Huaihua, reputed as the hometown of geo-authentic Chinese medicinal materials, is home to 2,340 varieties of Chinese medicinal materials, with a total planting area of 1.51 million mu (100,666.67 hectares). The city ranks first in Hunan Province in terms of both the varieties and planting area of Chinese medicinal materials. The main varieties include sealwort, Poria cocos, Lonicerae flos, rehizoma gastrodiae, Longya lily, caulis sinomenii, Cinnamomum camphora, and uncaria. Huaihua is hailed as the hometown of eight Chinese medicinal materials including sealwort and boasts eight national geographical indication Chinese medicinal material products including Jingzhou Poria cocos. The city has obtained national approval for producing 419 drugs, including 204 drugs and 215 hospital preparations.
In 2024, the TCM industrial chain achieved an output value of RMB26.8 billion. There are currently 76 leading agricultural industrialization enterprises at or above the municipal level that specialize in Chinese medicinal materials, including two at the national level and 56 above the designated size. Huaihua is home to such scientific research and innovation platforms as the Liu Liang Academician Workstation, workstation of Muhammad Iqbal Choudhary, Vice President of The World Academy of Sciences, Hunan Modern Chinese Medicine Pharmaceutical Process Technology Innovation Center, Sino-Pakistan Cooperation Center on Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Sealwort Industry Research Institute of the National Food & Medicine Homology Industry Technological Innovation Alliance. The ISO international standards for caulis sinomenii and Poria cocos have been formulated and issued. Hunan University of Medicine General Hospital was approved as the only pilot base for Chinese medicine preparations in western Hunan. Huaihua is committed to building a cluster of primary processing and distribution markets for single varieties of advantageous Chinese medicinal materials such as Poria cocos and sealwort.
Key enterprises: Xiuzheng Pharmaceutical Group (Hunan) Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Zhengqing Group, Busky Pharmaceutical, Bestcome Traditional Medicine, Hongyuan Pharmaceutical, Longcheng Traditional Chinese Medicine, Wuxi Pharmaceutical, Linong Wubeizi, Kangrun Agriculture, Guoling Technology, and Zhenghao Pharmaceutical.
Development goals: Developing Huaihua into the TCM valley in southern China, the regional medical center of the border areas of Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing, Guizhou and Guangxi, and the TCM distribution and trading center for ASEAN.
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
(1) Poria cocos (2) Sealwort (3) Longya lily (4) Lonicerae flos (5) Caulis sinomenii (6)Rhizoma gastrodiae
（Translated by Professor Yu Jie）