Independent healthcare information for international residents and visitors

Trust CenterAboutEditorial standards English

Healthcare in China,
clearly explained.

Emergency Call 120

Medicines & pharmacies

Pharmacies and prescription medicines in China

Choose the right administrative route for a prescription, hospital or retail pharmacy, online purchase, medicine package, receipt or personal medicine carried across the border.

11practical source-linked guides

Use this collection to prepare

Identify the route
Separate prescription medicines, OTC products and specially controlled medicines before trying to buy.

Check the seller
Use licensed hospital, retail or online pharmacy routes and preserve the transaction record.

Confirm the medicine
Compare the active ingredient, strength, dosage form and approval information with a professional.

From a prescription to a usable record

Find the right prescription or pharmacy route

Start with the task that matches your situation. The prescriber, dispensing pharmacy, seller, insurer and border authority still control their own acceptance and document requirements.

  1. Start or replace a prescription

    Identify whether the medicine needs a prescription, which prescriber can reassess the request and which record the pharmacy expects.

    Understand prescriptions and pharmacies Separate prescription and OTC routes Check a foreign prescription route Replace a lost or expired prescription Plan a long-term prescription record

  2. Choose where to obtain medicine

    Match the prescription and medicine route to a hospital pharmacy, retail pharmacy or provider-linked online service.

    Compare hospital and retail pharmacies Check an online medicine seller Use an internet-hospital prescription

  3. Check the package and keep proof

    Keep the dispensed package and transaction record connected to the active ingredient, strength, dosage form and purchaser record.

    Read a Chinese medicine package Keep pharmacy receipts for a claim

  4. Prepare personal medicine for travel

    Work backward from the current border and carrier route, then keep the medicine, prescription and supporting records together.

    Prepare personal medicines for entry

Complete collection

11 focused guides

Each guide states its source scope, review date and next scheduled check. Local examples are not presented as nationwide promises.

All healthcare guides

Scope boundary

These pages explain documents, labels, sellers and access routes. They do not recommend a medicine, dose, substitution or treatment plan; ask a licensed prescriber or pharmacist for decisions about an individual patient.

Medical tests and records Insurance and hospital costs