TNAG-2293-FCO40-3305-Official-visits-from-Hong-Kong-to-China-1991 — Page 146

9:

responsible

for writing the report of this briefing, I

shall not repeat myself here but, in my opinion, it was the

-best briefing we received. Mr LU is a professional

economist who was able to give a very clear and concise but

comprehensive briefing. We had a stimulating question and

answer session afterwards.

Japanese

lunch

Rather

significantly,

the

to which we were treated was the only

official meal we had which was not Chinese. It was almost

as if the

·

Commission was underlining the message that it

was open to foreign ideas and influences.

response

to

During lunch, in

my question, Mr LJ replied that Czechoslovakia

and Hungary had asked for

their economies along the

they

were

encountering

considerable problems

China's help in restructuring

lines of a 'mixed economy' as

in the

conversion from socialist to capitalist economies.

.

Ministry of Public Health (MPH)

19.

The briefing was conducted by Professor WANG

五賀祥

Hexiang (

) Chief of the General and Planning

Division in the Department

of Health and Epidemic

Prevention,

and some of his colleagues. Since 1949, the

ministry's policy has been to serve the people and prevent

disease, and unite western and traditional Chinese

medicine. A multi-purpose network of medical care has been

established throughout the country ranging from village

clinics to major hospitals at city and provincial levels.

There is a shortage of beds, particularly for convalescent