Members of the Nanyang Qigong Association perform Wuqinxi, literally "five-fowls play," a physical exercise mimicking the movements of birds, on Feb. 8 as part of the "2023 Zhongjing Culture Publicity Month" at the Zhang Zhongjing Museum in Nanyang, central China's Henan Province. [Photo by Cao Jian]

Being the birthplace of medical sage Zhang Zhongjing, a famous Chinese pharmacologist and physician of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220), Nanyang in central China's Henan Province has long been famed for its traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) culture.

On May 12, 2021, President Xi Jinping visited the Memorial Temple to the Medical Sage Zhang Zhongjing, which was renamed Zhang Zhongjing Museum in October 2021, during an inspection trip to Nanyang, when he called for efforts to further develop TCM. "Traditional Chinese medicine contains the Chinese nation's health philosophies and practical experience for thousands of years, and thus is a great creation of the people and a treasure of ancient Chinese science," said Xi. He also stressed the significance of using modern science to interpret the principles of traditional Chinese medicine and integrating Chinese and Western medicines to advance the traditional medical practice.