Divergent interests and cultivated misunderstandings: The influence of the West on modern Chinese medicine

Social History of Medicine

Volumn 17, Issue 1, 2004, Pages 93-111

  Taylor, Kim ^a  

^a Needham Research Institute   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Basic Theory of TCM; Chinese medicine; Doctors of Western medicine study Chinese medicine; TCM

Indexed keywords

EID: 3943052669     PISSN: 0951631X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/shm/17.1.93     Document Type: Review

References (108)

1. There have been a number of excellent historical studies on medicine and public health covering this period. Much of this, however, has concerned the influence of Western medicine on Chinese medicine as Chinese physicians struggled to play 'catch-up'. For example, early attempts at the adoption of Western anatomy are described in B. J. Andrews, The Making of Modern Chinese Medicine (New York, forthcoming, 2005). The adoption of Western standards of public health is given in R. Rogaski, Hygienic Modernity: Preserving Health and Preventing Disease in Treaty-Port China (California, forthcoming, 2004) , and examples of the Westernization of the 'structure' of the medicine, such as in textbooks, case histories, and schools can be found in E. Hsu (ed.), Innovation in Chinese Medicine (Cambridge, 2001). Chinese-language histories of medicine which link the historical development of Chinese and Western medicines include Zhao Hongjun, History of the Polemics between Chinese and Western Medicines in Modern Times (Hefei, 1989); Ma Boying, Gao Xi, and Hong Zhongli, The History of Intercultural Medicine Communication between China and Foreign Countries (Shanghai, 1993).
2. There have been a number of excellent historical studies on medicine and public health covering this period. Much of this, however, has concerned the influence of Western medicine on Chinese medicine as Chinese physicians struggled to play 'catch-up'. For example, early attempts at the adoption of Western anatomy are described in B. J. Andrews, The Making of Modern Chinese Medicine (New York, forthcoming, 2005). The adoption of Western standards of public health is given in R. Rogaski, Hygienic Modernity: Preserving Health and Preventing Disease in Treaty-Port China (California, forthcoming, 2004) , and examples of the Westernization of the 'structure' of the medicine, such as in textbooks, case histories, and schools can be found in E. Hsu (ed.), Innovation in Chinese Medicine (Cambridge, 2001). Chinese-language histories of medicine which link the historical development of Chinese and Western medicines include Zhao Hongjun, History of the Polemics between Chinese and Western Medicines in Modern Times (Hefei, 1989); Ma Boying , Gao Xi , and Hong Zhongli , The History of Intercultural Medicine Communication between China and Foreign Countries (Shanghai, 1993).
3. There have been a number of excellent historical studies on medicine and public health covering this period. Much of this, however, has concerned the influence of Western medicine on Chinese medicine as Chinese physicians struggled to play 'catch-up'. For example, early attempts at the adoption of Western anatomy are described in B. J. Andrews, The Making of Modern Chinese Medicine (New York, forthcoming, 2005). The adoption of Western standards of public health is given in R. Rogaski, Hygienic Modernity: Preserving Health and Preventing Disease in Treaty-Port China (California, forthcoming, 2004) , and examples of the Westernization of the 'structure' of the medicine, such as in textbooks, case histories, and schools can be found in E. Hsu (ed.), Innovation in Chinese Medicine (Cambridge, 2001). Chinese-language histories of medicine which link the historical development of Chinese and Western medicines include Zhao Hongjun, History of the Polemics between Chinese and Western Medicines in Modern Times (Hefei, 1989); Ma Boying , Gao Xi , and Hong Zhongli , The History of Intercultural Medicine Communication between China and Foreign Countries (Shanghai, 1993).
