Traditional Chinese medicine: how it is organised and how to reach it
Traditional Chinese medicine is a separately administered part of China's health system, and its hospitals sit inside the same 1–3 grade scale as every other hospital. This page covers the institution and the route in.
- Approved
What it is
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a regulated branch of health care in China with its own national administration, the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (国家中医药管理局). Hospitals of traditional Chinese medicine are graded on the country's ordinary 1–3 scale, and they appear in the hospital directory on this site alongside other hospitals. This page describes the institution and how to find a hospital; it does not describe treatment, effectiveness or outcomes.
Official status
| Item | Status | Basis | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A national administration for traditional Chinese medicine | Approved | National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (国家中医药管理局) — official site | 2026-09-21 | http://www.natcm.gov.cn/guicaisi/gongzuodongtai/2026-09-21/38791.html |
| Hospitals of traditional Chinese medicine inside the national 1–3 grade scale — 三级甲等中医医院 (Tier 3, class A hospital of traditional Chinese medicine) | Approved | Provincial health and traditional-medicine authorities publish 三级甲等中医医院 in their hospital registers (for example the Shaanxi Provincial Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine register, July 2023) | 2023-07-05 | https://atcm.shaanxi.gov.cn/sy/tzgg/202307/P020230705384631323379.doc |
Where it is available
- Where TCM hospitals appear
- In the same hospital directory as every other hospital on this site: 11 of the published hospitals carry the grade 三级甲等中医医院 (Tier 3, class A hospital of traditional Chinese medicine). Source Where TCM hospitals appear
- Regulator
- National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (国家中医药管理局) — the national administration responsible for traditional Chinese medicine. Source Regulator
Updates
What we do not know
- This page does not describe treatment, effectiveness or outcomes. Traditional Chinese medicine is presented here only as it is organised, regulated and reached.
- The count of hospitals carrying the grade 三级甲等中医医院 is this site's own directory count (11 published hospitals; 10 in Shaanxi, 1 in Tianjin), read from provincial registers. It is not a national count.
- A hospital grade is an administrative designation, not a quality ranking, and this site does not rank hospitals.
- Individual practitioners and clinics are outside the scope of this page; nothing here is a referral or a recommendation.
- Where a fact could not be sourced to an official page, it is recorded as not published rather than estimated.