Doctor Ma Chao treats a patient at Tianjin Xiqing Hospital in north China. The 60-year-old has worked as a doctor since 1989, specialising in animal-induced injuries. August 18, 2026. [Xinhua]
Half a century ago, a "barefoot doctor" in rural China might have carried little more than a bag of basic medicines, a few syringes and a dozen or so needles.
Today, those humble practitioners have given way to a vast and diverse healthcare workforce operating within the world's largest health system that spans village clinics, county hospitals and advanced medical centres equipped with cutting-edge technologies.
As China marks its ninth Doctors' Day on Wednesday, the evolution of its healthcare system offers a striking lens through which to view how generations of medical workers have helped build a healthier nation. The journey has taken them from delivering basic care in villages to deploying artificial intelligence (AI), surgical robots and brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies in everyday clinical practice.
