BEIJING -- China has published a collection of rare ancient medical books that were once thought lost in China until they were discovered overseas.

The collection, published by Zhonghua Book Company, incorporates 427 ancient traditional Chinese medical books into 403 volumes.

At the launch event Tuesday, Zheng Jinsheng, editor-in-chief of the collection, said that since the 1990's, he and his team had traveled to Japan, Germany, France, Britain and other countries to collect the books.

China has developed unique medicine theories and practices, and a great deal of books and works have been published on the subject, some of which ended up in other countries while some of them have been lost.

The publication is a milestone in traditional Chinese medicine literature research and has been welcomed by researchers.