An encyclopedia containing about 400 different Tibetan medicine formulas has been published by the Shanghai Science and Technology Publishing House.

The one-million character book is the first of a multi-volume encyclopedia designed to feature the major traditional medicines still popular in China.

More than 40 specialists from the Pharmaceuticals Institute attached to the Tibetan Medicine Hospital in Tibet, which is under the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, spent 13 years compiling the book.

Tibetan medicine, like traditional Chinese and Mongolian medicine, is based on locally produced herbs, differing greatly from science-based Western medicine.

(People's Daily November 14, 2002)