The predecessor of the university was the Military Medical School of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army founded in Ruijin, Jiangxi Province in November 1931.

In 1940, comrade Mao Zedong proposed, and the central committee of the Chinese Communist Party approved, the name of the school being changed to China Medical University.

The MBBS program at China Medical University has been taught in the English language since 1978.

[10] It is also approved by the Chinese Ministry of Education to recruit international students for its English-medium programs.

[13] CMU has three large and modern affiliated hospitals, where students can do internship in the final year.