Recently, Su Han, Vice Dean of the Beijing Zhi Ai TCM Research Institute, visited the "China Good Story Talk Lounge" to share practical explorations and in-depth thoughts on topics such as taking traditional Chinese medicine cultural and creative products overseas, empowering the Temple of Heaven IP for the large-health industry, product innovation, and international cultural dissemination. The following is an interview transcript. Su Han, Vice Dean of the Beijing Zhi Ai TCM Research Institute (left photo) Host: Welcome Vice Dean Su Han to this session! Recently, the "Temple of Heaven Little Ai" series of products has appeared at various traditional medicine events and international exchange activities, garnering widespread attention. Why did you and your team choose to focus on the integrated development of "cultural and creative products + large health"? Su Han: We have long pondered a question: how can mugwort, born in the mountains and carrying the wisdom of TCM wellness, be deeply integrated with the imperial ancient structure of the Temple of Heaven's Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest? We finally found the answer by relying on the TCM concept of "heaven and earth responding to each other, humans coexisting with nature." The team carefully studied the original hand-drawn sketches of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, repeatedly refined the shape and structure, and color combinations, finally creating the Five Elements and Five Colors Temple of Heaven moxibustion device. The product's appearance carries Chinese classical aesthetics, while its core delivers professional moxibustion and wellness effects. We hope consumers can genuinely gain health and care value through aesthetic pleasure and emotional healing, which is the first step to making Chinese medicine culture truly visible to the public and achieving "being seen." Host: The transition from making Chinese medicine culture "seen" to truly "needed" is a crucial upgrade. In the practice of taking cultural and creative products overseas, what demand signals did you capture in overseas markets?
Su Han: At the 2024 World Traditional Medicine Conference, the "Temple of Heaven Little Ai" series officially debuted on the global traditional medicine exchange platform, and overseas experts experienced our moxibustion cultural and creative products firsthand. We found that there is a very strong demand in the overseas market for lightweight, cultural and creative Chinese medicine products. In the eyes of overseas consumers, these products are no longer just "treatment tools" as traditionally perceived, but rather "health aesthetics consumer goods" that can be integrated into daily life. This market feedback further solidified our development strategy of "using cultural and creative products as a bridge to promote the export of herbal culture." Su Han, Vice President of the Beijing TCM Research Institute Host: As cultural and creative products go international, intellectual property protection is an unavoidable core issue. What systematic planning has the team done regarding intellectual property layout? Su Han: Intellectual property protection is the first line of defense for cultural and creative product export. For the entire "Temple of Heaven Little Ai" series, we have completed the full chain of copyright registration and patent applications for visual identity, IP persona, and product appearance patents, ensuring that every original design has comprehensive legal protection. At the same time, we are building the "Temple of Heaven Little Ai" sleep therapy experience space in Beijing, covering diverse safe usage scenarios such as home, office, parenting, and social settings, reshaping the lifestyle of modern people who practice light wellness through immersive experiences. At numerous international exhibitions and diplomatic exchange activities, many overseas practitioners actively experienced the products and negotiated cooperation, which also makes us continuously think about: how to break down language and geographical barriers to allow herbal cultural and creative products to naturally integrate into the daily lives of the global public.
Host: Traditional Chinese medicine has a high barrier to entry, and cross-cultural communication has natural barriers. How will you and your team lower the understanding threshold and achieve seamless cultural output? Su Han: We have sorted out and unearthed the common spiritual core of traditional medicine from both East and West: Easterners have Li Shizhen and Zhang Zhongjing who deeply cultivated the path of materia medica, and Western classical pharmacology pioneers like Dioscorides (Dioscorides, approximately 40–90 years) wrote De Materia Medica. Local medicinal herbs have been nurtured in various parts of the world, and safeguarding physical and mental well-being is a beautiful pursuit common to all humanity. Based on this common understanding, we are creating an original digital IP called "Herbal Spirits," borrowing the youthful communication logic of global popular trends, designing anthropomorphic cartoon characters for herbs like mugwort and dendrobium flowers, and simultaneously developing derivative products in various categories such as plush toys and resin goods. By using engaging and lively digital IPs, we can subtly convey traditional Chinese medicine culture to young people both domestically and internationally. Host: Besides the innovation of original digital IPs, what other ingenious creative practices has the team done in excavating common cultural symbols across ancient and modern East and West? Su Han: We deeply explore cultural symbols that resonate between ancient East and West civilizations. During his overseas investigation, Mr. Sun Yiping, President of the Temple of Heaven Culture, noticed the image of pine cones. Combining this with the cultural connotation of the Osiris scepter in Egyptian mythology, we have originally designed a moxa device shaped like a pine cone, achieving innovative fusion of cross-cultural symbols. Host: Finally, for colleagues in the big health and traditional Chinese medicine cultural and creative industries, what are your suggestions and expectations for the industry?
Su Han: I hope that major established brands and intangible cultural heritage health brands break out of the traditional export mindset of simply selling products externally, using original IP and light cultural and creative products as carriers to deeply explore the common values of Eastern and Western wellness cultures. In the future, I look forward to working with partners across the entire industry to open up domestic and international dual circulation market channels, truly realizing the beautiful vision of "TCM everywhere in life," and promoting the steady advancement of Oriental herbal medicine culture from "seen by the world" to "needed by the global public," conveying the beauty of Chinese healthy living through a wisp of mugwort fragrance. Host: Thank you to Associate Dean Su Han for the wonderful sharing! We look forward to "Tiantan Xiao Ai" continuing to use cultural and creative products as a link to take herbal medicine culture to a broader international stage, and to support the international development of the domestic big health industry by outputting more feasible and replicable innovative practice samples.
