Historical Shifts in China's Forensic Medicine Education and Service Mode Since 1949

China (only China mainland included in this article) differs significantly from any other country of the world, in terms of its current system of forensic medicine, which could be generally characterized by "the three world's firsts": the world's first to establish undergraduate degree in forensic medicine nationally, the world's first to add forensic medicine division to police criminal investigation system nationally, and the world's first to permit market-oriented forensic medicine services nationally. To understand how such an interesting system was developed, the important historical shifts in China's forensic medicine education and service mode that have ever occurred since 1949 are analyzed in this article. Then the advantages and deficiencies of the current system are briefly discussed. Finally, principles for China's future forensic medicine system are proposed.