Time-honored TCM Brand Tongrentang Goes Global

In September 2014, Beijing Tongrentang, a famed time-honored brand of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) industry, opened four new pharmacies in Auckland, New Zealand. In early October, the company signed a memorandum for in-depth cooperation with the University of Western Sydney (UWS) in Australia. Soon afterwards, Ding Yongling, deputy general manager of Tongrentang, visited New Zealand and Australia with her colleagues. They expressed their desire to increase cooperation with local partners in health preservation, healthcare, product development, and combining Western medicine with traditional Chinese therapies. The facts show that Tongrentang has made a big step forward in opening the Oceanian market.

On October 2, 2014, Beijing Tongrentang signs a memorandum of cooperation with the UWS in Australia.

Oceania Ambition

With over 340 years of history, Tong-rentang has successfully transformed itself from a time-honored Chinese brand to an international trademark, with branches in 19 overseas countries and regions. It now has 110 overseas retail outlets and a production and research base in Hong Kong.

In 2004, Tongrentang started to enter the Oceanian market. Over the past decade, 60-odd Tongrentang products have been registered in Australia meeting the country’s accreditation standards, and five pharmacies have been opened in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. There are more than 20 TCM doctors at these Tongrentang pharmacies to provide TCM diagnosis and treatment for over one million customers, earning the company a secure reputation in the Australian market.

Tongrentang recently signed a memorandum of cooperation with UWS, in which both sides agreed to launch joint scientific research on the safety of TCM ingredients and promote TCM’s modernization and popularize it in the international market.

Scott Holmes, deputy vice chancellor of UWS, indicated at the signing ceremony that Tongrentang’s cooperation with the university set an example in the promotion of TCM’s globalization. According to Holmes, Australia is the first Western country to recognize TCM and establish a stringent registration system. In July 2012, TCM became part of the country’s National Registration and Accreditation Scheme for Health Professions. This is the same scheme that regulates other medical practitioners such as physiotherapists, chiropractors, dentists, nurses, and midmives.

This success can be reproduced elsewhere. To that end, the four new pharmacies in New Zealand will continue the dual Tongrentang pharmacy-clinic model of providing both medicine and diagnosis.

Spreading Tongrentang Culture

 Tongrentang is distinctive as both an economic entity and a TCM cultural ambassador to the global market. Cultural diffusion, effective medicine and excellent medical skill are the secret of Tongrentang’s successful overseas development.

“In addition to selling our products, each of our overseas pharmacies also provides free medical consultation and organizes lectures on how to preserve health through TCM concepts. To help foreign consumers understand and accept our culture we also set up TCM museums in bigger stores and cultural corners or cultural walls in smaller ones,” said Ding Yongling.