Museum curator Bai Yang explains acupuncture to a Western visitor. Photos Provided to China Daily

Bai is the descendant of a time-honoured name in TCM medicine, Yushengtang, which can be dated back to 1608. The family history includes two imperial physicians.

Bai, who is not a TCM physician, has a special attachment to the culture and decided to protect the heritage by devoting himself to establishing the museum. The museum, which opened to public in 1999, is the first private museum on TCM in China.

Bai also has been promoting TCM culture overseas. In 2008, the museum selected 530 exhibits from its collection for display at Royal Society of Medicine in Britain.

David Clive Wilson, a former governor of Hong Kong, said after visiting the exhibition that it helped promote a far greater understanding of TCM in Europe.

"More and more people are beginning to realise that TCM is extremely effective, and people in Europe are beginning to realise that if you put traditional Chinese and Western medicine together, it is a perfect result and is the best you can do for patients, as well as for finding ways to cure people," he said.

Tu Zhitao, director of the Beijing TCM Management Bureau, said Beijing had rich cultural resources in TCM.

"In 2008, many overseas reporters experienced TCM in the Yushengtang museum, which had a good effect," Tu said.

"The public has a demand to know more about TCM. We will invest more to build large TCM museums in the future."

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