To meet the needs of increasing numbers of foreign students who travel to China for advanced study, as well as to meet the needs of the ever-increasing trend of international communication and foreign exchange of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), Higher Education Press has organized to compile a series of nationwide foreigner-oriented TCM higher education textbooks, thus, this version of book, Chinese Materia Medica, has been compiled. It will improve on the international propagation and popularity of Chinese Medicine and also contribute to the expansion of international communication along with the cooperation of advanced TCM education.
      
In this complication, the material assimilates the experience and essence of different editions of nationwide teaching programs, in which it keeps the systematic, scientific, unique and practical features. To ensure the depth and scope of the content, the book also concerns itself especially with the readers' language, time, cultural background, and racial psychology. This will make it easier to study, understand, and master. This material hopes to be succinct in its words; to be fluent in its expression; to contain many outstanding educational points; and lastly to be very beneficial in a practical manner.
      
The content of this book is based on the national undergraduates' teaching outline and it contains the examination outline for licensed TCM doctors. It also references different editions of the nationwide educational programs of superior TCM Universities and colleges. It appropriately handles the relationship of academia in its heritage and development, as well as its theory and practice. This book pays much attention to standard terms, suitable style, compact structure, and appropriate complexity and simplicity. The editor in chief as well as the editors, who have a deep and rich clinical and teaching experience, are active members of the staff in superior TCM education, teaching Chinese as well as foreign students. They can grasp the correct emphasis needed for overseas students' individual learning levels and teach in accordance with their aptitude.