4. There have been a number of excellent historical studies on medicine and public health covering this period. Much of this, however, has concerned the influence of Western medicine on Chinese medicine as Chinese physicians struggled to play 'catch-up'. For example, early attempts at the adoption of Western anatomy are described in B. J. Andrews, The Making of Modern Chinese Medicine (New York, forthcoming, 2005). The adoption of Western standards of public health is given in R. Rogaski, Hygienic Modernity: Preserving Health and Preventing Disease in Treaty-Port China (California, forthcoming, 2004) , and examples of the Westernization of the 'structure' of the medicine, such as in textbooks, case histories, and schools can be found in E. Hsu (ed.), Innovation in Chinese Medicine (Cambridge, 2001). Chinese-language histories of medicine which link the historical development of Chinese and Western medicines include Zhao Hongjun, History of the Polemics between Chinese and Western Medicines in Modern Times (Hefei, 1989); Ma Boying , Gao Xi , and Hong Zhongli , The History of Intercultural Medicine Communication between China and Foreign Countries (Shanghai, 1993).
5. There have been a number of excellent historical studies on medicine and public health covering this period. Much of this, however, has concerned the influence of Western medicine on Chinese medicine as Chinese physicians struggled to play 'catch-up'. For example, early attempts at the adoption of Western anatomy are described in B. J. Andrews, The Making of Modern Chinese Medicine (New York, forthcoming, 2005). The adoption of Western standards of public health is given in R. Rogaski, Hygienic Modernity: Preserving Health and Preventing Disease in Treaty-Port China (California, forthcoming, 2004) , and examples of the Westernization of the 'structure' of the medicine, such as in textbooks, case histories, and schools can be found in E. Hsu (ed.), Innovation in Chinese Medicine (Cambridge, 2001). Chinese-language histories of medicine which link the historical development of Chinese and Western medicines include Zhao Hongjun, History of the Polemics between Chinese and Western Medicines in Modern Times (Hefei, 1989); Ma Boying , Gao Xi , and Hong Zhongli , The History of Intercultural Medicine Communication between China and Foreign Countries (Shanghai, 1993).
6. I have chosen to adopt the usage of the two mutually exclusive terms 'Western' and 'Chinese' to refer respectively to society in general in Western Europe and the United States of America, and to society in mainland China. While I appreciate that such a generalization does a disservice to the variety of regional scholarly discussion, I feel that my argument can be applied to such broadly defined territory and that it is the more clearly made by doing so.
7. Such tendencies have been observed and analysed in detail by medical anthropologists of China, most particularly, J. Farquhar, Knowing Practice: The Clinical Encounter of Chinese Medicine (Boulder, 1994); E. Hsu, The Transmission of Chinese Medicine (Cambridge, 1999); Scheid, Chinese Medicine in Contemporary China: Plurality and Synthesis (London, 2002).
8. Such tendencies have been observed and analysed in detail by medical anthropologists of China, most particularly, J. Farquhar, Knowing Practice: The Clinical Encounter of Chinese Medicine (Boulder, 1994); E. Hsu, The Transmission of Chinese Medicine (Cambridge, 1999); Scheid, Chinese Medicine in Contemporary China: Plurality and Synthesis (London, 2002).
9. Such tendencies have been observed and analysed in detail by medical anthropologists of China, most particularly, J. Farquhar, Knowing Practice: The Clinical Encounter of Chinese Medicine (Boulder, 1994); E. Hsu, The Transmission of Chinese Medicine (Cambridge, 1999); Scheid, Chinese Medicine in Contemporary China: Plurality and Synthesis (London, 2002).
10. Zhang Yu Huan and K. Rose, Who can Ride the Dragon?: An Exploration of the Cultural Roots of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Brookline, 1999), pp. 2-4.
11. N. Wiseman, 'The Transmission of Chinese Medicine: Chop Suey or the Real Thing?', Clinical Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, 2 (2001), 36-49, p. 45. The full reference is H. Beinfield and E. Korngold, Between Heaven and Earth: A Guide to Chinese Medicine (New York, 1991). At the time of writing this paper, both Zhang and Beinfield's books continued to feature in the top 25 best-selling titles at Redwing Book Co., a specialist book distributor serving the complementary medicine community (www.redwingbooks.com/products/subjects/BES.cfm.).
