Sixty years ago today, on June 26, 1965 (May 27, 1965 lunar calendar), the "barefoot doctor" was born. The birth of the "barefoot doctor" is said to have originated from a conversation by Mao Zedong. On June 26, 1965, Mao Zedong issued a severe criticism to the then Ministry of Health during a conversation with his health care doctor. He said that the work of the Ministry of Health only provides 15% of the country's population with jobs, and this 15% is mainly the old master. The vast number of farmers have no access to medical care, no hospitals, and no medicine. Mao Zedong also ironically said that the Ministry of Health is not the people's Ministry of Health, but changed to the City Ministry of Health or the old Ministry of Health. After criticizing the Ministry of Health, Mao Zedong proposed that "the focus of medical and health care should be placed in the countryside." At the same time, Mao Zedong also pointed at the medical education system. He said that medical education needs to be reformed, and there is no need to read so many books. The more books you read, the more stupid you become. He also said that medical education does not need to accept high school students, junior high school students, and three years of high school graduation is enough. Even if such a doctor is not capable in the countryside, it is better than a deceiving witch doctor. And the countryside can also afford it. Mao Zedong's words were later taken as the "June 26 Directive". Of course, Mao Zedong's anger was not groundless. According to the data in 1965, there were more than 1.4 million health technicians in the country at that time, 70% of them were in big cities, and only 10% in rural areas. The use of medical funds in rural areas only accounted for a quarter of the country, and the cities used most of them. Mao Zedong was angry. The Ministry of Health immediately studied ways to implement the leader's instructions. Since there was no specific method for the Supreme Directive, when implementing it, all localities could only generally follow the conditions Mao Zedong said, but the practices were different, the models were different, and the names of rural doctors trained were also different. "Three years of high school graduation" became the only specific standard. The Ministry of Health also began to organize the rural areas. Some young people in some cultures started medical training, and Shanghai started early in this regard. The name "barefoot doctor" first appeared in Jiangzhen Commune, Chuansha County, Shanghai. The barefoot doctor poster in the 1970s. In the summer of 1968, the term "barefoot doctor" first appeared in a report in Shanghai's Wen Wei Po. Mao Zedong saw the article and made a warning that "barefoot doctor" is good. Immediately, "barefoot doctor" became popular all over the country, covering almost the entire rural area of China. The rise of barefoot doctors also gave birth to the cooperative medical system. These two emerging things and the county and rural three-level medical and health care network are known as the three magic weapons of rural health work in China, and have been praised by the United Nations as the best rural medical system in developing countries. The term "barefoot doctor" first appeared in the People's Daily on December 5, 1968, and became popular. Its original meaning refers to the grass-roots health workers in rural China who are not full-time. Commune members with a certain cultural foundation have undergone a certain period of training and have certain medical and health knowledge and skills. They participate in collective productive labor while treating members' diseases. At their peak, the number of people was more than 1 million. Extended reading: Barefoot doctors - the warm memory of hanging pots to help the world [Part 1] Old photos Extended reading: Barefoot doctors - the warm memory of hanging pots to help the world [Part 1] Old photos From the 1960s to the 1980s, a group of barefoot doctors who had only undergone simple training and no preparation, with extremely simple medical facilities and great enthusiasm for visiting families, took on the basic medical and health care of hundreds of millions of Chinese farmers, and accumulated eternal warmth in people's hearts. However, 20 years later, when medical technology became more and more developed after the reform and opening up, the vast majority of Chinese farmers fell into a situation of "talking about medical treatment". In many rural areas, "carrying a small illness and dragging on a serious illness" has become the norm, and it is not uncommon to return to poverty and become impoverished due to medical treatment. Even in cities, this contradiction is equally prominent. Although there is no reason for us to still be satisfied with the services of "barefoot doctors", the current situation is that - in the case of a sharp increase in total medical and health investment and the continuous improvement of high-end medical standards, a large part of the population has lost the basic medical protection they once had. Treating a cold can often be hundreds of thousands, which makes people inevitably miss the barefoot doctors who used to "treat all diseases with one silver needle". Missing is not a regression. In fact, people just miss the ideal image of traditional Chinese doctors who can help the world with a pot, and miss the medical model that used to work well. The abolition of the barefoot doctor system and the rural cooperative medical system has deprived the vast majority of Chinese farmers of the basic medical protection they once had. The high cost of medical care has left many peasant families "carrying small diseases, and there is no money to treat serious diseases," until they return to poverty due to illness. Chen Zhu, the barefoot doctor-turned-health minister, said in an interview in 2008: "Public health problems have become the soft underbelly of China's economy. Statistics show that half of China's rural population is impoverished due to illness, and some people return to poverty due to poverty reduction. Most of the reasons are due to illness." Once-respected doctors have also become the object of widespread criticism for this. Young people going to the countryside, barefoot doctors picking Chinese herbal medicines 1970 Grassland barefoot doctors Barefoot doctors travel from home to home in the countryside for medical treatment. In the 1970s, rural barefoot doctors in Jiashan County, Zhejiang Province made visits to the