Barefoot doctors Report from Tungting - A People's Commune on Taihu Lake by Wu Chou is a booklet published in 1975 by Beijing Foreign Languages Press. It's an exhaustive description (49 pages, 24 pictures) of the Dongting's People's Commune near Suzhou, and as the Publisher's Note says, "its publication is undertaken with the hope that it will enhance our readers' understanding of the essential features of the Chinese people's commune". This month we publish extracts and images about so-called barefoot doctors, a typical product of the Cultural Revolution. "A 'barefoot' doctor is a peasant who does part-time medical work... With their medical kits slung over their shoulders, they called on patients in their homes, and when not occupied with medical tasks, they worked barefoot in the paddy fields. The peasants recognized this type of doctor as their own and fondly gave them the name. Hsingkuang Production Brigade has some 290 households with a total population of 1298 organized into seven teams. The brigade provides a house for the co-operative medical station and assigns two 'barefoot' doctors and one midwife there... These two 'barefoot' doctors are very close to the people and serve them devotedly. There are many moving stories about Shen Pennan, a young man, and the young woman Hsing Yichen... Shen's formal education was only five years of primary school. After two months' training in the commune hospital, he began serving as 'barefoot' doctor in the brigade..." "With self-reliance as watchword, the commune hospital pharmacy has, since March 1970, prepared nearly 100 varities of plasters, pills and drugs for injection from medicinal herbs. New drugs are tested first on animals and then repeatedly on the medical personnel themselves for safety and efficacy in clinical use. These herbal drugs are popular and have proved their worth... Some members were skeptical of the efficacy of herbal medicines. The 'barefoot' doctors, however, were sure they would be accepted when people saw the results... The merits of co-operative medicine are increasingly patent; 'barefoot' doctors are progressing rapidly in professional skill and medicinal herbs are being used on growing scale."