The 2024 Shanxi Trip for Taiwan Merchants and Youth opened in Taiyuan, capital of North China's Shanxi province, on Wednesday, bringing together more than 400 entrepreneurs, merchants and youth representatives from Taiwan for business, tourism and cultural exchange.

The five-day event will take participants on tours of various routes in Shanxi through Saturday, visiting cities including Taiyuan, Datong, Jinzhong and Linfen to find opportunities for cooperation in agriculture, medicine, culture and tourism.

At Wednesday's opening, Jin Xiangjun, governor of Shanxi, said that Shanxi will consistently enhance its policies to better support Taiwan investors and professionals seeking to work in the province. He expressed hope that Shanxi and Taiwan will strengthen industrial cooperation, cultural exchanges and youth interactions.

Pan Xianzhang, deputy director of the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said: "We welcome more Taiwan people to visit and invest in the Chinese mainland, and encourage Taiwan youth to study, intern, work and start businesses here."

Following the opening, seminars on industrial cooperation were held, focusing on agriculture, medicine, culture and tourism. At the medical and health industry seminar, Hou Xiangjun, deputy director of the Shanxi provincial department of commerce, highlighted that the medical industry is an emerging sector in Shanxi with notable resource advantages, a unique geographical environment, and favorable policies and investment conditions.

"I hope all entrepreneurs will take this opportunity to enhance industrial cooperation in areas such as resources and technology and work together to advance the medical and health sectors," Hou said.

Liu Yaoyuan, CEO of the Zion Medical Group, has over 30 years of business experience in the Chinese mainland and visited Shanxi multiple times. He noted that while the Western medical system in Taiwan developed earlier, Shanxi is a major producer of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), with over 1,700 types of TCM materials.

"There is significant potential for cooperation between Shanxi and Taiwan in integrating traditional Chinese and Western medicine as well as in medical technology collaboration," Liu said.

Lyu Hongyu, chairman of the Guangyuyuan Chinese Medicine Co Ltd, a pioneering enterprise in TCM production, expressed his anticipation for collaborating with peers from Taiwan in such fields as technological research and talent exchange so as to work together to contribute to the revitalization of TCM.