Comrade Shangkun: [1]

This document [2] is very good. The Ministry of Health Party Group's suggestion is in the last paragraph, namely, that from now on, full-time classes for Western medicine doctors to study traditional Chinese medicine should be organized, with the Party committees of provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions taking responsibility for their operation. I think if in 1958 each province, municipality, and autonomous region can run one full-time class of 70–80 Western medicine doctors to study traditional Chinese medicine, with a two-year term, then by the winter of 1960 or the spring of 1961, we will have approximately 2,000 such senior doctors integrating Chinese and Western medicine, among whom a few brilliant theorists may emerge. Please discuss this matter with Comrade Xu Yunbei [3] and draft a brief directive [4] on behalf of the Central Committee; forward the Ministry of Health's report to local Party committees, asking them to study it and act accordingly. The directive should point out that this is a major matter and must not be treated lightly. Chinese medicine and pharmacology are a great treasure house, and efforts should be made to explore them and raise them to a higher level. After the directive and the attached document are issued, they may be published in the People's Daily.

Mao Zedong
October 11

Based on the manuscript. Included in Selected Letters of Mao Zedong.

--- Notes

[1] Shangkun, i.e., Yang Shangkun, then alternate secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and director of the General Office of the Central Committee.
[2] Refers to the Ministry of Health Party Group's report of September 25, 1958, to Mao Zedong and the Central Committee summarizing the full-time classes for Western medicine doctors studying traditional Chinese medicine. The report states: We began organizing Western medicine doctors to study traditional Chinese medicine in December 1955. In addition to general on-the-job study, we focused on organizing six full-time study classes (203 people) to further promote the widespread study of traditional Chinese medicine by Western medicine doctors and to cultivate a group of backbone personnel in medical treatment, teaching, and the collation and research of traditional Chinese medicine. One class established by the Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine graduated in June of this year. This class was launched in December 1955 with 76 students, all under the age of 40. The study process was as follows: initially studying traditional Chinese medicine policies and dialectical materialism; then studying the basic theories of traditional Chinese medicine (i.e., lecture notes written in modern language on the essentials of the Inner Canon, Treatise on Cold Damage, Synopsis of the Golden Chamber, Classic of Materia Medica, etc.), explaining the treatment principles and theoretical rules of traditional Chinese medicine, primarily through lectures by traditional Chinese medicine teachers and self-study review by students, lasting six months, enabling all students to read any traditional Chinese medical texts; then studying clinical branches of traditional Chinese medicine, mainly through self-study combined with classroom guidance and clinical observation, lasting seven months; finally, one year and three months of clinical internship, dispersed in Beijing, Nanjing, Suzhou, and other places, interning with experienced traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, during which some students went to rural areas to treat patients, with good results and influence. In terms of outcomes, among the 76 people, except for a few who were somewhat weaker, most could generally master the set of treatment principles of traditional Chinese medicine, including theory, method, prescription, and medication. They are already different from ordinary Western or traditional Chinese medicine doctors and can basically use both Western and traditional Chinese medical techniques for clinical, teaching, and research work.
[3] Xu Yunbei, then Party secretary and vice minister of the Ministry of Health.
[4] Refers to the directive of the CPC Central Committee of November 18, 1958, to the Shanghai Bureau and the Party committees of provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, forwarding the Ministry of Health Party Group's summary on organizing full-time classes for Western medicine doctors to study traditional Chinese medicine. The directive states: The experience of the Central Ministry of Health Party Group regarding full-time study of traditional Chinese medicine by Western medicine doctors is very good and is hereby forwarded to you for study and implementation. Chinese medicine and pharmacology are the rich experience and theoretical knowledge accumulated by our people over thousands of years in the struggle against disease; they are a great treasure house that must continue to be diligently explored and raised to a higher level. We must organize forces to earnestly study, research, and collate them. In accordance with the Central Committee's policy, the Ministry of Health has organized a small number of full-time classes for Western medicine doctors to study Chinese medicine and pharmacology, and experience has proven this method to be very good. Where conditions permit, each province, municipality, and autonomous region should run one full-time class of 70 to 80 Western medicine doctors to study traditional Chinese medicine, with a two-year term. The students should have a university-level education and two to three years of clinical experience, preferably with a level of Chinese sufficient to read traditional Chinese medical books. In this way, by the winter of 1960 and the spring of 1961, there will be approximately 2,000 senior doctors nationwide integrating Chinese and Western medicine, among whom a few brilliant theorists may emerge. This is a major matter and must not be treated lightly; please actively carry it out. This directive, together with the Ministry of Health Party Group's report, was published in the People's Daily on November 20, 1958.