Wayne Soon's book on the rise of global medicine in China in the first half of the twentieth century addresses its lessons directly to the People's Republic of China in the midst of a global pandemic—transparency and global cooperation are key to coming to terms with a health crisis. Essentially a triple biography of three extraordinary transnational figures—Wu Lien-teh (1879–1960), Lim Boon Keng (Lin Wenqing 1869–1957), and Robert Lim (Lin Kesheng 1897–1969), each born of southern Chinese migrants to British-controlled Straits colonies of Singapore or Penang and educated at leading medical schools in Great Britain—Global Medicine in China argues that overseas Chinese were critical to the establishment of modern medicine in China.