The inauguration ceremony of the Belt and Road Alliance for Traditional Chinese Medicine and presidents’ forum was held on campus on 2 November, where representatives of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong government officials, University senior officers, heads of universities and research institutes and industry leaders converged to discuss the modernisation and internationalisation strategies of traditional Chinese medicine.

Proposed by CUHK and initiated by the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningxia Medical University and TCM Hospital of Sichuan Province, the Belt and Road Alliance for Traditional Chinese Medicine is a conglomerate of industry, academic and research institutions in countries and regions participating in the Belt and Road Initiative. Its founding members include 20 provincial-level traditional Chinese medicine universities and institutes and 12 established enterprises in the field. Bringing together units in government, industry, academic and research sectors devoted to the discipline in Belt and Road countries and regions, the alliance aims to nurture talents and push for modernisation of and international cooperation on this ancient yet cherished branch of medicine and knowledge.

Professor Rocky S. Tuan, Vice-Chancellor of CUHK, said during the ceremony the alliance and the presidents’ forum was sure to foster the inheritance and innovation of traditional Chinese medicine in Belt and Road countries and regions and the Greater Bay Area, while promoting exchange and collaboration between mainland and Hong Kong institutions in the field. On the presidents’ forum, President Huang Luqi, deputy director of National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine and president of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, delivered a keynote speech on the roadmap for traditional Chinese medicine development and theoretical frameworks for modernisation studies, as well as voicing his expectations for the alliance. Professor Leung Ping-chung, director of Centre for Clinical Trials on Chinese Medicine at CUHK, looked back on the development of the discipline at the University over the past 60 years and introduced CUHK’s traditional Chinese medicine modernisation research and international collaborations.