Integration of Traditional and Folk Medicine into the State Healthcare System: The Experience of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China (1949-1966).

The subject of the study is the process of integrating traditional and folk medicine practices into the healthcare system of China, taking the Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia as an example, from the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 until the beginning of the "cultural revolution" in 1966. The aim of the work is to identify the prerequisites, conditions, and specific measures for incorporating traditional medicine into the state healthcare system of China and Inner Mongolia. The author examines aspects of integration such as methods of implementation, the state of medical infrastructure during the studied period, and the attitude of the leadership of the People's Republic of China towards traditional medicine. The article explains the relevance of research on the integration of traditional medicine and analyzes the phenomenon of traditional medicine and its relationship with conventional medicine. The work is conducted within the framework of the history of medicine. During the study, based on English-language and Chinese-language literature and sources, the mechanisms of integration that ensured its successful outcome are revealed. The novelty of the research lies in highlighting a little-studied aspect of healthcare in China in Russian historical science—the integration of traditional and folk medicine. It is revealed that a turning point in the history of traditional medicine in China was the founding of the People's Republic of China. The "integration of Western and Chinese medicine" became one of the principles of healthcare in the People's Republic of China. The study found that alongside traditional Chinese medicine, Mongolian (or Mongolo-Tibetan) medicine also received recognition and development within the healthcare system. From the mid-1950s, active efforts were made to attract traditional medicine practitioners to work in hospitals and other healthcare institutions in urban and rural areas, with ancient literature being collected, knowledge of traditional medicine being systematized, and relevant higher medical education programs organized. It was concluded that the integration efforts made before 1966 ensured its successful implementation after the period of the "cultural revolution" from 1966 to 1976, during which the development of traditional medicine in China and Inner Mongolia was harmed. The period from 1949 to 1966 laid the foundation for the modern healthcare system of the People's Republic of China, in which traditional medicine plays a significant role.

traditional medicine, folk medicine, eastern medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, Mongolian medicine, history of medicine, history of China, history of Inner Mongolia, traditional Mongolian medicine, integration of traditional medicine