TRADITIONAL medicine store owner Gu Cheng-pu knows her dispensary can only stay open as long as her ailing father-in-law lives, their careers hostage to a quirk in Taiwanese law that is killing off the industry. “Chinese herbal medicine stores are a unique cultural icon,” the 36-year-old explains. “They are not just a place where you come when you are sick to pick up medicine.” But shops like hers are dying out — with some 200 closing their doors every year — even though traditional medicine remains wildly popular in Taiwan. Authorities have not issued any new licences since 1998 and those that exist cannot be passed down to younger generations. Gu’s father-in-law is the licence owner but he recently suffered a stroke and she now fears the worst. “If I am forced to close shop, the biggest regret for me other than losing our livelihood, is losing our tradition,” she laments.

The licence shortage stems from an attempt by authorities in the 1990s to better regulate the largely artisanal industry and bring traditional remedies into the purview of the professional medical community. By refusing to issue new licences, authorities hoped professional doctors would offer traditional medicine options in a more regulated and scientific capacity. “In Taiwan the simultaneous use of Western and Chinese medicine among the public is very prevalent and we need trained medical personnel to make sure they don’t interact with harmful consequences,” said Chen Pin-chi, at the Health and Welfare Ministry. “We initially hoped that professionally trai­ned Chinese medicine doctors or pharmacists might slowly take over the running of Chinese herbal stores,” she added.

But things did not turn out as planned. The lower pay and profits struggled to attract doctors and pharmacists while patients kept going to the mom-and-pop dispensaries. The average age of a traditional medicine store licence holder is now 61 while the no. of remaining stores has halved in the last 20 years to just 7,900. Gu is aware the last 20 years have produced no solution and fears a change to the law may come too late for her family. “If this situation continues,” she warned, “there won’t be any Chinese herbal stores left in Taiwan.”

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2019