China seeks new markets for its traditional medicines

SHANGHAI – A crowd gathers at a Shanghai hospital, queuing for remedies made with plant mixtures and animal parts including scorpions and freeze-dried millipedes -- medicines that China hopes will find an audience overseas. With a history going back 2,400 years, traditional Chinese medicine is deeply rooted in the country and remains popular despite access to Western pharmaceuticals. Now the authorities are hoping to modernize and export the remedies, but they face major obstacles. Some leave with boxes of pills, others take away plastic sachets filled with herbal extracts. Lin Hongguo, a 76-year-old pensioner, has bought herbal remedies that he will boil to make a tea to treat his "slow beating heart."