BEIJING, Oct. 11 -- The State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) plans to work out 500 standards for the field's basic theory, administration, and production of quality herbal medicine by the year 2010.

    Among them, standards for clinical acupuncture practice and 43 herbal medicines, as well as a standardized terminology, have been listed in a State programme for which a specialized fund has been established.

    TCM is known for its empirical diagnostic approach, which is totally different from that of Western medicine. With a history of more than 2,000 years, its theories and methodologies are based on the accumulated experience of many generations of practitioners. Thousands of recipes have been accumulated that have been tailored by the conditions of patients for generations.

    Finding the root cause of a disease for a particular patient by feeling his or her pulse, looking at his or her tongue or even telling his or her smell has been known as the most prominent advantage of TCM because physicians can alter the ingredients of a concoction of different herbs for the same patient according to his conditions.

    Yet, such an advantage has its shortcomings. A TCM doctor prescribing a concoction of different herbs only knows that it can treat a certain kind of ailment, but can hardly tell why and how it works because he or she does not know what kind of workable chemical the combination of those herbs has produced.

    In addition, a doctor's experience matters decisively in the entire process, from diagnosis to the prescription of a concoction of herbs. What if a doctor is not that experienced? And what if the change he makes in the amount of ingredients is not that accurate?

    In past decades, we have had many ready-made TCM pills or capsules produced on the basis of traditional recipes. And we have used the modern medical apparatus and testing methods to assist in the diagnosis of diseases for TCM doctors.

    But much is to be desired in the scientific development of TCM. In addition to more input for scientific research, we need standards for the preparation of TCM pills, capsules or injections; and so, too, for the service provided by TCM doctors. These standards must be based on solid research in both the theories and pharmacological analysis of herbs.

    With these standards to be put into practice in four years, we are expected to have a set of rules to regulate the service provided by TCM doctors and the production of herbal medicines.

    A standardized system will help turn TCM into a systematic medical science. But at the same time, we hope that these standards will help promote the advantage of TCM methodology rather than stifling it.