Zhongyi Review: Building the 'Dianping' of Traditional Chinese Medicine Files for IPO
TCM Review Network was established inAugust 2014, isChengdu Yisheng Technology Co., Ltd.Our Products. The website is positioned at the intersection of the internet and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), aiming to provide online TCM services to TCM clinics, practitioners, patients, and enthusiasts, with a commitment to fostering a healthy TCM ecosystem.
By the end of 2013, the total number of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) medical and health institutions across China reached 41,966, an increase of 2,584 from the previous year. Among these, there were 3,590 TCM hospitals, 38,328 TCM outpatient departments and clinics, and 48 TCM research institutions. Compared with the previous year, the number of TCM hospitals increased by 193, and the number of TCM outpatient departments and clinics increased by 2,403. Issued by the State Council,“Outline of the Strategic Plan for the Development of Traditional Chinese Medicine (2016–2030)” states that by 2020, basic access to traditional Chinese medicine services will be universally available, and the traditional Chinese medicine industry will become one of the important pillars of the national economy.
According to the "2013 Statistical Abstract of Traditional Chinese Medicine in China" issued by the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the total number of TCM practitioners in China exceeded 500,000 in 2013, including more than 300,000 licensed physicians and over 200,000 overseas practitioners. With the addition of more than 500,000 TCM students, the total target market population reached approximately 1 million. Meanwhile, data showed that the number of TCM outpatient visits nationwide reached 810 million in 2013, a year-on-year increase of 9.0%.
When patients seek medical care, the primary factors they consider include the professionalism of the healthcare institution and the individual reputation of the physician. However, given the vast number of healthcare institutions and doctors, patients often struggle to find detailed information about specific providers amidst the overwhelming amount of data. What TCM Review Network does is to build a reference platform for patients, helping them quickly understand the reputations of doctors and institutions, thereby enhancing their pre-consultation experience.
TCM Review Network primarily offers services including physician review inquiries, hospital information searches, TCM appointment registration for women and children, offline event announcements, online TCM classrooms, and an online community. Upon accessing the website, patients can select physicians based on their geographic location and view patient testimonials as well as regular clinic schedules. The platform aggregates information on TCM practitioners from both public hospitals and private institutions, facilitating convenient user searches.
Currently, the platform has indexed traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) information from all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, and special administrative regions of China. It also includes TCM information from selected overseas countries, namely Austria, the Netherlands, Canada, the United States, Singapore, Italy, and the United Kingdom.
General users can view patient-submitted information on the platform, including details about the types of diseases previously treated by the physician, consultation dates, treatment outcomes, and service attitude. After receiving medical care, users may also register an account on the website to submit reviews of their physicians. All submitted reviews are subject to staff verification to ensure the authenticity and reliability of the information.
Most of the information on doctors and institutions at public hospitals featured on TCM Review Network was scraped by staff from various hospital websites via search engines, with artificial intelligence programs used to identify TCM practitioners and consolidate their data. In contrast, data for private hospitals on the platform were all manually entered by staff.
TCM Review Network is a non-profit review platform that does not employ paid search ranking mechanisms. Yang Qiandong, the CEO, stated that TCM Review Network has always provided users with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) information from an objective and neutral perspective, without charging fees to hospitals or physicians. This approach aims to provide users with the most authentic and valuable review information. In addition to its non-profit review services, the platform’s online classroom is another key section. Through the online classroom, users can learn practical basic knowledge of TCM for daily life and gain insight into TCM culture. All video courses in the online classroom are recorded by licensed TCM practitioners to ensure the professionalism and authority of the content.
Currently, TCM Review has launched a brand named “Yang Baba,” and its WeChat subscription account of the same name is now live. The combined user base of TCM Review and the Yang Baba platform totals approximately 300,000 users.
The “Yang Baba” brand is dedicated to disseminating Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) pediatric care knowledge to parents of young children, enabling them to make informed judgments and perform simple treatments when their children suffer from mild illnesses. By integrating its website with the Yang Baba WeChat subscription account, TCM Review Network promotes TCM pediatric care knowledge online, while also organizing offline knowledge-sharing events and hands-on training courses. These offline courses have been launched in cities such as Dongguan, Hefei, and Shanghai, with an average class size of approximately 30 participants.
TCM Review Team
Yang Qiandong, CEO of TCM Review Network, has 20 years of experience in the IT industry. In early 2008, he began in-depth study of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and started public welfare promotion of TCM in 2012. During this period, Yang authored articles on TCM knowledge and curated physician reviews on his blog. Regarding the formation of the team, he stated that all core team members are TCM enthusiasts who hope to contribute to the dissemination of TCM culture through their own efforts.
During the website’s development, the team encountered several setbacks. By shifting their strategic approach and establishing the “Yang Baba” brand, they propelled the growth of the TCM Review Network. The company secured RMB 2 million in angel funding in 2014 and plans to complete its Pre-A financing round by the end of this year.
Moving forward, TCM Review Network will continue to update and refine its review data, while actively promoting the “Yang Baba” brand of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) pediatric care, with the aim of establishing itself as the “Dianping” of the TCM industry.
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