NPC deputy Zhang Boli, president of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, agreed with Yu's proposal, but he said that efforts and patience are both needed to promote TCM overseas.

Zhang, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, championed the use of TCM to mitigate the symptoms of COVID-19 patients in Wuhan's makeshift hospitals and his team's efforts significantly reduced the proportion of patients with mild symptoms from becoming severe cases.

His success drew world's attention. "I have chaired dozens of video conferences with overseas doctors, sharing our experience in fighting the virus with TCM. Many doctors showed interest, kept making enquiries, and some even bought TCM drugs from us," Zhang said.

TCM, placing as much emphasis on disease prevention as on treatment, is steeped in ancient Chinese philosophy. Though COVID-19 piqued the world's interest in TCM, it is still something mysterious to Westerners. Hence, we need to step up our efforts to develop and modernize TCM; gradually TCM will be demystified and its popularity will naturally come after, Zhang said.