Nexus between biomedicalization and Traditional Chinese Medicine: conceptualization of subhealth

Subhealth () refers to a liminal state between health and disease that, while lacking clear biomedical markers, has become a prominent target of intervention in China's healthcare landscape. This study examines the socio-political construction of subhealth by integrating bibliometric analysis with historical and political-economic perspectives. Drawing on a dataset of nearly 20,000 Chinese-language publications (1995-2022), complemented by discourse analysis of policy documents and academic literature, we analyze three interrelated dimensions: (1) the commercial and economic dynamics that enabled the proliferation of subhealth-related industries and wellness markets; (2) the scientization of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), which legitimized subhealth through diagnostic standardization and biomedical frameworks; and (3) the institutional support by the Chinese state, which incorporated subhealth into public health campaigns and national development goals. By examining these dimensions together, we argue that subhealth has emerged as a hybrid construct shaped by the convergence of market incentives, scientific discourse, and state strategies. This case offers new insight into how medical categories are socially engineered and mobilized within a unique configuration of post-socialist governance and health reform.