I cut my humanitarian teeth in China in the 1970s and 1980s when an unprecedented 83% of the population was suffering from poverty and malnutrition, one of the highest in the world. I was one of the few foreign physicians continually invited back under Maoʼs repressive regime. This allowed me an unprecedented view of Chinaʼs attempt to re-define what is the anthesis to the established global WHO requirements that guaranteed population-based public health protections. I taught basic public health management and reforms and helped establish emergency services to many hospitals. I was engaged in these activities while the government emphasized unprecedented industrial and economic development that contributed to rapid and “remarkable achievements” in the overall social and economic health of the population.