[Historical perspective of progress and achievement on epidemiology in the past 70 years in China].

Epidemiology is a discipline developed in the practice of preventing diseases and promoting health and is the key of public health and preventive medicine. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, with the changing of disease pattern in populations, the applications of epidemiology now have expanded from infectious diseases to chronic non-communicable diseases, injuries and health related events. The discipline has made remarkable achievements in the field of disease prevention and control, scientific research and teaching, institution building and academic journals. In this paper we briefly review the history and achievements of epidemiology in China in the past 70 years, and explore the future development of the discipline, which may leave a trace of history for the development of epidemiology in China.