12. N. Wiseman, 'The Transmission of Chinese Medicine: Chop Suey or the Real Thing?', Clinical Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, 2 (2001), 36-49, p. 45. The full reference is H. Beinfield and E. Korngold, Between Heaven and Earth: A Guide to Chinese Medicine (New York, 1991). At the time of writing this paper, both Zhang and Beinfield's books continued to feature in the top 25 best-selling titles at Redwing Book Co., a specialist book distributor serving the complementary medicine community (www.redwingbooks.com/products/subjects/BES.cfm.).
13. N. Wiseman, 'The Transmission of Chinese Medicine: Chop Suey or the Real Thing?', Clinical Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, 2 (2001), 36-49, p. 45. The full reference is H. Beinfield and E. Korngold, Between Heaven and Earth: A Guide to Chinese Medicine (New York, 1991). At the time of writing this paper, both Zhang and Beinfield's books continued to feature in the top 25 best-selling titles at Redwing Book Co., a specialist book distributor serving the complementary medicine community (www.redwingbooks.com/products/subjects/BES.cfm.).
14. Zhang Longxi, Mighty Opposites: From Dichotomies to Differences in the Comparative Study of China (Stanford, 1998), p. 461.
15. For a fuller description of the dynamics of intellectual exchange between East and West, see J. Ching and W. G. Oxtoby (eds), Discovering China: European Intepretations in the Enlightenment (Rochester, 1992);
16. J. J. Clarke, Oriental Enlightenment: The Encounter between Asian and Western Thought (London, 1997),
17. especially the chapter, 'East-West Encounter in the Twentieth Century', pp. 95-111.
18. E. W. Said, Orientalism (London, 1978), p. 206.
19. Ibid., p. 79.
20. A good overview of the reception of Chinese medical knowledge in the West is to be found in L. L. Barnes, Needles, Herbs, Gods and Ghosts: China, Healing and the West to 1848 (Cambridge MA, forthcoming, 2004).
21. See, in particular, M. Adas, Machines as the Measure of Men: Science, Technology and Ideologies of Western Dominance (London, 1989).
22. For references on the relationship between imperialism and science, see R. Drayton, 'Knowledge and Empire', in P. J. Marshall (ed.), The Oxford History of the British Empire: Eighteenth Century (Oxford, 1998), 321-52;
23. P. Palladino and M. Worboys, 'Science and Imperialism', Isis, 84 (1993), 91-102.
24. For the politics of early Communist China, see, for example, F. C. Teiwes, Politics and Purges in China: Rectification and the Decline of Party Norms, 1950-65 (Dawson, 1979).
25. References for a more general history of China include I. C. Y. Hsü, The Rise of Modern China (Oxford, 2000);
26. R. MacFarquhar and J. K. Fairbank (eds), The Cambridge History of China Vol. 14: The People's Republic, Part I: The Emergence of Revolutionary China (Cambridge, 1987).
27. A representative example of the growing tempering of enthusiasm towards Chinese medicine can be found in the collection of articles in A. Vickers (ed.), Examining Complementary Medicine (Cheltenham, 1998). Other warning calls within the sphere of practitioners include M. Gould, 'Patients Warned of Dangers of Chinese Medicine', British Medical Journal, 323 (2001), 770.
28. A representative example of the growing tempering of enthusiasm towards Chinese medicine can be found in the collection of articles in A. Vickers (ed.), Examining Complementary Medicine (Cheltenham, 1998). Other warning calls within the sphere of practitioners include M. Gould, 'Patients Warned of Dangers of Chinese Medicine', British Medical Journal, 323 (2001), 770.
29. P. U. Unschuld, Medicine in China: A History of Ideas (Berkeley, 1985), p. 2.
30. P. U. Unschuld, 'The Spread of TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) in the Western World. An Attempt at an Explanation of a Surprising Phenomenon", presented at the 'Opening Ceremony and 2nd Roundtable: Ancient Chinese Science and High-Technology: Roots, Fruits and Lessons', Shanghai Institute of Advanced Studies, September 2002.
31. R. C. Croizier, Traditional Medicine in Modern China: Science, Nationalism and the Tensions of Cultural Change (Cambridge MA, 1968), p. 80.
32. 1949 , , Yan Jinhai , 'An Analysis of Chinese Medical Concepts, Medicine and Philosophy, 20 (1999), 7-9, p. 7. In this article Yan Jinhai gives the first occurrence of these terms to be in Benjamin Hobson's 1851 textbook, Brief Discussion of Western Medicine, in the chapter, 'A Discussion of Chinese and Western Medicines' .
