Current perspectives on medical education in China

A number of factors in recent years have greatly increased the expectations of the people of China of their health care system. Dramatic economic growth during the last few decades has brought about an increase in general living standards for a sizeable proportion of China's population, and with it a greater demand for quality health services. At the same time, the opening up of China's interactions with the outside world, particularly through international trade and communications, has generated increased awareness of the possibilities of modern systems of medical care as provided elsewhere in the developed world. These influences have led to growing pressure on the Chinese medical education system to produce medical practitioners able to meet these enhanced expectations for care. Modernisation has not been a straightforward process.