Motions and proposals on promoting traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) overseas to benefit the whole world were championed at this year's two sessions.

"TCM has played a big role in China's fight against the coronavirus, but as the epidemic wanes in China, it's still rampant in many other countries. Hence, we need to unleash TCM's potential to help more by pushing it into the world's mainstream market as soon as possible," CPPCC member Yu Shengchen, president of Beijing-based Youcare Pharmaceutical Group, said.

By the end of March, among the 91.5 percent of confirmed COVID-19 cases on the mainland who received TCM treatment combined with Western medicine, over 90 percent of them saw the effectiveness, data from National Health Commission shows. This demonstrated the overall effectiveness of TCM in coping with a public health emergency, Yu said, adding that unleashing TCM's potential requires cultivating international talent.

"Not only local professionals with language capabilities but also international students studying TCM in China should be nurtured, as they are important forces for TCM's globalization and promoting the culture behind it," Yu said.

NPC deputy Zhang Boli, president of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, agreed with Yu's proposal, but he said that efforts and patience are both needed to promote TCM overseas.

Zhang, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, championed the use of TCM to mitigate the symptoms of COVID-19 patients in Wuhan's makeshift hospitals and his team's efforts significantly reduced the proportion of patients with mild symptoms from becoming severe cases.

His success drew world's attention. "I have chaired dozens of video conferences with overseas doctors, sharing our experience in fighting the virus with TCM. Many doctors showed interest, kept making enquiries, and some even bought TCM drugs from us," Zhang said.

TCM, placing as much emphasis on disease prevention as on treatment, is steeped in ancient Chinese philosophy. Though COVID-19 piqued the world's interest in TCM, it is still something mysterious to Westerners. Hence, we need to step up our efforts to develop and modernize TCM; gradually TCM will be demystified and its popularity will naturally come after, Zhang said.

NPC deputy Du Yan'an, mayor of Bozhou, East China's Anhui province, also spotted positive signs for TCM's internalization amid the huge crisis posed by the pandemic.

Home to ancient legendary doctor Hua Tuo, Bozhou boasts rich TCM resources, making it the country's largest TCM production base and trading hub. "The first quarter of 2020 saw the exports of TCM raw materials and patented TCM drugs swell to 230 million yuan ($32.2 million) from Anhui province, a 15.7 percent year-on-year spike," Du said.

As TCM is gaining ground overseas, Du called for more measures to speed up TCM's globalization.

The government should strengthen cooperation with organizations such as World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies, describing and translating TCM theories with technical terms recognized by modern medicine, the legislator said. In doing so, foreign citizens can better understand the theories behind TCM and its technical advantages, he added.

"To enhance the overseas understanding of TCM, holding lectures, cultural exhibits, and popular science activities on TCM and offering charitable TCM treatment are also needed," Du said.

Du also proposed building an online regulatory platform to optimize the mechanism of monitoring and sharing the information about TCM production, distribution and sales.

"A platform like this will enable us to know where the medicines come and go. So the quality will be better monitored and we will know who to be held accountable when there's a problem," Du said.

The deputy also called on the government to encourage and channel more private investments into the export-oriented TCM industry.