ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
This article is part of the Research TopicTraditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine – Advances in Traditional Medicine and Knowledge for Sustainable Global DevelopmentView all 6 articles
Addressing the Obstacles in Cultivating Global Advocates for Traditional Chinese Medicine: Qualitative Perspectives from Stakeholder Interview Analysis
Provisionally accepted
- Chengdu University of Chinese Medicine, Cheng Du, China
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Background: In the context of accelerated globalization of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), cultural disparities and heterogeneity in cognitive frameworks have intensified dissemination resistance, resulting in multidimensional challenges in talent cultivation. Delays in terminological translation, cross-cultural communication barriers, ambiguous career pathways, coupled with uneven resource allocation and policy misalignment, significantly hinder the effectiveness of TCM's international promotion. Methods: Between May and June 2025, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with four stakeholder groups—students, educators, scholars, and experts (N=31)—focusing on core challenges in international talent development, role perception, resource coordination bottlenecks, and strategic intervention measures. The analysis employed a "Micro-Meso-Macro" framework to systematically examine interactions among individual practices, pedagogical system restructuring, and institutional tensions. Results: The findings reveal that students and educators primarily emphasize linguistic and pedagogical barriers, whereas scholars and experts underscore deficiencies in interdisciplinary paradigms and institutionalized training mechanisms. The central contradiction involves the disconnect between international talent demands and localized educational systems, characterized by homogenized talent cultivation and inadequate adaptation to cross-cultural competencies and international standards. Institutional bottlenecks include short-term resource investments and the lack of effective coordination mechanisms, leading to neglect of foundational infrastructure over the long term. Conclusions: An innovative "dual-track knowledge translation and collaborative governance" framework is proposed. Top-level design should involve government-led establishment of an international TCM dissemination alliance and dedicated funding to enhance infrastructure; universities should develop cross-cultural curricula and a national terminology standard platform, integrated into professional certification systems; mechanism innovation should focus on establishing core competency standards for TCM internationalization, aligning stakeholder interests, and fostering sustainable, ecosystem-based development.
Keywords: International dissemination of TCM, dilemmas, Stakeholders, dual-track knowledge translation, collaborative governance
Received: 11 Sep 2025; Accepted: 04 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Chen, Li, Lei and Yi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Xi Li, 20062122@cdutcm.edu.cn
Ji Chen, chenji@cdutcm.edu.cn
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