development of basic education, clinical teaching, and
curriculum. This desire for pragmatism is closely related to
the social and political environment in China. Mao Zedong,
ruler in the 1950s and 1960s, promulgated that health care,
encompassing primary health care (PHC) and hospital care,
should be pragmatic in serving the needs of the people (Liu,
1993). The ideology of pragmatism in Chinese society is
further reinforced and well illustrated by Deng Xiaoping’s
“Maxim of white and black cat.” Deng asserted that as long
as the cat catches mice, it does not matter whether the cat is
white or black. Throughout the ruling days of Mao and Deng,
health care remained one of the key pragmatic social services
for promoting the health of Chinese people (Fung, 1998; Lin,
1998).