Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine

Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine was among the first national Double First-Class universities and is a key institution in Guangdong’s high-level university initiative. It is jointly supported by the Guangdong Provincial People’s Government, Ministry of Education and National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Its origins date to Guangdong Specialist School of Chinese Medicine, founded in 1924, renamed Guangdong College of Chinese Medicine in 1936 and developed into Guangdong In-Service Training School of Chinese Medicine in 1952. In 1956, the State Council approved Guangzhou College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, one of the first four undergraduate traditional Chinese medicine institutions in the People’s Republic of China. It formally adopted its current name in 1995.

Its University Town and Sanyuanli campuses cover 1205 mu. It has 21 Party and administrative departments, 15 secondary-level schools, 13 clinical medical schools, 15 research institutions and 5 teaching support units, as well as 4 directly affiliated hospitals, 11 university-government cooperative hospitals and 276 off-campus practical training bases.

It upholds fostering virtue and educating people and is developing a first-class traditional Chinese medicine higher education system with Chinese characteristics and world-class standards. Traditional Chinese Medicine is a national Double First-Class discipline and a national first-level key discipline. It has 6 priority disciplines under Guangdong’s high-level university initiative: Traditional Chinese Medicine, Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Traditional Chinese Pharmacy, Clinical Medicine, Pharmacy, and Epidemic Prevention, Treatment and Emergency Management. It has 25 National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine key disciplines and 9 high-level key disciplines of that administration. Ten disciplines rank in the ESI global top 1%: Clinical Medicine, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Chemistry, Biology and Biochemistry, Agricultural Sciences, Molecular Biology and Genetics, Neuroscience and Behavior, Immunology, Materials Science, and Microbiology. It became the first traditional Chinese medicine university with 10 ESI top 1% disciplines. Pharmacology and Toxicology ranks in the ESI global top 0.5‰, reaching an internationally leading level. It admits students to 26 programs and has 7 first-level master’s degree authorization fields, 6 professional master’s degree categories, 3 first-level doctoral degree authorization fields, 1 professional doctoral degree category, and 3 postdoctoral research stations. It has 24973 enrolled students, including 25 preparatory students, with 13177 undergraduates, 10058 postgraduate students including doctoral and master’s students with equivalent academic qualifications, and 1738 students from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, overseas Chinese communities and other countries. It has 8 national and 11 provincial first-class undergraduate program development sites; 25 national first-class undergraduate or model ideological and political education courses; and 116 provincial courses in those categories. It was among the first reform pilot universities under the Excellent Doctor (Traditional Chinese Medicine) Education and Training Program and institutions undertaking the top innovative traditional Chinese medicine talent training model reform pilot. It joined the second national group of demonstration universities for deepening innovation and entrepreneurship education reform. Over a century, it has trained 180000 traditional Chinese medicine professionals, including leading figures such as Chinese Academy of Engineering members Wu Yiling and Liu Liang.

It combines recruitment and internal development to build first-class faculty. Renowned physicians and scholars including Luo Yuankai, Situ Ling, Deng Tietao, Huang Yaoshen, Liang Naijin, Liu Shichang and Xuan Guowei taught here. It has more than 140 nationally recognized and 280 provincial talents, including Chinese Academy of Engineering member Liu Liang, National Masters of Traditional Chinese Medicine Zhou Daihan and Lin Yi, internationally renowned artemisinin antimalarial expert Professor Li Guoqiao, Qihuang Scholars, National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars recipients, and chief scientists of the national 973 Program. It has 14078 faculty and staff, with 1453 at the university itself and 12625 at affiliated hospitals, including 2572 with senior professional titles. It has received 6 national advanced labor collective awards and has 9 national advanced labor individuals, 3 provincial advanced labor collective awards and 20 provincial advanced labor individuals. It has 6 national teaching collective awards, including National Huang Danian-style Faculty Teams, 4 nationally distinguished teachers and 8 provincially distinguished teachers.

