[3] The demand for products containing animal body parts accelerated in the 1980s, during the process of industrialisation and the concomitant population increase: in this way, the booming of the middle class has led to more affordability to the purchase of these.

Traditional medicine's excessive demand for exotic-animal body parts is claimed to be a major factor in the tiger's current state of functional extinction.

There are more than 200 variants, produced with angelica, licorice, scutellaria, and/or Ligusticum chuanxiong (川芎 chuānxiōng), which generally generate the same effects and reactions in those who use them.

Goat blood, python meat, psoralen, cockroaches, bezoars, moss, rhinoceros horns, and Cordyceps sinensis are sometimes included in the beverage.

[12] The production has not changed over the past centuries, using the following steps: Tiger bone wine is easier to preserve in its bottle form and, being alcoholic, it may be stored for a long time without spoiling.

[citation needed] In China, in accordance with the field of medical research, tiger bone cannot legally be used for testing after government authorization.

[17] Examinations conducted by different NGOs, such as the Environmental Investigation Agency, have reported that several 'farms' are closely linked to the production and distribution of the liquor on the black markets.

[20] Starting from January 2017, as suggested by the former Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs of South Africa Edna Molewa, a dispatch of approximately 800 skeletons of lions coming from captive breeding will be sent in Asia in order to be used as a substitute of the traditional local tiger ingredients used.

[21] The trade in endangered species has been subject to international ban since 1987, and has been prohibited by the government since 1993, when China joined the Convention on Biological Diversity, previously opened for signature for the Earth Summit in 1992.

[22] According to the announcement, tiger parts have to be taken from farmed species, and can be used only in 'recognised structures by qualified doctors recognised by the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine'.

This unpredictable decision has yet to be explained to the public, but experts believe that it can be considered as an economic move, due to the high value that the commerce of traditional Chinese medicine has on Asian markets.