Primary school teachers and their students visit the Wuhu TCM Culture Museum in Wuhu, East China's Anhui province on Nov 11, 2017. [Photo/wenming.cn]

Zhang said the extraordinary performance of TCM treatment in fighting against COVID-19 has provided a good reason and timing to step up TCM publicity and education.

He has proposed to include TCM-related curricula in primary and middle school textbooks. He has also proposed to construct a National Museum of Traditional Chinese Medicine, a key venue for public TCM education.

Zhang said "acquiring essential TCM knowledge is useful not only for the health of Chinese people but also crucial for defining their cultural identity".

In April 2017, the education committee of Zhejiang province reportedly issued a TCM textbook for primary students. "It has been the nation's first and so far the only one of its kind," Zhang said, sounding bitter.