A Group Study Of Rural Barefoot Doctors (1965?1985)

The group of barefoot doctor emerged in the 1960 s and was active in the period of the “Cultural Revolution”.It retired from the stage of history during the process of reform and opening up.The rise and fall of evolution was consistent with time changes,and its life track reflected strong characteristics of times.This group deserves studying.Centering on Beijing suburbs,this article combines oral materials with interviewing historical materials on the basis of a large amount of archives and historical materials.Meanwhile,it investigates the rise background of the group and history evolution from the perspective of "bottom-up",mainly using historical method supplemented by sociological approach.This article focuses on such problems as the composition of the group,medical technology and practice,business relations,political,and social network,occupational mobility,treatment,and social status to discuss the feature characteristics,status and role of barefoot doctors.Through the sorting and discussion of this topic,we can also present the changes of rural medical system and the daily medical activities in rural areas.The whole thesis consists of six chapters:The first chapter investigates the rural medical and health situation during the Republic of China and the early Republic.During the period of the Republic of China,the rural medical service was still dominated by the traditional way,the modern public medical system was far from being established,and the public medical facilities were incomplete.After the founding of the Republic,the new regime transformed the original rural traditional medical methods in the process of transforming society,and begun to establish a modern rural public medical system,which created conditions for the rise of barefoot doctors.The large-scale training of semi-agricultural,semi-medical,non-producing health workers and new birth attendants constitute the basis for the organization of barefoot doctors.The historical evolution of the group of barefoot doctors is closely related to the operation of the rural cooperative medical system.With the rise,prosperity and disintegration of rural cooperative medical service,the barefoot doctors have gone through the process of prosperity and gradual fall.The second chapter describes and analyzes the structure of barefoot doctors in Beijing suburbs.The analysis of group structure is mainly from the aspects of education level,age,sex ratio,political status,family origin and so on;in addition,a comparative analysis method is used to compare the development profile of Beijing's barefoot doctors with the national situation,and to compare the barefoot doctors' groups in Beijing suburb with that of other provinces and cities in terms of both number and structure.Through comparison and analysis,the structural characteristics of the barefoot doctors in the Beijing suburbs will be obtained.The third chapter introduces the medical technology of the barefoot doctors in Beijing suburb.It's mainly from two aspects: on the one hand,it discusses the diagnosis and treatment methods of barefoot doctors in the Beijing suburbs;on the other hand,it discusses the ways in which Beijing Barefoot doctors improve their medical technology.The treatment methods of barefoot doctors include therapies of Chinese medicine,Western medicine and Chinese and Western medicine,which are basically consistent with the various regions.The ways of promoting medical technology for barefoot doctors in the Beijing suburbs mainly include training,assessment,and rotation exchange systems.In terms of promotion,the Beijing suburbs have unique characteristics.In particular,training work has a certain relationship with the capital's advantages in medical resources and special political status.The fourth chapter investigates the medical practice activities of the barefoot doctors in the Beijing suburbs.The medical practices they participate in mainly include disease prevention and treatment;patriotic public health campaigns centered on disease prevention;the mining,planting,making,and using herbal medicine campaigns;doing well in family planning and maternal and child hygiene;medical treatment of major disasters and sudden poisonings.The investigation of medical practice activities will help us to gain a much clearer understanding of career status of the barefoot doctors.The fifth chapter explores the business relations,political and social networks of barefoot doctors in Beijing suburbs.It mainly analyzes the two levels of management of barefoot doctors and the relationship between barefoot doctors and various types of people in villages from the barefoot doctor's administrative and business management agencies;in addition,it also introduces the participation of barefoot doctors in Beijing suburbs in political and social activities.The sixth chapter investigates the career mobility,treatment,and social status of the barefoot doctors in Beijing suburbs.It is mainly based on the background of the times.From the era of Mao Zedong to the age of reform,the treatment and social status of barefoot doctors have changed.Occupational mobility runs through two periods,but in different periods,there are differences in the way of professional mobility among barefoot doctors.In the era of reform,the group structure of barefoot doctors has greatly changed,and the number of teams has rapidly reduced.During this period,the career flow of barefoot doctors has new features different from those of Mao Zedong's era,with a wider range of occupations and more frequent mobility.