During the ten years of the Cultural Revolution, aimed at "smashing the four olds," the proletariat was on top and intellectuals became the "stinking old ninth" (I.e., the ninth category of class enemies). As early as 1958 "barefoot doctors" appeared in the countryside. These were ordinary people with only basic, common-sense medical knowledge.
文革 10 年「破四舊」，無產階級當家，知識份子被打成臭老九；幾十年前，農村出現一批聊備簡單醫學常識的「赤腳醫生」，目前仍在偏遠農村執業。