Program overview
This major mainly teaches you two things: how to grow Chinese herbal medicines well, and how to tell if the herbs are genuine or fake. Sounds pretty down-to-earth, right? Courses include botany, soil and fertilizer science, medicinal plant cultivation, Chinese herbal medicine authentication, and Chinese herbal chemistry. You'll be looking at herb slices under a microscope in the lab, and also getting your hands dirty planting licorice and astragalus in the fields. Many Chinese universities of traditional Chinese medicine, like Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, have dedicated medicinal plant gardens where you can learn by seeing—much more interesting than just reading books. It's suitable for students who like hands-on work and are interested in plants and traditional Chinese medicine. You don't need to memorize a lot of classical texts, but you do need patience and attention to detail.