China · Advertising framework
Paid social campaigns for wellness and complementary therapies in China
General market orientation, not campaign clearance. Research scope and dates
Product and service rules
Beijing: distinguish the TCM review authority
Regulator guidance
Applies when: A Beijing medical institution is advertising, including licensed TCM services.
Beijing TCM, integrated Chinese/Western and ethnic-medicine institutions apply through the TCM administration; general and dental hospitals use the health commission. The TCM authority requires the finished sample through the electronic medical-institution system, matching licensed institutional details and the review number. The certificate is valid for one year; changed creative or changed practice information requires a new application. This is a Beijing procedure, not a filing map for all provinces.
Channel rules
Check the complete consumer-facing message
Regulator guidance
Advertising must be truthful and clear. Review the accuracy of stated functions, benefits, provider details, prices and promises under the Advertising Law. Sector review requirements and prohibited claims continue to apply even when the advertiser identifies the commercial nature of a message.
Do not disguise regulated advertising as health education
Legal requirement — paraphrased
Reviewed health advertisements must remain within the approved content. Internet rules prohibit disguised medical, medicine, device and health-food advertisements presented as health knowledge; related supplier contacts or shopping links alongside that knowledge are specifically restricted. Paid search needs clear advertising identification.
Health information and automated marketing need separate review
Legal requirement — paraphrased
PIPL treats medical and health information as sensitive personal information, with heightened necessity and protection requirements. Assess applicable separate-consent obligations and the limited non-consent bases. Automated commercial marketing must provide the required non-personalised option or convenient refusal route; check cross-border data flows separately.
Sources: Personal Information Protection Law
Do not apply the ordinary-data threshold to health data
Regulator guidance
The CAC identifies medical and health information as sensitive personal information. Its under-100,000-person ordinary-data exemption excludes sensitive data. Subject to stated exemptions, a non-critical-infrastructure operator exporting sensitive information for fewer than 10,000 people must use the standard-contract or certification route; at least 10,000 requires a security assessment. Important data and critical-infrastructure operators have separate assessment triggers. Count people from 1 January and document the specific exemption, if any; an advertising consent checkbox does not establish a transfer mechanism.
Sources: Cross-border data provisions — official explanatory FAQ
Approve each placement and targeting setup
Editorial recommendation
Review every crop, caption, carousel and boosted creator asset. Document targeting inputs and remove health-data audiences unless a separate privacy review supports them.
Exclude restricted health and beauty ads from media directed at minors
Legal requirement — paraphrased
Applies when: The internet medium is directed at minors and the advertisement falls within an Article 12 sector.
Article 12 prohibits medical, medicine, medical-device, health-food, special-medical-purpose food, cosmetic and beauty advertising on internet media directed at minors. The restriction concerns the medium’s audience and context, not only a chosen targeting checkbox.
First classify the advertised offer within the listed sectors; ordinary wellness content is not automatically a regulated product advertisement.
Campaign workflow
Wellness & Complementary Therapies: prepare the review
Editorial recommendation
Identify whether the provider is offering lifestyle support or diagnosing and treating a condition. Route advertised supplements, cosmetics, devices and medicines through their own rules. Hold evidence for measurable outcomes and avoid presenting wellness as a substitute for necessary care.
Keep a traceable campaign decision
Editorial recommendation
Keep one review record linking the offer, local market status, claim evidence, exact creative, media settings and any regulatory or professional clearance. Record who checked each condition. Reopen the review when the offer, claim, source rule or execution changes.
Pre-publication checklist
- Identify whether the provider is offering lifestyle support or diagnosing and treating a condition.
- Route advertised supplements, cosmetics, devices and medicines through their own rules.
- Hold evidence for measurable outcomes and avoid presenting wellness as a substitute for necessary care.
- Record product or provider eligibility before approving claims.
- Archive the final creative and its evidence, permissions and review decisions.
- Assign an owner for source updates, complaints and prompt withdrawal of inaccurate material.
Scope and unresolved questions
- Mainland only. Beijing TCM review, national online-retail display conditions, warning presentation and a cross-border data route are documented. Other provincial filing procedures, actual seller permissions, platform account rules, product-specific Chinese assets and the transfer facts still require review.
- This national baseline does not review every broadcaster rule, platform policy, regional licensing condition, promotion mechanic or data-transfer arrangement. No format-specific warning dimensions or durations should be inferred where none are supplied.
Research scope, introduction and dates
Wellness marketing in paid social campaigns in China needs a clear boundary between lifestyle support and regulated healthcare. Identify any embedded product promotion or diagnostic or therapeutic promise before choosing evidence, testimonials and the final wording.
For paid social, review each placement variant as well as the caption, advertiser identity, audience setup and landing page. Boosted creator content also brings the commercial relationship and its disclosure into the assessment.
General market orientation, not legal, regulatory or medical advice, a complete compliance plan or clearance of an advertisement. Actual requirements depend on the specific offer and campaign.
How to use this national baseline
Editorial overview
This framework combines researched national rules with editorial review steps. Mainland China only; Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan are outside this pack. A visible channel workflow does not establish that the selected product or service may be advertised there. Read the category restrictions first.
The review date identifies when the cited provisions or regulator excerpts were checked. It does not mean that every local rule, exception, professional standard or platform policy has been reviewed.
Sources
- Advertising Law of the People’s Republic of China
Targeted source review; apply the cited provision to the exact offer and check subsequent changes before launch.
- Internet Advertising Measures, SAMR Order 72
Targeted source review; apply the cited provision to the exact offer and check subsequent changes before launch.
- Personal Information Protection Law
Targeted source review; apply the cited provision to the exact offer and check subsequent changes before launch.
- Beijing TCM medical-advertising review FAQ
Follow-up review of the cited issue on 25 October 2026; scope and remaining conditions are recorded in the modules and review register.
- Cross-border data provisions — official explanatory FAQ
Follow-up review of the cited issue on 25 October 2026; scope and remaining conditions are recorded in the modules and review register.
- Internet Advertising Measures — official HTML text
Targeted review on 25 October 2026. This date does not certify the currency of other sources or resolve local and campaign-specific requirements.
From framework to action
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