The Chinese Medicine Confucius Institute began operations in November 2012, jointly established by Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and Hyogo College of Medicine. The Chinese Medicine Confucius Institute at Hyogo College of Medicine is the first Chinese Medicine Confucius Institute in Asia and the third one in the world established by Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban), also the first Confucius Institute established at a medical university in a developed country. With the mission to promote Chinese language and culture, it takes traditional Chinese medicine as its characteristic and integrates traditional and modern Chinese medicine with Chinese language teaching, thus building a platform for the Japanese people to understand Chinese culture.