Traditional Chinese medicine thrives in C China's Henan

In the past, Dongping village in Xixia county, Nanyang city, central China's Henan Province was an impoverished mountainous village. In recent years, thanks to the cultivation of medicinal herbs and the development of tourism, the village has embarked on a path to prosperity.

File photo shows a villager picking fruits of Cornus officinalis in Dongping village, Xixia county, Nanyang city, central China's Henan Province. (Photo/Chen Fei)

Local villager Yang Youqing has 400 to 500 Cornus officinalis trees, with each tree yielding an average of around 150 yuan (about $20.67). He can earn over 60,000 yuan a year. By doing odd jobs at a local scenic spot, he can earn another 20,000 to 30,000 yuan.

Cornus officinalis not only has good medicinal effects, but also looks beautiful when it blooms and bears fruit, Yang said. From spring to around the National Day holiday in early October, tourists flock to the village for sightseeing and to escape the summer heat. The village has opened more than 100 rural B&Bs, with an average income per person exceeding 40,000 yuan.

Cornus officinalis has not only brought prosperity to Dongping village, but also to Xixia county. The county has 220,000 mu (146.67 square kilometers) of Cornus officinalis planted, yielding over 3,600 tonnes of fruits last year, resulting in a direct output value of 190 million yuan.

Henan is a leading province in Chinese medicinal herbs, with a planting area of 5.7 million mu and a production of 2.36 million tonnes, ranking at the forefront nationally. By 2025, the planting area of Chinese medicinal herbs is expected to reach 6 million mu, with an estimated output value exceeding 60 billion yuan in planting and initial processing industries.

Workers work in a formula granule production workshop at a factory of Zhongjing Wanxi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. in Xixia county, Nanyang city, central China's Henan Province. (People's Daily Online/Cheng Minghui)

At Zhongjing Wanxi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., located in Xixia, fruits of Cornus officinalis are directly transformed into medicines.

In a workshop of the company, the fully automated production line is able to oversee more than 3,000 data points in real-time, said Li Zhibin, director of the workshop. The production line allows for remote control of processes such as washing, decoction, filtration, concentration, drying, granulation, and packaging.

With nine such production lines, Zhongjing Wanxi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. can produce around 160 bottles of Chinese traditional medicine per minute, totaling 120 million bottles annually. The company's annual revenue exceeds 10 billion yuan.

A doctor of traditional Chinese medicine feels a patient's pulse at a TCM center in Xixia county, Nanyang city, central China's Henan Province. (People's Daily Online/Cheng Minghui)

Currently, Henan has a total of 189 traditional Chinese medicine enterprises, with revenues exceeding 50 billion yuan. By 2025, Henan plans to establish 10 traditional Chinese medicine industrial parks, and cultivate over 100 traditional Chinese medicine enterprises above designated size.