China Pharmaceutical University Traditional Chinese Medicine Specimen Museum

China Pharmaceutical University Traditional Chinese Medicine Specimen Museum

The China Pharmaceutical University Traditional Chinese Medicine Specimen Museum serves as a science education base.

The China Pharmaceutical University Traditional Chinese Medicine Specimen Museum is located on the campus of China Pharmaceutical University at the foot of Yanziji in Nanjing. The buildings here are built along the mountain, featuring an irregular yet harmonious layout that showcases the unique style of traditional Chinese garden architecture. The campus is lush with flowers and trees, vibrant medicinal herb gardens, and green lawns, exuding a captivating southern charm.

China Pharmaceutical University is one of the earliest independently established higher education institutions for pharmacy in China. It originated from the National Pharmaceutical College, which was founded in 1936. In October 1986, after the school adopted its current name, the China Pharmaceutical University Traditional Chinese Medicine Specimen Museum was officially established on the basis of the original medicinal plant specimen room and crude drug specimen room.

The Traditional Chinese Medicine Specimen Museum consists of three sections: the crude drug specimen room, the medicinal plant specimen room, and the comprehensive exhibition room. The crude drug specimen room houses specimens collected and identified over the years by several generations of scholars. These include valuable medicinal materials such as wild ginseng, deer antler, rhinoceros horn, tiger bone, bezoar, horse gallstone, monkey gall, antelope horn, and musk, as well as thousands of commonly used Chinese medicinal herbs from various origins and time periods. There is also a dedicated cabinet for counterfeit medicinal materials found in the market, providing physical samples for the identification and authentication of herbal medicines. Additionally, the specimens related to more than 20 research topics covered by the project “Compilation and Quality Research of Commonly Used Chinese Medicinal Materials,” which won the First-Class National Science and Technology Progress Award, are fully preserved in the crude drug specimen room, holding high research and collection value.

The spacious and bright comprehensive exhibition hall displays over 300 bottles of foreign crude drug specimens produced by the German company E. Merck in the 1930s and 1940s. It also exhibits some medicinal materials unearthed from the archaeological site of Mawangdui Tomb No. 1 in Changsha, though the quantity is small, these are the oldest specimens in the museum’s collection. In addition, the hall features powder identification specimens of commonly used Chinese medicinal materials, prepared slices of common Chinese herbs, specimens of toxic medicinal materials from Hong Kong, samples of renowned Chinese patent medicines, as well as specimens of commonly used mineral and animal-based medicinal materials. The exhibits in the comprehensive exhibition hall, ranging from minerals and plants to animals, from underground parts to above-ground parts, from whole specimens to partial ones, and from prepared slices to patent medicines, all allow visitors to appreciate the long-standing and profound heritage of traditional Chinese medicine culture.

The medicinal plant specimen room houses over 6,000 herbarium specimens, systematically arranged in specimen cabinets according to the Engler classification system. Among the numerous exhibits are herbarium specimens collected and made in the United States in 1880, those collected in the early 20th century in the former Soviet Union, exchanged specimens from Vietnam, North Korea, Japan, and other countries, as well as thousands of medicinal plant specimens collected from Mount Emei in the early days of the university’s establishment. There are also precious medicinal plant specimens collected from remote regions such as the Greater Khingan Mountains in Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Xinjiang, Xishuangbanna, and Hainan.

Next to the Traditional Chinese Medicine Specimen Museum is a medicinal plant garden and cultivation greenhouse, which was established in 1958. The garden covers an area of 40 acres and cultivates over 1,000 species of medicinal and ornamental plants. Under the dense tree shade and along the quiet paths, various herbs with different names and functions are planted. Here you can find tall woody plants, creeping vines, shy ferns, low shrubs, and a variety of herbaceous plants with unique forms. The uniquely designed, spring-like large greenhouse cultivates a variety of tropical medicinal plants and rare ornamental flowers, offering high research and ornamental value.

As an important science and education base of China Pharmaceutical University, and also as an executive council member of the “National Association of University Museums” and the “Special Committee of Specimen Museums in Traditional Chinese Medicine Colleges and Universities,” the Traditional Chinese Medicine Specimen Museum has not only conducted in-depth and extensive research in areas such as the identification of Chinese medicinal materials, preparation of Chinese medicine, utilization of plant resources, and the construction of specimen museums, but has also engaged in broad scientific research exchanges and cooperation with over 30 countries and regions including the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Italy, Canada, and Sweden, earning unanimous praise from domestic and international peers.

Traditional Chinese medicine culture is a national treasure of the Chinese nation, a crystallization of the wisdom of ancient working people using natural medicinal materials to combat diseases, with a development history of several thousand years. With the advancement of society and technology, there is increasing emphasis on the use of natural medicines. Chinese herbal medicines have definite therapeutic effects and minimal side effects, and coupled with the unique health-preserving essence of traditional Chinese medicine, this has led to the Traditional Chinese Medicine Specimen Museum attracting a large number of domestic and international scholars, primary and secondary school students, and tourists every year to visit and learn about the long-standing culture of traditional Chinese medicine and methods of health preservation. In 1997, the museum was designated as a science education base for primary and secondary schools by the Nanjing Municipal Education Commission.