On July 30th, the 35th batch of Chinese medical teams to aid Zanzibar, together with Professor Dai Shilin, a pharmacy expert from Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, donated a batch of precious handmade medicinal plant specimens to the National Natural Museum of Zanzibar. This is the first time since the museum opened that it has received donations of medicinal plant specimens from China, using herbal medicine as a medium to continue writing a new chapter in the exchange of traditional medicine and cultural exchange between China and Sang.

As early as December 2025, Professor Dai Shilin's team conducted research in Zanzibar based on the "New Era Shennong Tasting Hundred Herbs" project and visited the National Natural Museum of Zanzibar on site. During the research, the team found that the wild medicinal plant resources on Sang Island are abundant, but the medicinal value of most local plants lacks systematic identification, deep exploration, and scientific utilization. The resource advantages have not been transformed into medical value, which has become a regret for the research team. In order to fill this gap, relying on the cooperation agreement between China and mulberry medicine research, Professor Dai Shilin once again deepened his cultivation of mulberry island in July this year and carried out a systematic survey of medicinal plant resources.

After a comprehensive on-site survey, the team found that various native plants of mulberry islands are commonly used medicinal materials in clinical Chinese medicine. In order to popularize the medicinal value of local plants and empower the development of traditional medicine in Zanzibar, Professor Dai Shilin, after consultation with the Chinese aid medical team, has decided to donate the carefully collected and produced medicinal plant specimens to the National Natural Museum of Zanzibar free of charge, providing physical references for local medical research and science education.

Hailey Bakar, the director of the National Natural Museum of Zanzibar, expressed high recognition and sincere gratitude for this donation. He said that these specimens, hand picked and standardized by Chinese pharmaceutical experts, are extremely precious, which intuitively confirms that Sang Island contains abundant and urgently needed medicinal plant resources. After the specimens are exhibited in the museum, they will fill the gap in local science popularization and research, provide important support for local scholars to explore the medicinal effects of plants and carry out pharmaceutical research, and help promote the innovative development of traditional medicine in Zanzibar.

According to Professor Dai Shilin, the specimens donated this time include three characteristic medicinal plants: Xiangfu, Mojian, and Sanye Vine. All three plants grow naturally in Zanzibar, but have not been included in the local traditional medicine application system. However, they have a long history of being used in medicine in China and are commonly used medicinal materials in traditional Chinese medicine clinical practice. Among them, Xiangfu originated in Africa and was introduced to China along the Maritime Silk Road during the Tang Dynasty. It gradually integrated into the traditional Chinese medicine system and was widely used in clinical diagnosis and treatment, becoming a precious historical witness of species exchange and medical integration on the ancient Indian Ocean Maritime Silk Road.

The same type of plant resources has formed differentiated cognition and utilization modes in the two civilizations of Central and Africa, which has high research value in ethnobotany and provides new ideas for the comparative study of traditional Chinese medicine and innovative utilization of resources.

Captain Bao Zengtao of the Chinese aid medical team to Sang stated that this specimen donation is an important carrier for the exchange of traditional Chinese medicine between China and Sang. After the specimens are collected in the museum, a bridge will be built for equal dialogue and mutual learning of traditional medicine between the two countries. This will not only provide scientific references for Zanzibar researchers to explore the medicinal potential of local wild plants, but also promote the deepening of comparative research, resource sharing, and technical cooperation in traditional medicine between the two sides.

Doctors have no boundaries, but herbs are connected to the heart. This donation, based on the "the Belt and Road" natural medicine cooperation, not only enriched Zanzibar's medical science resources, but also deepened the medical cooperation and humanistic friendship between China and Zanzibar. In the future, the Chinese aid medical team to Sang will continue to deepen medical assistance and cultural exchanges, promote the wisdom of traditional Chinese medicine to take root in Sang Island, empower China Africa friendship through medical cooperation, and write a new chapter of civilization mutual learning and mutual benefit. (Outlook  New Era)