The Governance of Traditional Knowledge in China: Past, Current, and Future

Traditional knowledge, especially traditional Chinese medical knowledge, is a typically symbolic figure of ancient Chinese civilization and is still a heated topic in the governance of both biodiversity and cultural diversity. The governance of traditional knowledge includes and is no limited to ideal, goal, subject and stakeholder, object, model, tool and measure, etc. According to literature review, no theoretical research on a similar topic has been conducted in China so far. Through comprehensively checking and examining the history of the governance of traditional knowledge in China from three different development stages, China has chosen the kinds of rules, such as policies and legislation at different levels, to use as governance tools; built up governance relationships; and formatted a governance model of heteronomy. Looking forward to the future, China should persist on a legislation process, select other governance tools, and create more governance models in the field of governance in traditional knowledge.