The world has witnessed rapid economic progress in mainland China since it adopted the "reform and opening up" policy in 1978. The gross domestic product of China significantly increased from 268.3 billion USD in 1978 to 5.88 trillion USD in 2010. In the meantime, critical care medicine has been increasingly recognized and provided in mainland China (Fig. 1) as described in detail elsewhere [1]. It is estimated that intensive care unit (ICU) beds might account for 1.8 % of total hospital beds in China [1]. Limited data also suggest that patients in Chinese ICUs exhibit a case mix similar to those in western countries. Furthermore, clinical practice in Chinese ICUs is also similar to that in developed countries [2].
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