A local resident experiences a steam therapy at a Li medicine hospital in Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County, south China’s Hainan Province, Sept. 29, 2026. (Xinhua/Pu Xiaoxu)
Li medicine, including bone injury therapy and snakebite treatment, is recognized as a representative provincial-level intangible cultural heritage in Hainan Province.
The Li medicine hospital in Baoting was inaugurated in 2024. Prior to this, Li medical practices were dispersed across urban and rural areas. The hospital gathers inheritors of Li medicine and leverages the unique advantages of traditional Li medicine, integrating Li medicine with health and wellness services.
Wang Guixiang, an inheritor of Li medicine, wipes medicinal liquor on a local resident at a Li medicine hospital in Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County, south China’s Hainan Province, Sept. 29, 2026. (Xinhua/Pu Xiaoxu)This photo taken on Sept. 29, 2026 shows a Li medicine hospital in Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County, south China’s Hainan Province. (Xinhua/Pu Xiaoxu)Wang Haicong, an inheritor of Li medicine, prepares Li medicine at a Li medicine hospital in Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County, south China’s Hainan Province, Sept. 30, 2026. (Xinhua/Pu Xiaoxu)Wang Haicong, an inheritor of Li medicine, applies Li medicine for a patient with bone injury at a Li medicine hospital in Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County, south China’s Hainan Province, Sept. 30, 2026. (Xinhua/Pu Xiaoxu)Wang Haicong, an inheritor of Li medicine, prepares Li medicine at a Li medicine hospital in Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County, south China’s Hainan Province, Sept. 30, 2026. (Xinhua/Pu Xiaoxu)
Zamir Ahmed Awan is the founder and Chair of the Global Silk Route Research Alliance,
a think tank in Islamabad. He studied engineering at Shanghai University in the 1980s, and years later he went
back to China as Pakistan's science counsellor in Beijing, from 2010 until 2016,
working on science and higher education cooperation between the two countries. When
he came home he set up the China Study Centre at NUST. He retired from there. He writes about CPEC and the Belt and Road, and about what China's rise means for
Pakistan. His articles run in Modern Diplomacy and on Think Tank Pakistan, and China
Daily and China News Service have both quoted the work.
