The city of Tongren, Guizhou province is certainly a suitable place for growing traditional Chinese medicinal herbs and plants, with its abundant rainfall and mild climate. The traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) industry reported in 1985 that there were 1,824 varieties of wild medical resources in Tongren and now, TCM is one of "five pillars" there, and could help develop the rural economy and increase farm incomes.
So, Mount Fanjing has an area for traditional medicinal plants carved out for Tongren, with the main ones being fructus evodiae(吳茱萸), red-rooted salvia(丹參), Lilium brownii(百合), dendrobes (石斛), and platycodon grandiflorum (桔梗).
The area for cultivation was 500,300 mu by the end of 2013 and.670,000 people making their living from the TCM business, with average per capita incomes going above 3000 yuan. The city is now planning a modern TCM industrial base by 2016, and a cultivated area of 1 million mu, according to an industrial development plan.
Edited by Roger Bradshaw
