“Chongqing Design Meets Smart Manufacturing” Episode 9｜Nanchuan Transforms Authentic Herbal Medicine into Gold Through Industrial Design

Editor’s Note

In recent years, AITO automobiles have defined a new paradigm for premium mobility, while Qiteng’s quadruped explosion-proof robot has taken the lead in the specialized intelligent equipment track. Industrial design has become the core enabler for Chongqing’s manufacturing industry to leap to higher value in the industrial chain and achieve iterative upgrades.

As the only world “City of Design” in western China, cutting-edge creative concepts have deeply intersected with Chongqing’s century-old industrial heritage. A large number of “Chongqing Design” masterpieces—distinguished by their aesthetics, quality, strength, and potential—are emerging and gaining acclaim across the Bashu region.

From today onwards, the “Encountering Design·Shaping the Future” series will present a panoramic view of Chongqing’s landmark industrial design projects of 2025. Through words and lenses, the series will immerse you in the mutually reinforcing journey between industrial design and Chongqing manufacturing.

 

Mount Jinfo in Nanchuan is known as the “Chinese Medicine Treasury,” home to 4,967 medicinal plant species. With an elevation drop of 2,000 meters creating diverse climate zones, the area provides ideal growing conditions for a wide variety of herbs. As a national pilot zone for TCM inheritance and innovation, Nanchuan leverages design to empower its industries, revitalizing the “Jinfo Medicine Valley” specialty resources, transforming “weeds into gold” and “raw materials into products,” and unlocking new value for its authentic medicinal herbs.

Design Chain Deeply Integrated with the Industrial Chain. Design runs through the entire process—from field cultivation to workshop processing. In cultivation, the county collaborates with professional design firms to build a smart visualization system for herb cultivation, integrating unified signage, IoT deployment, and harvesting equipment design to ensure quality at the source. In production, the county has restructured production lines, upgraded automated equipment, and improved workshop visual management systems across 10 local TCM decoction piece enterprises. In product R&D, the county has developed medicinal and edible products such as herbal teas and medicinal diets, implementing modernized, youthful visual design upgrades to capture the young consumer market.

▲ Processing center of Shanghai Pharmaceutical Huiyuan Qinglong Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. in Nanchuan

 

Design Chain Mutually Empowering the Innovation Chain. The county has built a smart production center for modern TCM decoction pieces and established a full-chain TCM industry brain enabling complete traceability. It has also built one of the city‘s most advanced TCM decoction and dispensing centers and smart pharmacies, offering online ordering, decoction and dispensing services, and home delivery—saving patients over RMB 1 million cumulatively. In partnership with the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, the county has established research centers for signature varieties such as scrophularia, focusing on germplasm, cultivation, and product standards to continuously inject innovation momentum into industrial development.

▲ TCM decoction and dispensing center

 

Design Chain Organically Integrated with the Cultural Chain. The county extends the TCM industry consumption chain through scenario-based design, launching the “Jinfo Medicine Valley” regional public brand. Distinctive cultural symbols—scrophularia, forest musk deer, and the Mount Jinfo landscape—are incorporated into cultural products such as herbal sachets, cultural bookmarks, and digital collectibles. The county is also expanding the “TCM + Tourism” track, connecting the TCM Museum, smart pharmacies, and herb sightseeing bases to create an immersive herbal culture experience space. Personalized wellness tourism programs tailored by season, location, and individual constitution allow visitors to experience the seasonal charm of herbs year-round. Regular events such as the Mount Jinfo TCM Innovation Forum and design achievement exhibitions continue to amplify Nanchuan‘s regional cultural identity and brand influence.

Through this full-chain design empowerment, in 2025 Nanchuan achieved a 20% increase in the average added value of local TCM products, raised the adoption rate of intelligent processing equipment to 40%, and generated over RMB 15 million in annual sales of TCM cultural-creative products—truly realizing the vision of “transforming weeds into gold and industry into prosperity.”

 

Source: Productive Service Industry Division, Chongqing Municipal Economic and Information Commission
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