It follows the Four Orientations and conducts organized research and innovation. It has 9 national research platforms, including the National Key Laboratory of Traditional Chinese Medicine Syndromes and a national medical research industry-education integration innovation platform. Its 61 provincial or ministerial platforms include the Guangdong Laboratory of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Lingnan Chinese Medicinal Resources, International Joint Laboratory for Translational Medical Research on Traditional Chinese Medicine in Cancer Prevention and Treatment, Guangdong Traditional Chinese Medicine Scientific Data Center, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Laboratory for Traditional Chinese Medicine and Immune Disease Research, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Traditional Chinese Medicine Emergency Medicine, and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Translational Pharmaceutical Research on Traditional Chinese Medicine for Cancer Prevention and Treatment. Over the past five years, 2021-2025, it added 3551 publicly funded research projects with RMB 950 million in such funding and undertook 663 national projects. From 2021-2025, it led 1 National Science and Technology Progress Award achievement, participated in 2 second-prize achievements under that award, and led 26 provincial or ministerial science and technology award achievements.

It serves society and strengthens high-level medical resources. It has 4 directly affiliated hospitals, 11 jointly established government hospitals, and 75 teaching hospitals including non-directly affiliated hospitals. Its First and Second Affiliated Hospitals have been selected as national traditional Chinese medicine inheritance and innovation centers, originating hospitals supporting national regional medical center development, national traditional Chinese medicine clinical research bases, and key institutions in Guangdong’s high-level hospital initiative. They have become demonstration hospitals for public hospital reform and high-quality development in Guangdong. The First Affiliated Hospital is a national major epidemic treatment base and among the hospitals with the most national regional traditional Chinese medicine and specialist diagnosis and treatment centers. The Second Affiliated Hospital has topped China’s 100 Most Competitive Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospitals for 11 consecutive years and ranked first nationally in traditional Chinese medicine hospital science and technology evaluation for 6 consecutive years. It has approval to develop the country’s first comprehensive national medical center for traditional Chinese medicine. The Third Affiliated Hospital is a Guangdong Grade III Class A orthopedic and traumatology specialist hospital led by traditional Chinese medicine orthopedics. The Guangdong Museum of Traditional Chinese Medicine was among the first national Grade II museums at Chinese universities. Along with the First and Second Affiliated Hospitals, it was designated among the first national traditional Chinese medicine culture publicity and education bases by the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

It coordinates industry, education and research and has partnerships with 15 prefecture-level cities inside and outside Guangdong. Its developed proprietary Chinese medicines, including Weinai’an, Guxian Tablets, Xiaoke Pills, Jinfo Zhitong Pills, Zishen Yutai Pills and Hewei Zhitong Capsules, have become representative products of Guangdong’s pharmaceutical industry and sell nationwide. It has guided development of the Guangdong Southern Medicinal Plant Seed Industry Innovation Park and actively engages with the Greater Bay Area traditional Chinese medicine industry. It researches key Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) technologies and promotes industrial applications for 50 authentic-region and high-volume southern medicinal plants, guiding pharmaceutical enterprises in developing more than 2 million mu of standardized cultivation bases.

It maintains an international outlook and advances high-level external exchange and cooperation. Its pioneering artemisinin combination medicines with fully independent intellectual property and malaria prevention and treatment programs have been applied in more than 10 countries, including Comoros and São Tomé and Príncipe, substantially reducing malaria incidence and deaths and creating remarkable antimalarial achievements. It also sends organized medical teams to Africa for foreign assistance and has established traditional medicine research centers in Comoros, São Tomé and Príncipe, Papua New Guinea and elsewhere. Its artemisinin antimalarial foreign assistance medical team received the 28th China Youth May Fourth Medal Collective honor. It has established 7 national overseas traditional Chinese medicine centers in Europe, Africa and elsewhere and jointly developed 5 national international traditional Chinese medicine cooperation bases with countries and regions including the United States. It established its Singapore International Institute for Traditional Chinese Medicine Education and Research and promotes overseas education center projects. It has led 6 professional alliances, including the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Traditional Chinese Medicine Alliance, established the Greater Bay Area Traditional Chinese Medicine Innovation Center, developed Ministry of Education Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao joint laboratories, and established 4 inheritance workstations at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Since beginning international admissions in 1974, it has educated more than 20000 high-level traditional Chinese medicine professionals from over 110 countries and regions.