Globalization and Glocalization in the History of Chinese Medicine

Abstract

The globalization of Chinese medicine, forged through successive waves of migration, cultural exchanges, and economic imperatives, constitutes a nuanced and intricate process with historical roots extending over millennia. It stands as the culmination of interconnected historical events that reverberated beyond the confines of China, emerging as a phenomenon characterized by the adjustment of Chinese medical theories, clinical practices, and materia medica to indigenous customs and healthcare traditions prevalent in both proximate and distant regions. In these glocalized processes, the global and the local intersect and mix. The frameworks of globalization and glocalization allow a critical interpretation of the many hybridizations that have shaped overseas Chinese medicine’s history and present.