A retired worker undergoes a health check at a traditional Chinese medicine clinic for occupational hazards in Tianjin in September last year. The clinic has adopted an artificial intelligence system that helps medical workers identify abnormalities and make diagnoses. [Photo provided to China Daily]

When the Tianjin 2026 Global Business Leaders Roundtable drew to a close in March, Hussain Dawood did not head for the exit. Instead, the prominent Pakistani industrialist and chairman of Engro Corporation waited behind at the venue, hoping to secure a private consultation with attending experts of traditional Chinese medicine.

His wife suffers from chronic high blood pressure and has undergone various treatments in Pakistan with limited effect. For Dawood, whose family has long trusted Eastern therapeutic philosophies, the trip to Tianjin presented a rare window to access personalized treatment from Da Ren Tang, a century-old Chinese pharmaceutical brand.

"TCM analyzes the root cause of a patient's condition to fundamentally resolve issues, unlike Western medicine or other therapies that merely focus on alleviating symptoms," Dawood said.

"The Western medical tradition is to prescribe the same medication for the same ailment, thus providing uniform treatment," he added.

Wang Lei, chairwoman of Tianjin Pharmaceutical Da Ren Tang Group, tries a TCM diagnostic analyzer during the Tianjin 2026 Global Business Leaders Roundtable in March. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Wang Lei, chairwoman of Tianjin Pharmaceutical Da Ren Tang Group, said the wisdom of TCM lies in its personalized approach. Even for the most common cold, TCM recognizes that some people catch it due to "heat" while others due to "cold". When TCM spreads to different countries, it must also adapt to the local climate and physical characteristics for effective diagnosis and treatment, Wang said.

That tension between age-old customization and the demands of global scale is driving a massive technological overhaul within China's TCM sector. At the Tianjin summit, which drew nearly 300 political, business and academic delegates, the modernization of TCM emerged as a highly anticipated focal point.

"The core of TCM modernization lies in the deep integration of technological and industrial innovation. We are actively participating in new projects to achieve this goal," Wang said.

The flagship initiative driving this shift is the Tianjin Modern TCM New Quality Productive Forces Innovation Project. Proposed and implemented by a team under Zhang Boli, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a renowned TCM specialist, the project involves a total investment of 180 million yuan ($24.8 million) aimed at digitizing production.