2007 - FIP Beijing: Day 6: Wed 5 Sep

The day started off with military precision, with everyone needing to be on the bus at 9am sharp. We then left for the first visit complete with Military Police escort! And beware if you did not get out of the way quickly enough – wow! On entrance to each base, there were soldiers with flags signposting the way. The first presentation of the day was at the 255 Hospital of the 3^rd Division. From the presentation it was out into the grounds of the hospital to inspect both the Field Medical Station and the Field Medical Shelters. Then, after getting all hot and sweaty, it was time for lunch, and what a lunch it was. The Chinese certainly know how to entertain, and a sumptuous lunch, including beer, was had by all.

It was then back on the bus, with more soldiers waving flags and the MPs still out in front. We were off to the 302 Hospital. This hospital was founded in July 1954 and is the only establishment of the CPLA specialised in epidemic diseases. The mission of the hospital is to improve the health care service by integrating Chinese and western medicines with the emphasis on research and practicality. It provides support to military staff, their dependents, veterans and other civilians. The area covered by the hospital is 13.3 ha, with the gross floor area being 13 ha. It has 700 beds, with outpatient visits reaching 280 000 annually. The hospital has over 1 100 faculties, with 31 outpatient departments, clinical laboratories, and research laboratories. The pharmacy department encompasses outpatient and hospital (in-patient) pharmacies, which have a wide variety of functions including drug preparation, research, clinical tests and tryouts (trials) and academic exchanges. In integrating Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) with western medicine, the hospital has carried out research on anti-viral, icterus-reducing and anti-liver cancer drugs, and has developed three new TCM drugs and has another eight drugs under research. TCM currently make up over one third of all drugs used in the hospital.

We finished the tour of the 302 Hosp a bit earlier than anticipated and as it was too early to go to the restaurant for dinner, Zheng-yu took us for a surprise tour. We went to check out the Old City Wall and the Lugou (or Marco Polo) Bridge. For those of you not aware, this is the route that Mr Polo took on his travel through China.

We then made our way to the restaurant, via the 301 Hospital. This must be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, hospital in the world. It covers approximately 10 city blocks, and has a 10 000-bed capacity, and is always undergoing maintenance.

Dinner was taken Hua Yan (China Banquet), a 5-star restaurant, for a gut busting dinner. Never have I eaten so much. The restaurant itself looked so good that I was almost afraid to walk around lest I broke something! The dinner itself consisted of about nine courses and had something for everyone. Much fun was had by everyone, especially those consuming the Rice Wine which was the mild version at 38% alc. This drink has affectionately been nicknamed Traditional Chinese Water (TCW), and drunk from a thimble size glass, which was just as well as there would have been a few sore heads the next day.