditional Chinese herbal medicine, such as the harmonious unity of human and nature, the comprehensive treatment of diseases and the intervention before the occurrence of diseases, are still advanced, scientific and full of vitality. In fight against COVID-19, Chinese herbal medicine treatment has also played a more important and extensive role. Take Beijing as an example. In February 15th, Beijing Ditan Hospital reported that the Chinese herbal medicine treatment had achieved good results in mild, ordinary and heavy cases. The effective rate of single use of Chinese medicine treatment was 87.5%, and the effective rate of integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine was 92.3%. In February 24th, a press conference said that the overall treatment rate of Beijing by Chinese medicine was 87%, the proportion of the use of Chinese herbal decoction accounted for 82%, and the total effective rate was 92%.
There is also a concept in Chinese medicine culture that is the homology of medicine and food. Many foods of our daily lives can be used as medicines at the same time. The most common thing is tea leaves. Tea originated in China which is known as the magic oriental leaves. It is said that Chinese ancestors ate poisonous things when they tried hundreds of plants, but fortunately, the magical tea leaves fell into their boiling water. After drinking the tea soup, their bodies gradually recovered. Maybe it is just a beautiful legend, but now there is no doubt about the health benefits of tea drinking. Many tea fans even say that it is better to have no meal in three days than without tea in a day.
During the period of COVID-19, the global demand for tea increased significantly, which not only provided a new impetus for building a sustainable and resilient tea industry, but also showed that tea always has a unique charm of gathering people’s hearts. This is an important message conveyed by the high level online activity of “international tea day 2021” recently held by FAO. In addition, the cultivation of Chinese herbal medicine and tea also has important value in the process of rural economic development and rural revitalization. Linqi Town, where I visited this time, just has benefited a lot from the cultivation and processing of many Chinese herbal medicines, and the local government is also planning a more grand development strategy.
The traditional Chinese herbal medicine and tea I mentioned above have distinctive Chinese characteristics, which are derived from China’s long history and cultural heritage. But at the same time, they belong more to the world. It comes from the idea of worldwide great harmony in Chinese culture. In other words, all mankind share a community of common destiny.
(Xi Meng, Senior Researcher, Research Center for the Belt and Road of Lanzhou University)
