Introduction

A great deal has been written about the Chinese health care system, particularly in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Many articles and books described the unique features of the system: the use of peasants as Barefoot Doctors and the preservation and pervasive use of Chinese Traditional medicine as well as the mass campaigns to eliminate health problems. Specifically, the stimulation of private enterprise has opened up the possibilities for private medicine, a startling development for anyone whose encounters with the Chinese health care system were in the 1970s. Chinese health policy evolves within the same general framework that shapes every national health policy: political ideology and economic resources. As these have changed, health policy has changed but always with roots in previous historical developments. The ability to implement the family planning program, particularly in the more Traditional rural countryside, becomes a key factor in the modernization process.