Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an integrative medicine containing science, humanism and characteristics of Chinese culture. It's our responsibility to follow the traditions of TCM, keep its advantages, and innovate this medicine for the benefit of human health. International TCM education is an important platform to disseminate this excellent cultural legacy of China to the world. Among the overseas students who come to China to learn natural science, the numbers of TCM students have been steadily increasing and are the greatest in number. More and more foreign students dream of coming to China for comprehensive and systematic TCM education in an overall and systemic way. In addition, lots of foreign students who either study or get advanced training in China also play a significant role in extending the international influence of TCM through disseminating what they have learned in China after they return home.
     
Communication barrier may arise from the differences of geographic regions, cultures, languages and learning habits between the east and the west; the ancient and profound TCM theory may also cause difficulty in understanding. Therefore it is indeed necessary to compile a set of good textbooks for international TCM education.