Since approximately 1000 BC, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has evolved into an organized body of empirical knowledge despite attempts to suppress its development. In China from the Qing Dynasty to the Opium Wars period (1644-1840), acupuncture was suppressed and dropped from the curriculum at the Imperial Medical College and herbal medicine was primarily used. Following the Revolution of 1911 in China, Western medicine was introduced and both acupuncture and herbal therapy were suppressed. The TCM practices, however, were kept alive by many people in rural areas and thus became seen as a “folk medicine”. In the early years, training in acupuncture and herbal medicine were obtained by studying with a master as an apprentice. In 1949 the People’s Republic of China was established and Chairman Mao Ze-dong, seeing the benefits of TCM, officially united TCM and Western medicine. This article presents traditional Chinese veterinary medical education from its early use in China through modern era teaching in the United States.