“During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine will implement a program for cultivating TCM-specific talent,” said Lu Guohui, Director of the Personnel and Education Department of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on March 29. She added that the Administration will intensify its efforts to refine training models, optimize pathways for talent development, and improve systems and mechanisms for talent evaluation, with the goal of building a contingent of TCM professionals who are distinguished by high professional ethics and superb clinical skills.

The development of medical professionals, particularly those in traditional Chinese medicine, follows its own inherent principles. Lu Guohui points out that the seamless integration of three stages—formal institutional education, postgraduate education, and continuing education—and the consistent incorporation of mentorship-based learning throughout all these stages constitute an effective approach to cultivating TCM talent. The State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the National Health Commission, has issued specific policy documents on institutional education to promote reform and high-quality development in TCM education, thereby establishing a relatively comprehensive top-level design for such education and introducing concrete reform measures that highlight the distinctive features of talent cultivation. These initiatives are currently being implemented. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine will further strengthen institutional and mechanistic frameworks related to postgraduate education, continuing education, and mentorship-based learning, introducing a series of relevant policies and regulations to refine and enhance the talent-development model through institutional innovation.

Lu Guohui stated that, as a key component of the major initiative to revitalize and develop traditional Chinese medicine, the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine will implement the TCM Characteristic Talent Cultivation Project—known as the “Qihuang Project”—during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. This talent cultivation initiative will focus on launching a number of high-level talent development programs, selecting and commending leading role models such as National Masters of TCM and nationally renowned TCM physicians, and establishing a series of major platforms for TCM talent development, including key TCM disciplines, TCM clinical teaching bases, and inheritance studios led by distinguished senior TCM experts. Compared with the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the Qihuang Project will see substantial increases in the number of projects, the scale of personnel trained, and the level of investment, thereby creating favorable conditions for outstanding high-caliber TCM professionals to emerge.

The grassroots level is the front line for serving the general public and represents a vast opportunity for TCM professionals. According to Lu Guohui, the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine will further expand enrollment in rural-oriented, order-based TCM programs to cultivate a cohort of undergraduate-level TCM physicians for grassroots settings in central and western regions. At the same time, efforts will be intensified to train general-practice TCM physicians and to enhance the TCM competencies of primary-healthcare personnel, thereby strengthening the capacity of grassroots TCM talent to deliver TCM services to the public.

Lu Guohui stated that talent development is a fundamental and long-term undertaking. The State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine will continue to exert sustained efforts over the long term to promote and elevate traditional TCM, ensuring that the general public can access high-quality TCM services close to home and benefit from distinctive, high-caliber TCM care.