G: TL;DR: A small but notable percentage — likely under 10% — of what gets called "ancient Eastern remedies" in alternative medicine circles actually originates from 20th-century Communist-era compilations, like Mao's "barefoot doctor" manuals. These were not ancient, but stopgap measures when real medicine was unavailable.

---

Details:

• During the Cultural Revolution, Mao Zedong promoted Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) as part of nationalist propaganda and due to a lack of access to Western medicine for rural populations.
• The "barefoot doctor" manuals were compilations of folk remedies, cheap herbal treatments, and simplistic medical advice, often stripped of deeper traditional context or modern scientific basis.
• Much of what is sold today as "ancient Chinese wisdom" — particularly in the West — often traces back to these 1950s–70s rebrandings rather than to authentic pre-modern practices.
• That said, most alt-medicine references blend material from:
  • Actual ancient TCM (e.g., acupuncture, qi theory),
  • Folk knowledge,
  • Communist-era improvisations,
  • And modern pseudoscience or marketing.

So: While exact stats are hard to pin down, a minority (probably <10%) of "ancient" remedies are rooted in these mid-20th-century improvisational efforts, but they have an outsized influence on how TCM was exported and marketed.

Want examples of remedies or treatments that fall into that category?