Traditional Chinese medicine practitioner qualifications in China: the two routes to a licence

A traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioner in China becomes licensed by one of two routes. The first is the TCM physician qualification examination followed by registration. The second is an assessment for people who learned by apprenticeship or through years of practice and are recognised as having proven specialty skills. This page explains both routes from the national texts. It does not say whether any treatment works.

What the law counts as TCM

The Law on Traditional Chinese Medicine (中医药法) says TCM is the collective name for the medicine of all ethnic groups in China, including Han and minority peoples. It describes TCM as a medical system with a long tradition and its own theory and technical methods.

Route one: the TCM physician examination

The TCM Law says people engaged in TCM medical activity must pass the TCM physician qualification examination to obtain TCM physician qualification, and must register. It adds that the examination content should reflect the characteristics of TCM.

The Physicians Law (医师法) sets out an apprenticeship entry to that examination. A person who studied TCM by apprenticeship for three years, or who has proven specialty skills from years of practice, may sit the TCM physician examination after being assessed and recommended by an organisation or institution that the county-level or higher health authority has commissioned.

The Physicians Law also says a TCM physician who qualified by examination may use Western medicine methods related to the physician's specialty, and a Western medicine physician may use related TCM methods, in each case after training and assessment under state rules.

Route two: proven specialty skills

The TCM Law describes a second route. A person who learned TCM by apprenticeship or through years of practice, and who has proven specialty skills, can obtain TCM physician qualification when at least two TCM physicians recommend the person and the provincial TCM authority's assessment of practical skills and results is passed. The law has the national TCM authority draft classified assessment methods based on the safety risk of each technique, for review and release by the national health authority.

Detailed rules come from national measures that took effect on 20 December 2017.

Who is eligible to apply

The measures set conditions for each kind of applicant. An applicant who learned by apprenticeship needs:

continuous apprenticeship in TCM for 5 years, with a mentor's assessment that the applicant's method for certain conditions is distinctive, safe and clearly effective;
recommendation by at least 2 TCM physicians, not including the mentor.

An applicant who learned through years of practice needs:

a lineage of skill, and 5 years of TCM practice under a TCM physician's guidance, or 5 years of practice before the TCM Law took effect;
a method for certain conditions that is distinctive, safe and clearly effective, and that patients recognise;
recommendation by at least 2 TCM physicians.

The measures say a mentor must be a TCM physician with at least 15 years of clinical TCM work or a TCM qualification of deputy chief physician or above, and may guide no more than 4 apprentices at the same time.

How the assessment is run

The measures say the application goes to the county-level TCM authority where the applicant has practised for a long time. The county and city authorities review it in turn, and the provincial authority confirms it. The provincial authority publishes the names of eligible applicants, mentors and recommending physicians.

The assessment uses expert review through an oral presentation and questions, review of past practice records and a demonstration of TCM technical methods. The measures set a panel of an odd number of experts, not fewer than 5.

The assessors also assess the safety risk of the method the applicant uses. The measures split the methods into oral prescriptions and external techniques, and each type has its own assessment content.

The provincial TCM authority issues the TCM (specialty) physician qualification certificate (《中医（专长）医师资格证书》) to those who pass. The measures say the provincial authority holds the assessment each year and announces the time to the public 3 months ahead.

Registration and what it allows

A TCM (specialty) physician registers with the TCM authority at county level or above in the place of the institution where the physician will practise, and then receives the TCM (specialty) physician practice certificate (《中医（专长）医师执业证书》).

The measures say registration follows the content of the assessment. The registered scope covers the TCM technical methods the physician may use and the specific conditions the physician may treat. After registering, the physician may practise within that scope as an individual practitioner or inside a medical institution.

The measures say a TCM (specialty) physician practises within the province where the assessment took place. A physician who wishes to practise in another province needs the consent of the provincial TCM authority of the destination and must register there.

The measures say a TCM (specialty) physician takes part in periodic assessment, with a cycle of 2 years. The measures say the state builds an information system for these physicians, makes registration content public and provides a registration lookup.

TCM clinics must display scope

The TCM Law says a TCM clinic files its name, address, scope of treatment and staffing with the county-level TCM authority before starting practice. It also says the clinic must display its scope of treatment and its TCM physicians' names and practice scope in a conspicuous place, and must not go beyond the filed scope.

Checking a TCM practitioner

The National Health Commission's service platform lists a licensed doctor query (执业医师查询). That platform page forwards to the national doctor registration query. The result labels in the portal's own script include the doctor specialty (医师专业), the TCM technique methods (中医药技术方法) and the range of conditions treated (治疗病症范围).

Our method page sets out the official sources and limits this site works within. This page does not recommend any practitioner or clinic.

Questions people ask

Do TCM practitioners in China need a licence?

The TCM Law says people engaged in TCM medical activity must obtain TCM physician qualification and register.

What is a TCM (specialty) physician?

It is the title the measures give to a person who qualified through the proven-specialty assessment and registered, and whose registered scope lists specific methods and conditions.

Can a TCM (specialty) physician treat any condition?

The measures say registration follows the assessment content, and the registered scope names the methods and conditions covered.

Does this page say whether TCM treatments work?

No. This page does not assess any treatment.

Sources

Each source above was read on the date shown. This page is an unofficial summary of general administrative information. It is not published by the bodies named above, and it is not medical advice. If it differs from the official texts, the official texts prevail, and rules may change after the check date.