This chapter takes up the first postcolonial dualism, the notion that Chinese medicine is only ef... more This chapter takes up the first postcolonial dualism, the notion that Chinese medicine is only efficacious for chronic diseases, and Western medicine the superior system for acute illnesses. In contrast to this popular prejudice, this chapter demonstrates through extensive interviews with senior doctors that studied medicine during the Republican period (1911–1945) that doctors of Chinese medicine often specialized in the treatment of acute, infectious diseases in the pre-Communist era. This chapter analyses the implications of these discoveries for re-thinking the history of medicine in 20th-century China. It also argues that the new powers of the centralized Communist state created the social and political conditions of the 1950s that prevented doctors of Chinese medicine from treating acute illnesses. The purifying tendencies of this dualism have pushed doctors of Chinese medicine to exclusively treat chronic diseases or use hybrid therapies to resolve diseases with complex temporal dimensions.
The changing status of the Treatise on Cold Damage over its nearly two millennia of existence is ... more The changing status of the Treatise on Cold Damage over its nearly two millennia of existence is perhaps one of the most interesting and reliable markers of trends in Chinese medicine theory and practice. During the early twentieth century, the Treatise may have reached the pinnacle of its importance when Chinese intellectuals believed that European and Japanese imperialism threatened the survival of the Chinese nation and even the Chinese race. Elite doctors in this period sought to heal the nation, and its frail bodies, by making the Treatise the linchpin of a reformed medical practice. They were inspired by the evidential scholarship trend within Confucianism, the antiquity and empiricism of the Treatise, and the apparent strength and robustness of its formulas. They were also drawn to unique Japanese interpretations of the Treatise, which seemed to be rigorous and scientific enough to compete with biomedicine in Japanese society. To these Chinese elite, the Treatise was the ultimate antidote to the world altering forces of the times and the foundation for building a renewed medical tradition that was distinctly Chinese. But after the Communist Revolution in 1949, the Chinese nation was no longer under threat. It became important to define the uniqueness of the Chinese body rather than dispel its weaknesses and frailties. The significance of the Treatise has ebbed in contemporary Chinese medicine, as it became just one important text among many in defining the modern Chinese body.
This chapter takes up the first postcolonial dualism, the notion that Chinese medicine is only ef... more This chapter takes up the first postcolonial dualism, the notion that Chinese medicine is only efficacious for chronic diseases, and Western medicine the superior system for acute illnesses. In contrast to this popular prejudice, this chapter demonstrates through extensive interviews with senior doctors that studied medicine during the Republican period (1911–1945) that doctors of Chinese medicine often specialized in the treatment of acute, infectious diseases in the pre-Communist era. This chapter analyses the implications of these discoveries for re-thinking the history of medicine in 20th-century China. It also argues that the new powers of the centralized Communist state created the social and political conditions of the 1950s that prevented doctors of Chinese medicine from treating acute illnesses. The purifying tendencies of this dualism have pushed doctors of Chinese medicine to exclusively treat chronic diseases or use hybrid therapies to resolve diseases with complex tempo...
East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal, Jun 1, 2017
This article explores the founding of the Suzhou Hospital of National Medicine in 1939 during the... more This article explores the founding of the Suzhou Hospital of National Medicine in 1939 during the Japanese occupation of Suzhou. We argue that the hospital was the culmination of a period of rich intellectual exchange between traditional Chinese and Japanese physicians in the early twentieth century and provides important insights into the modern development of medicine in both countries. The founding of this hospital was followed closely by leading Japanese Kampo physicians. As the Japanese empire expanded into East Asia, they hoped that they could revitalize their profession at home by disseminating their unique interpretations of the famous Treatise on Cold Damage 傷寒論 abroad. The Chinese doctors that founded the Suzhou Hospital of National Medicine were close readers of Japanese scholarship on the Treatise and were inspired to experiment with a Japanese approach to diagnosis, based on new interpretations of the concept of "presentation" (shō / zheng 證). Unfortunately, the Sino-Japanese War cut short this fascinating dialogue on reforming medicine and set the traditional medicine professions in both countries on new nationalist trajectories. Keywords Kampo medicineÁChinese medicineÁEastern civilizationÁEastern med-icineÁSino-Japanese WarÁTreatise on Cold Damage (Shanghanlun Shōkanron)Á presentation shō / zheng Acknowledgments Keiko Daidoji and Eric I. Karchmer have contributed equally to this article. Its research and writing were carried out as part of the project Beyond Tradition: Ways of Knowing and Styles of Practice in East Asian Medicines 1000 to the Present, funded by a Wellcome Trust
This chapter takes up the first postcolonial dualism, the notion that Chinese medicine is only ef... more This chapter takes up the first postcolonial dualism, the notion that Chinese medicine is only efficacious for chronic diseases, and Western medicine the superior system for acute illnesses. In contrast to this popular prejudice, this chapter demonstrates through extensive interviews with senior doctors that studied medicine during the Republican period (1911–1945) that doctors of Chinese medicine often specialized in the treatment of acute, infectious diseases in the pre-Communist era. This chapter analyses the implications of these discoveries for re-thinking the history of medicine in 20th-century China. It also argues that the new powers of the centralized Communist state created the social and political conditions of the 1950s that prevented doctors of Chinese medicine from treating acute illnesses. The purifying tendencies of this dualism have pushed doctors of Chinese medicine to exclusively treat chronic diseases or use hybrid therapies to resolve diseases with complex temporal dimensions.
