The Second “Guanxiang Cup” Chinese Medicinal Materials Identification Vocational Skills Competition took place on October 20 at Songshan Lake. A total of 23 teams reached the finals, with contestants from drug manufacturers, distributors, and users across the city, as well as research institutes.

The competition combined theoretical knowledge with practical skills. The number of theory questions increased from 40 to 80, and the range of medicinal materials expanded from 200 to 400, with powdered forms added. The assessment was upgraded to include evaluation of authenticity and inferior quality. The practical round drew on 575 medicinal material samples, with each contestant given 60 seconds to identify a single herb. Contestants also attended expert lectures and toured drug testing laboratories and a traditional Chinese medicine specimen museum.

The competition aims to improve the identification skills of frontline workers and promote stronger quality control among drug distributors and users.