Tibetan medicine, something that has been passed down on the snowy plateau for over 2000 years, together with Chinese medicine, Indian Vedic medicine and Western traditional medicine, is regarded as one of the Four Great Traditional Medicines in the world. Tibetan medicine is a very important component of China’s medical treasure house and has a long history going back more than 3000 years. It has brought a great contribution to the prosperity of the Tibetan people as well as all of the peoples of China. 

Within a relatively long period of history, the Tibetan medicine culture was developed and inherited in Tibetan monasteries. Many outstanding Tibetan doctors are those prestigious Buddhist monks or eminent monks throughout the history. The method of inheritance is “the masters guide the apprentices”. The Tibetan medicine inheritance not only includes the knowledge regarding medicine, it is also comprised using traditional cultural elements such as religion and secularity

The methods of treatment in Tibetan medicine mainly compose internal treatment, such as diet, living style and medication, as well as external treatment including acupuncture and bathing, therein proposing the method of concentrating on the coordination between the body and the natural environment in order to prevent and treat the diseases, which means that “ the patient is treated both phiscically and mentally”.

In order to do a better job regarding the inheritance and development of the Tibetan medicine, related scientific research and educational work has been paid attention to. Tibetan medicine institutions of all levels have positively carried out scientific research regarding Tibetan medicine, collecting and sorting out almost 100 sets of Tibetan medicine documents and monographs. On the foundation of the practical experiences and theoretical summary passed down from the older generations, the research regarding Tibetan medicine history, Tibetan medicine documents, medical theory, medical ethics and Tibetan herb medicine amongst other things have all gained new achievements. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Tibetan medicine education started to organize different training courses. As time goes on, high-level Tibetan medicine colleges have gradually appeared. In the fall semester of 2016, Qinghai will recruit the first batch of foreign students in a master degree program studying Tibetan medicine. This is the first attempt that China has made in regards to carrying out education to grant Tibetan medicine academic qualifications to foreign students.

Moreover, in recent years, in order to speed up the development of the Tibetan medicine industry, China has expanded related investments, therein establishing modernized Tibetan medicine factories in Tibet and Qinghai, which has combined organically Tibetan medicine’s traditional producing process with modern technology. Technology used for production of Tibetan medicine has been gradually moving towards being more scientific and standardized.