The herbal stuff is only useful as a starting point to search for new compounds. That's what Tu Youyou did, she did not study TCM but rather discovered an active ingredient in a species used for traditional herbal medicines. In her case the artemisia plant itself is NOT what is being used as a malaria treatment, it's the artemisinin instead (and this is probably synthetically made instead of physically extracting it from the plants).

Even the use of plant species that are demonstrated to produce pharmacologically active compounds is ineffective compared to using the actual compounds. Plants will produce different amounts depending on genetics and growing conditions so you can never be sure exactly what you are getting. The popular superstition that wild plants are somehow more 'potent' is an environmentally destructive misconception.

Tu Youyou is a pharmacological researcher, not a TCM practicioner, and her research does not involve TCM principles at all. That she is affiliated with a TCM institute is meaningless; most professors at osteopathic institutions are not osteopaths.

Chinese need to let go of irrational superstitions if China is to survive in the 21st century.