Comrade ××:

This document is very good. The suggestion of the Party Leadership Group of the Ministry of Public Health is contained in the last paragraph: henceforth, classes for Western-trained physicians to leave their posts and study traditional Chinese medicine should be organized, with each provincial, municipal, and autonomous regional Party committee taking charge of their implementation. In my view, if each province, municipality, and autonomous region could establish one such class in 1958, each accommodating seventy to eighty physicians and lasting two years, then by the winter of 1960 or the spring of 1961 we would have approximately two thousand highly qualified physicians trained in both Western and Chinese medicine, among whom there might emerge several outstanding theoreticians.  Please discuss this matter with Comrade Xu ×× and draft a brief directive on behalf of the Central Committee, forwarding the Ministry of Public Health’s report to the local Party committees for their consideration and faithful execution. The directive should emphasize that this is a major undertaking that must not be treated lightly. Chinese medicine constitutes a vast treasure trove, which we ought to strive to explore and elevate. After the directive and its attachments have been issued, they may be published in the People’s Daily.