Part 8 - DW062 001 029 008

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8 BEING ILL IN CHINA PART 2 (Part 1 of this article appeared in "New Age" No.3.) My post-operative treat- ment included both modern medicine and traditional herbal medicine practised by the people for many centuries. The dressing on on my wound was impregnated with herbal oil which took away all itching. Anyone who has had a penicillin injection in the backside knows how painful they can be. But each injection I had was accompanied by a muscle massage. This made the muscles relax and the injections pain-free, even though they took a little longer. The emphasis all the time was on making the patient as comfortable as possible. I was given a room to myself and was a little concerned that this was preferential treatment, but as soon as I was able to walk reasonable distan- ces, I found that many patients, Chinese and non- Chinese alike, were in individual rooms, while others held only three or four patients, usually those well on the way to recovery. Also the corri- dors were mixed both in terms of sexes and adults and children. On my corridor there was a five-year old Morr- occan boy in hospital for a hernia operation. His mother, the wife of a dip- lomat, had given birth in the Capital Hospital and preferred her son to have the operation in China rather than at home. She was living in with her son and his younger brother was allowed in each day to play with him. The idea was that the child lived in this way for a week so he was completely happy and adjusted to his envir- onment when it was time for the operation when it was time for the operation. This was the rule rat- her than the exception. An English couple I met in Canton, who teach English, told me that when the hus- band had to have an opera- tion, his wife was asked to stay with him in the hos- pital so he would not feel strange and would be relaxed, Elsewhere in the Capital Hospital, relatives were living in with seriously-ill people, and even doing minor nursing tasks-fetching and carrying. The whole atmos- phere was one of community involvement and service. One particular incid- ent struck this home. I was inundated with fruit, sweets and chocolates from many friends in Peking, both Chinese and non-Chin- ese. In fact, it became embarassing. I gave many to other patients but still found I had too many, so I began leaving them on the nurses'desk. However, at the end of the day, they were returned to me in a small white dish. At first, I felt a bit annoyed but Dr. Chou explained to me that in old China, medical treatment had depended on bribery and gifts. In new China, the motto is "Serve the People" and doctors and nurses felt they should not take any gifts from people for their service, no matter how small the gift. Of course, a great deal more remains to be done in China. It is a poor country and is still developing its resources, but all those resources are channelled to the needs of the peo- ple. The main thing is that relations between people have changed with the establishment of soc- ialism. Looking at our wealth of resources in this country, I think, how magnificent could our national health sys- tem be if we destroyed capitalism and built a socialist system. Z.A. ANTI-CHINA RUBBISH ON ITV (Contributed) Independent Television (ITV) recently featured a programme by the pseudo- comadian Benny Hill, which was utterly banal, racist and sexist and its humour can only be described as lavatorial. Most obnox- ious was a sketch osten- sibly consisting of an interview with the"Chin- ese Minister of Culture." This sketch was grotes- quely racist, and an affront to the great Chinese people and to the British people, whose warm feelings of friendship towards the Chinese people are growing steadily day by day. This kind of rub- bish can in no way de- tract from the great prestige of China among the peoples of the world. ITV should be warned by Chairman Mao's statement, "The Chinese people have stood up." The days when the Chinese, people could be push- ed around by foreign imperialists are gone forever. Benny Hill and ITV are going against the trend of history. Chinese workers, armed politically and with guns, are ready at any time to defend all the gains they have made since Liberation. This paper, "New Age," is a paper of and for the working people of Britain. We welcome contributions from our readers. Com- ments and criticisms can be very valuable in helping us to improve the paper; information and articles are also very useful. Readers can also help by sending financial cont- ributions and subscribing (£2 a year), which will help us put the paper on a firm financial footing; selling the paper is first and foremost a political job-if readers buy a few extra copies of each issue to sell, they will be making a contribution to the struggle to build a revolutionary movement, with, in the future, a single revolutionary party of the working class at its core. Please send all subscriptions to: "New Age," October Books, 4B, Temple Court, LIVERPOOL 2. "New Age" is published by the COMMUNIST WORKERS' MOVEMENT (C.W.M.), a young Marxist-Leninist organ- ization of revolutionaries in Britain, which be- lieves that the building of a revolutionary party of the working class is essential for the struggle for a socialist Britain. Our programme, a short general statement of our views, is available from the above address at 15p post paid. Copies of "New Age" are 20p post paid. Please write for details of reductions for bulk orders and discount for shops. Imperialist soc- iety is in a state of deep decay; naturally, its culture reflects that. Decadent and de- generate culture is actively promoted, from stuff like the Benny Hill Show thr- ough to hard-core pornography. A racist, sexist, anti-working class thread runs through and links them. When the British work- ers take power, they will repudiate this in- sulting trash and build a shining new culture, based on the finest cultural trad- itions of the British peoples and adapting the best elements of the culture of the international pro- letariat, including that of China and Al- bania and other soc- ialist countries, and that built by peoples in anti-imp- erialist struggle. Scum like Benny Hill will have no place in socialist culture-for the first time in their lives they will have to make an honest living!

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