Silk Road Chinese Government Scholarship

About the university

Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine (GZUCM), located in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, is a full-time public undergraduate institution under the administration of Guangdong Province. It is jointly established by the Ministry of Education, the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and the People's Government of Guangdong Province. As one of the first four traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) higher education institutions established in China, it serves as a clinical pharmacology research base of the Ministry of Health and one of the training bases for Chinese medicine practitioners. The university is also a national "Double First-Class" discipline construction university. GZUCM traces its origins to the Guangdong Specialized School of Chinese Medicine founded in 1924, renamed Guangdong Junior College of Chinese Medicine in 1936, restructured as Guangdong Chinese Medicine Advanced School in 1952, and established as Guangzhou College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 1956—one of the first four TCM higher education institutions in the People's Republic of China. It was renamed Guangdong College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 1970, restored to Guangzhou College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 1978, and adopted its current name, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, in 1995, with an uninterrupted history of education. In June 2003, the university passed the overall acceptance inspection of the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" and "211 Project" key discipline construction organized by the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine and the Guangdong Provincial Government with excellent results. As of March 2025, the university has two campuses—University Town and Sanyuanli—covering a total area of 1,205 mu. It comprises 15 secondary colleges, 4 directly affiliated hospitals, and offers 23 undergraduate programs. The university has 7 first-level master's degree authorization points, 6 master's professional degree categories, 3 first-level doctoral degree authorization points, 1 doctoral professional degree category, and 3 postdoctoral research stations. It has 13,599 faculty and staff members and 21,178 enrolled students. In November 1912, the Beiyang government's Ministry of Education did not include Chinese medicine in the "Medical Education Regulations," sparking protests from the Chinese medicine community nationwide, including Guangdong. In March 1913, pharmacy associations in Guangzhou and Hong Kong took action, gathering at the Guangzhou Shoushi Guild Hall to decide on establishing a Chinese medicine school and issued the "Declaration on the Preparation of Guangdong Specialized School of Chinese Medicine." This school is the predecessor of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine. Starting in 1913, donations from Guangzhou and Hong Kong pharmaceutical industries purchased four houses on Mahang Street and a plot of land on Nanhao Street in Guangzhou as the school site. In December 1917, Lu Naitong and others submitted an application for registration to the Guangdong Governor's Office, along with the school's charter. On January 15, 1918, the application was approved by the Guangdong Governor's Office. On January 27, it was also approved by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Beiyang government. In 1924, Lu Naitong and others applied to the Southern government for registration and received approval. In 1924, the Guangdong Specialized School of Chinese Medicine was established and began enrolling students in July, admitting 60 students in its first cohort. On September 15, the school held its official opening ceremony. At that time, the campus covered ten mu and had three main buildings. In 1927, the Nanjing National Government required that Chinese medicine schools not use the term "school," so the Guangdong Specialized School of Chinese Medicine temporarily changed its name to "Guangdong Chinese Medicine Society." In 1936, with the support of Guangdong warlord Chen Jitang, the school officially restored the name "school" as "Guangdong Junior College of Chinese Medicine." During the War of Resistance Against Japan, the school relocated to Hong Kong for instruction. At the end of 1941, Hong Kong fell to the Japanese, and the school suspended operations. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the school resumed enrollment. The Guangdong Specialized School of Chinese Medicine had planned an affiliated hospital as early as 1917. In 1926, a free clinic was opened on campus. In 1928, the school received approval from the Guangdong Provincial Department of Civil Affairs and the Department of Education to establish a hospital. On August 14, 1933, the Affiliated Guangdong Hospital of Chinese Medicine officially opened.