In Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, Alice finds herself facing a difficult conundrum. She's running towards a distant hill; yet no matter how quickly she runs, her surroundings move with her, effectively stranding her. She meets the enigmatic Red Queen. "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place," the Queen explains. "If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!" China's healthcare system suffers from the same problem – despite running at full speed over the past few decades, it can't possibly move fast enough to keep up with the country's social and economic changes.