In the late Ching Dynasty, with the aim of raising the nation from its sunken condition, the court ordered Yuan Shih-kai to recruit and train a new army. Yuan established the Northern Military Medical School in 1902 in Tianjin. In 1912, in the first year of the Republic of China, the name of the school was changed to the Army Medical School. In 1936, the name was changed again to the Military Medical School. During the Sino-Japanese War, the government established the Army Public Health Training Academy in Kweiyang, Kweichow Province in order to train the massive number of medics needed during wartime. In June of 1947, the two schools merged to become the National Defense Medical Center. In 1949, when the government moved to Taiwan, the school moved from the Mainland to its campus on Shuiyuan Road in Taipei. In May 2000, the school became part of National Defense University. The year 2001 is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the National Defense Medical Center, and so the Directorate General of Posts is issuing a set of two stamps to commemorate the occasion. The stamps are scheduled to be released on November 23, 2001, with denominations of NT$5.00 and NT$25.00. The stamps feature depictions of buildings old and new. The NT$5.00 stamp shows the old school building on Shuiyuan Road, with a scene displaying the frugal campus life style of those days in the background. The NT$25.00 stamp features the new school building, a scene in one of its labs, and an image of DNA. The two stamps form a strong contrast of old and new. The stamps were painted by Mr. Ben Wang and printed in color deep-etch offset by China Color Printing Co., Ltd. The National Defense Medical Center is now part of a general medical center. At the school, students can pursue coursework in eight different areas: medicine, dentistry, pharmacology, nursing, public health engineering, public health equipment, public health inspection, and public health administration. There are six different levels of coursework, including basic education, specialized education and medical technique training. In October 1999, both the school and its affiliated hospital, the Tri-Service General Hospital, moved to the Neihu area of Taipei, where they were renamed collectively as the National Defense Medical Center. The center integrates teaching, research and medical care. In May 2000, the school became a part of National Defense University. The school has five departments: medicine, dentistry, pharmacology, nursing and public health, as well as 12 master's programs and 2 doctoral programs. Employing the most advanced equipment and teaching methods, it has cultivated numerous high-level teachers, researchers and medical personnel. It has made a major contribution to raising medical standards in our country and to the nation's internationalization. First-day covers, folders with and without crystal mounts and loose-leaf album pages will be released along with the stamps. These will go on sale November 21, 2001. Pre-cancelled FDCs with the full set of stamps or with just one lower-value stamp will go on sale November 23, 2001, the stamps' date of issue. For further information, please refer to the upcoming Philatelic Bulletin or Postal Service Today.