"洋中药"竟然成为国人扫货"新宠"

Foreign-made Chinese herbal medicines produced by overseas pharmaceutical companies have become a new favorite among Chinese consumers, according to the Shanxi Evening News.

根据山西晚报报道，海外制药公司生产的"外国造"中草药已成为中国消费者的"新宠"。

Although a bit more expensive, consumers are more confident about the quality of overseas Chinese traditional medicines because of higher standards and better supervision compared to those made in China, a tour guide named Yu Lin told the paper.

一位名叫余琳的导游接受采访时表示，尽管价格贵一些，但是相比国产中药，"洋中药"规范化程度更高，受到的监管更严，消费者对其质量更放心。

According to the report, foreign-made TCM have taken a large share in China's domestic market, while on the global TCM market outside China, Japan takes up 80 percent and China only accounts for five percent.

据该新闻报道，目前，"洋中药"已占国内中药市场很大份额，而在除中国外的全球中药市场，日本占的市场份额高达80％，中国仅占5％。

Zhao Chaoting, a TCM expert at Xinqiao Hospital affiliated to the Third Military Medical University, told the paper that foreign companies import TCM materials from China, process them, give the medicines a foreign name and they become Kampo formulations.

第三军医大学新桥医院中医药专家赵朝廷接受采访时表示，这些外企从我国进口相关的中药材，之后进行深加工，再加上一个外国名字就变成了“汉方制剂”。

Experts attribute the phenomenon to the absence of quality standards and patent registrations for China's TCM, as well as incompetent research and development.

有关专家将此现象归因为我国中药在质量标准和注册专利方面的缺失以及技术研发方面的短板。