Some of the themes that this section will cover include:

Traditional vs. Western Medicine - what is the line between traditional medicine as cultural heritage and traditional medicine as feudal ignorance? What is the role of Western medicine when anyone with Western education is suspect,and what is the role of traditional medicine when the Four Olds are smashed?

The image of "Barefoot doctors" remains a defining one for the People's Republic of China. The image is still pertinent due to the continuing problem of providing adequate health care for China's rural poor.

Science and Faith - turning to miracles for a cure, from old religious temples to Mao Zedong thought (for more about Mao Thought, see The Miracles of Chairman Mao in the Reddest Red Sun section of this site).

Barefoot doctors at the National Day Celebrations in Tiananmen Square, 1969   More images of medical workers

Available Readings:

Medical Workers Serve the Peasants, China Pictorial 1966.1. p.2 (article on health care development in countryside)

A "Mobile Hospital" in the Mountain, China Pictorial 1966.1. p.6 (article on how a mobile hospital operates from village to village)

A Set of False Teeth, China Pictorial 1966.4. p.28 (story of medical team making false teeth for an old model laborer for his good deed)

Chairman Mao Gave Her a New Life -- The Advanced Deed of the Medical Section of a P.L.A. Unit Which, Overcoming All Difficulties, Successfully Removed a 90-Jin Tumour, China Pictorial 1968.8. p.24 (a story similar to the deaf-mutes and the Miracles of Chairman Mao)

A New Portable X-Ray Machine for the Countryside, China Pictorial 1968.12. p.44 (short article on workers who invented an x-ray machine)

See also the page on Norman Bethune, a Canadian surgeon who worked on battlefields in Spain and China from 1936 until his death in 1939.