A Chinese hospital experience. First of all, I love socialized health care. It's cheap and effective. I had a minor procedure done at the local People's hospital today. It seems as if my ears were blocked. It's not pretty, but a condition that causes a fair amount of grief all the same. In the USA when one has a problem, they make an appointment with their family doctor and wait for two weeks until the doctor can see them or, if the problem requires immediate attention, they call upon the Emergency Room, affectionately known in medical circles as the E.R. Well, here in the People's Republic, you just saunter up to the check in counter, prefferably with someone who speaks Chinese, tell them your problem, and go to the specified unit of the hospital. I followed protocal and was instructed to make my way to the fourth floor of the building to the "Ear, Throat, and Eye" department. Upon sitting down, I was given a brief examination in which it was detetermined that I had a substantial amount of earwax buildup that was causing hearing problems and at times a slight loss of equilibrium. I was then instructed to go back downstairs to the pharmacy and get a solution to flush my ears out with. I brought the solution and the gigantic, scary syringe that came with it back to the ear specialist who motioned for me to sit down. Upon giving me a bit closer examination, it was clear he was a bit shocked if not disgusted. I can't blame him; if I had to spend all day with my hands in people's grotesquely dirty ears and dripping noses, I'd be a bit peeved too. He didn't waste any time however and got right down to business. He began poking and proding in my ear and then finally taking the cleaning solution and syringe out of it's package. I was a bit scared at the length of of this syringe, it was well over four inches long and I was beginning to panic. He thrust the thing into my ear and flushed my ear out and went to work with some tweezers and before I knew a chunk of earwax that looked like it weighed approximately a half kilogram came out in all it's glory. For the first time in months, I could hear small noises and with crystal clear clarity no less. He grunted quickly and turned his attention onto the other ear where he performed the same procedure with much the same result. I must admit that I felt like a new man, and was grateful for his work. I promptly paid my 20 kuai fee for the procedure which would no doubt have cost 50 times more in the USA and left for a quick bite to eat. Cheers to Chinese medical ear experts.