Liping, Du

Dr. Du Liping holds the position of Lecturer in Chinese at the University of Melbourne and earned his Ph.D. from the same university. His research interests lie in the areas of traditional Chinese medicine, traditional pharmacies in China, and local folk medical practices.

THE MARKETING OF TRADITIONAL MEDICINES IN CHINA:
The Case of Guangxi Province

2005 0-7734-6046-2
This book presents, for the first time, an account of the marketing system for traditional medicines in China. It is based on a case study centered on Guangxi, one of China’s major producers of traditional medicines. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, medicines produced in Guangxi were transported directly to external markets by packhorses and then boats through the West River System. In the centrally planned economy after 1949, a diversified marketing system containing vertical task allocation connections, horizontally operated regional distribution routes and a dendritically structured local net work was formed in order to fulfill the government’s purchasing tasks. During the reform era of the 1980s, new market mechanisms emerged as a result of merchants’ pursuit of a trading culture based on an "ethic of honour" and the need to protect sources of supply. The net result is a marketing system that is quite distinct from the well-known rural marketing system for trade in non-specialised goods explored by other scholars.