The changing status of the Treatise on Cold Damage over its nearly two millennia of existence is ... more The changing status of the Treatise on Cold Damage over its nearly two millennia of existence is perhaps one of the most interesting and reliable markers of trends in Chinese medicine theory and practice. During the early twentieth century, the Treatise may have reached the pinnacle of its importance when Chinese intellectuals believed that European and Japanese imperialism threatened the survival of the Chinese nation and even the Chinese race. Elite doctors in this period sought to heal the nation, and its frail bodies, by making the Treatise the linchpin of a reformed medical practice. They were inspired by the evidential scholarship trend within Confucianism, the antiquity and empiricism of the Treatise, and the apparent strength and robustness of its formulas. They were also drawn to unique Japanese interpretations of the Treatise, which seemed to be rigorous and scientific enough to compete with biomedicine in Japanese society. To these Chinese elite, the Treatise was the ultimate antidote to the world altering forces of the times and the foundation for building a renewed medical tradition that was distinctly Chinese. But after the Communist Revolution in 1949, the Chinese nation was no longer under threat. It became important to define the uniqueness of the Chinese body rather than dispel its weaknesses and frailties. The significance of the Treatise has ebbed in contemporary Chinese medicine, as it became just one important text among many in defining the modern Chinese body.
This chapter takes up the first postcolonial dualism, the notion that Chinese medicine is only ef... more This chapter takes up the first postcolonial dualism, the notion that Chinese medicine is only efficacious for chronic diseases, and Western medicine the superior system for acute illnesses. In contrast to this popular prejudice, this chapter demonstrates through extensive interviews with senior doctors that studied medicine during the Republican period (1911–1945) that doctors of Chinese medicine often specialized in the treatment of acute, infectious diseases in the pre-Communist era. This chapter analyses the implications of these discoveries for re-thinking the history of medicine in 20th-century China. It also argues that the new powers of the centralized Communist state created the social and political conditions of the 1950s that prevented doctors of Chinese medicine from treating acute illnesses. The purifying tendencies of this dualism have pushed doctors of Chinese medicine to exclusively treat chronic diseases or use hybrid therapies to resolve diseases with complex tempo...
East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal, Jun 1, 2017
This article explores the founding of the Suzhou Hospital of National Medicine in 1939 during the... more This article explores the founding of the Suzhou Hospital of National Medicine in 1939 during the Japanese occupation of Suzhou. We argue that the hospital was the culmination of a period of rich intellectual exchange between traditional Chinese and Japanese physicians in the early twentieth century and provides important insights into the modern development of medicine in both countries. The founding of this hospital was followed closely by leading Japanese Kampo physicians. As the Japanese empire expanded into East Asia, they hoped that they could revitalize their profession at home by disseminating their unique interpretations of the famous Treatise on Cold Damage 傷寒論 abroad. The Chinese doctors that founded the Suzhou Hospital of National Medicine were close readers of Japanese scholarship on the Treatise and were inspired to experiment with a Japanese approach to diagnosis, based on new interpretations of the concept of "presentation" (shō / zheng 證). Unfortunately, the Sino-Japanese War cut short this fascinating dialogue on reforming medicine and set the traditional medicine professions in both countries on new nationalist trajectories. Keywords Kampo medicineÁChinese medicineÁEastern civilizationÁEastern med-icineÁSino-Japanese WarÁTreatise on Cold Damage (Shanghanlun Shōkanron)Á presentation shō / zheng Acknowledgments Keiko Daidoji and Eric I. Karchmer have contributed equally to this article. Its research and writing were carried out as part of the project Beyond Tradition: Ways of Knowing and Styles of Practice in East Asian Medicines 1000 to the Present, funded by a Wellcome Trust
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