ABSTRACT
With this chapter we move outside some of the traditional aspects of research on the history of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The phytochemical and pharmacological research on Chinese medicinal plants is a flourishing field of research, and a key aim is to globalise and modernise TCM. Using an ethnopharmacological and historical perspective, this chapter looks at the current situation in the ‘global North’ with regard to the reception and status of TCM. The developments over the last centuries are assessed using a series of case studies including goji and ginseng, as is the current regulatory framework (in general terms). The chapter demonstrates how we continuously ‘negotiate’ what uses we can and cannot make of botanical (as well as some fungal and animal) resources, in this case TCM materia medica.
