The traditional Chinese herbal therapy is the majority of treatments in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). TCM relies on herbal therapies both for the treatment of illness and in the optimization of health and prevention of disease. Next to dietary therapy is perhaps the most oldest and originally used Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) treatment modality, now widely in Chinese health rehabilitation and life preservation, and an approach to longevity.
 

There are roughly 13,000 medicinals used in China and over 100,000 medicinal recipes recorded in the ancient literature. Plant elements and extracts are by far the most common elements used.

There are over 300 herbs in common use. Some of the most commonly used herbs are Ginseng (人参, rénshēn), wolfberry (枸杞子), dong quai (Angelica sinensis, 当归, dāngguī), astragalus (黄芪, huángqí), atractylodes (白术, báizhú), bupleurum (柴胡, cháihú), cinnamon (cinnamon twigs (桂枝, guìzhī) and cinnamon bark (肉桂, ròuguì)), coptis (黄连, huánglián), ginger (姜, jiāng), hoelen (茯苓, fúlíng), licorice (甘草, gāncǎo), ephedra sinica (麻黄, máhuáng), peony (white: 白芍, báisháo and reddish: 赤芍, chìsháo), rehmannia (地黄, dìhuáng), rhubarb (大黄, dàhuáng), and salvia (丹参, dānshēn).