Home to the renowned Chinese physician Hua Tuo who lived in the late Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), Bozhou in East China's Anhui province boasts rich resources in TCM – traditional Chinese medicine, making it the country's largest TCM production area and trading hub.

The Chinese Medicinal Herbs Market in Bozhou is one of the 17 major specialized TCM markets in China. The market site covers an area of about 667,000 square meters, while the trading area over three floors covers 1.2 million sq m. There are more than 3,000 stalls in the trading hall and more than 20,000 merchants.

The total market turnover last year hit 40 billion yuan ($5.87 billion), accounting for nearly 45 percent of the total volume of transactions in similar markets nationwide.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to help its individual tenants, the market turned to online platforms, such as Douyin – known as TikTok overseas, to broaden sales channels in June, according to Su Biao, deputy operations director of the market.

The market is also a national 3A-level tourist attraction and a demonstration park for service industries in Anhui, Su added.

Bozhou-based Jiren Pharmaceutical Group is a leading TCM formulas and TCM prepared pieces manufacturer in Anhui.

The group attaches great importance to academic exchanges and cooperation at home and abroad.

It has successively carried out academic exchanges and project cooperation with the University Hamburg in Germany, the University of Southampton in the UK and the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences.

The group's leading product – Shufeng Jiedu Capsules – has been included on the recommended Chinese patent medicines list for the COVID-19 medical observation period by the National Health Commission of China.

"Our formula granule has entered pharmacies in Germany," said Cao Yong, chief economist of Jiren.

Elsewhere, in Bozhou's Yaowang village, a tourist site is about to take shape.

The site will have multiple functions including a TCM expo, leisure, tourism, education and a traditional local customs exhibition, according to Li Yuliang, Party secretary of Yaowang village.