Fifteen years have passed since the 8thNational Surgical Conference convened in1963.These fifteen years have been veryeventful in China.We have gone through theunprecedented proletarian cultural revolu-tion.Lin Piao and the"gang of four"didimmense damage to our culture,education,science and technology.However,the politicalconsciousness of the Chinese people,surgicalworkers included,had been greatly heightenedso that they were able to wage strugglessuccessfully against these evil forces.Atpresent,our situation is excellent.Millions ofpeople rally closely round the Central Com-