countryside as barefoot doctors wearing military uniforms. (Photo by Cai Shengqiu of the Fourth Brigade of Huaqiao in 1974) Barefoot doctors in the Liu Lou Brigade of Lianji Commune, Shangshui County, Henan Province carried out disease prevention work for rural children (Photo by 1974). Training Barefoot Doctors Relatives The People's Liberation Army Counseling Barefoot Doctors (provided by Xinjin County Archives in 1976) Tour Counseling (provided by Xinjin County Archives in 1976) "Training Barefoot Doctors" --464 Hospital Medical Personnel In Rural People's Liberation Army 17th Division Yi County Field Station Health Team Training Barefoot Doctors "Barefoot Doctors in the Army" - Training Barefoot Doctors for Locals---17th Division Health Team "Deep Mountain Medicine Collection" Comrades of the Yi County Field Station Health Team of the 17th Division and local barefoot doctors collect medicines on Langya Mountain The staff of the "Training Barefoot Doctors" business department in rural Yi County took revolutionary measures to deliver the medicines needed by poor and lower middle-class farmers to mountainous areas, rural areas and pastoral areas in a timely manner. Medical work in the countryside Medical work in the countryside A "barefoot doctor" in a white shirt is treating a rural child. (Photo by Wang Tianzhu) Being a barefoot doctor in the countryside Being a barefoot doctor in the countryside Being a barefoot doctor in the countryside Being a barefoot doctor in the countryside One of the first batch of barefoot doctors in 1965 (photographed in Xixi Diligent Brigade in September 1970) Yu Shuilin provided Jurong, Jiangsu Province in the 1970s, the barefoot doctor participated in labor while seeing a doctor. Wang Fang contributed to the barefoot doctor's service. In the 1970s, she was known as the first barefoot doctor in China. She was the prototype of the movie "Spring seedlings", from the barefoot doctor to the leader of the Ministry of Health to the ordinary farmer - the barefoot doctor Wang Guizhen. 1973 Barefoot Doctor Training Remembrance In 1965, in response to the call to "put the focus of medical and health work in the countryside", the health team of the Wanshan Garrison Army at that time selected 9 women and 2 men from the militia camp of the Wanshan Fishery Brigade for training and formed a militia camp health class. In 1968, on this basis, the "Ten Sisters Class" was established. At that time, the Wanshan Brigade had 10 boats, and each of the "Ten Sisters of Wanshan" happened to be in one boat. In fact, it was the "Barefoot Doctor" at sea. 1971 Issue 11: Barefoot Doctor for Tibetans in Yunnan. Barefoot Doctor - Chen Yurong in the countryside. 1973 Photographer Ma Zhaoyun Legend - Beijing educated youth Sun Lizhe, who cut the queue to become a barefoot doctor in Yan'an, is seeing a doctor for the villagers. Nanjing educated youth Tu Taili was active in Shili Baxiang when she was studying medicine as a barefoot doctor in the Jila Commune Hospital of Otok Banner (1969. 5.) Extended reading: Barefoot doctor - the warm memory of hanging pots to save the world [2] Artwork Extended reading: Barefoot doctor - the warm memory of hanging pots to save the world [2] Artwork puts the focus of medical and health work in the countryside to go to the movie "Spring Seedlings". The film was produced in the late "Cultural Revolution". Its launch had a great impact across the country. It closely links the praise of the "barefoot doctor", a "new thing" in the "Cultural Revolution", with the content of the struggle against the "capitalist roaders". The film reflects the quality of Tian Chunmiao's enthusiastic service to the people, and the performance is quite outstanding. The biggest feature of the "Barefoot Doctor's Handbook" is that the names of Chinese herbal medicines are listed in various counties in Meixian County (now Meizhou). In 1969, the "Barefoot Doctor" Training Textbook (for use in southern regions) "compiled by Huang Yuxiang was published. In 1970, the" Barefoot Doctor "Handbook, edited by Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Zhejiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, was published by the" Shanghai Publishing Revolution Group ". These two books, centered on the treatment of common diseases of farmers, are clear, simple, and practical. They have not only become a necessary textbook for "barefoot doctors" to learn, but also attracted extensive attention from the international community. In particular, the "Barefoot Doctor" Handbook "is not only available to all" barefoot doctors "in the country, but also to doctors in regular hospitals for their reference when treating patients. Many ordinary people also buy and read it to increase their medical knowledge and compare it to understand their own and their family's health; sick people also use it to learn about some treatment methods. Some people even say that the" Barefoot Doctor "Handbook was the book that was only second in circulation to" Chairperson Mao's Quotations "in that year, and there is a certain truth to this." After the "Barefoot Doctor" Handbook was published, UNESCO translated it into more than 50 languages and distributed it all over the world. The English version of the "Barefoot Doctor" Handbook can still be seen in bookstores in many countries today. In 1972, a group of scholars from Stanford University in the United States filmed a 52-minute documentary "Barefoot Doctor in Rural China" in China, which was dedicated to introducing "Barefoot Doctor" to foreign countries. This documentary truly recorded the situation of "Barefoot Doctor" in China at that time. After the film was screened in many countries, it caused a strong response. It is this film that has introduced China's "barefoot doctor" to the world and promoted the global "Chinese'barefoot doctor 'fever". "The Barefoot Doctor Handbook" Chairperson Mao instructs the commemorative seal Barefoot Doctor Propaganda Picture Barefoot Doctor Porcelain Plate Artwork Barefoot Doctor Medicine Picture Huang Zhou (1976) as Dai Barefoot Doctor Huang Zhou's works Barefoot Doctor Huang Zhou's Barefoot Doctor Seal: Huang Zhou's title: Huang Zhou practiced his pen during his illness. Barefoot Doctor Huang Zhou's 1975 as Barefoot Doctor Huang Zhou's Chinese painting Fang Zengxian's "Barefoot Doctor Warming Our Heart" Barefoot Doctor, engraving Jingdezhen Master Wu Kang's 72-year-old work Barefoot Doctor to the Countryside Cultural Revolution Barefoot Doctor Porcelain Vase