China's long struggle with rural coverage for health care goes back to the early part of the 20th century. However, these early efforts were seen at that time as unsuccessful. 1 Although the Government tried to draft private practitioners into the rural medical service corps, 2 delivery of health care was still scarce after 1949. Health-care expenditure for 8·3 million urban citizens covered by the state was more than that for 500 million peasants in 1964. 3 After Mao Zedong criticised the urban bias of medical services and pointed out the stress placed on rural areas in 1965, 4 mobile teams of doctors from urban hospitals were sent to deliver health care and train indigenous paramedics.