33. 1949, Yan Jinhai , 'An Analysis of Chinese Medical Concepts, Medicine and Philosophy, 20 (1999), 7-9, p. 7. In this article Yan Jinhai gives the first occurrence of these terms to be in Benjamin Hobson's 1851 textbook,Brief Discussion of Western Medicine, in the chapter, 'A Discussion of Chinese and Western Medicines' .
34. The medical anthropologists, Judith Farquhar and Elisabeth Hsu, have both paid particular attention to defining TCM as a modern construct. While neither fully date nor contextualize the emergence of this term, they recognize it as medicine restricted to government institutions of the Communist era. See Farquhar, Knowing Practice, p. 11; Hsu, The Transmission of Chinese Medicine, p. 8.
35. The medical anthropologists, Judith Farquhar and Elisabeth Hsu, have both paid particular attention to defining TCM as a modern construct. While neither fully date nor contextualize the emergence of this term, they recognize it as medicine restricted to government institutions of the Communist era. See Farquhar, Knowing Practice, p. 11; Hsu, The Transmission of Chinese Medicine, p. 8.
36. Early histories of medicine in CCP China are few and far between. The best Chinese accounts are Lu Ling , 'State Policy and Organizational Construction for Combining Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine since the Founding of the People's Republic of China, China Historical Materials of Science and Technology, 3 (1999), 189-197; Wang Zhipu and Cai Jingfeng (eds), Fifty Years of Chinese Medicine and Pharmaceutics in China (1949-99) (Fuzhou, 1999), pp. 5-15. Western scholarship includes the somewhat out-dated but still highly relevant Croizier, Traditional Medicine in Modern China; D. Lampton, The Politics of Medicine in China: The Policy Process, 1949-77 (Folkestone, 1977). The early handling of Chinese medicine and the resulting institutionalization and standardization of the medicine in mainland China is the topic of my forthcoming book, Medicine of Revolution: Chinese Medicine in Early Communist China, 1945-63 (London, forthcoming, 2004).
37. Early histories of medicine in CCP China are few and far between. The best Chinese accounts are Lu Ling , 'State Policy and Organizational Construction for Combining Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine since the Founding of the People's Republic of China, China Historical Materials of Science and Technology, 3 (1999), 189-197; Wang Zhipu and Cai Jingfeng (eds), Fifty Years of Chinese Medicine and Pharmaceutics in China (1949-99) (Fuzhou, 1999), pp. 5-15. Western scholarship includes the somewhat out-dated but still highly relevant Croizier, Traditional Medicine in Modern China; D. Lampton, The Politics of Medicine in China: The Policy Process, 1949-77 (Folkestone, 1977). The early handling of Chinese medicine and the resulting institutionalization and standardization of the medicine in mainland China is the topic of my forthcoming book, Medicine of Revolution: Chinese Medicine in Early Communist China, 1945-63 (London, forthcoming, 2004).
38. Early histories of medicine in CCP China are few and far between. The best Chinese accounts are Lu Ling , 'State Policy and Organizational Construction for Combining Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine since the Founding of the People's Republic of China, China Historical Materials of Science and Technology, 3 (1999), 189-197; Wang Zhipu and Cai Jingfeng (eds), Fifty Years of Chinese Medicine and Pharmaceutics in China (1949-99) (Fuzhou, 1999), pp. 5-15. Western scholarship includes the somewhat out-dated but still highly relevant Croizier, Traditional Medicine in Modern China; D. Lampton, The Politics of Medicine in China: The Policy Process, 1949-77 (Folkestone, 1977). The early handling of Chinese medicine and the resulting institutionalization and standardization of the medicine in mainland China is the topic of my forthcoming book, Medicine of Revolution: Chinese Medicine in Early Communist China, 1945-63 (London, forthcoming, 2004).
39. Early histories of medicine in CCP China are few and far between. The best Chinese accounts are Lu Ling , 'State Policy and Organizational Construction for Combining Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine since the Founding of the People's Republic of China, China Historical Materials of Science and Technology, 3 (1999), 189-197; Wang Zhipu and Cai Jingfeng (eds), Fifty Years of Chinese Medicine and Pharmaceutics in China (1949-99) (Fuzhou, 1999), pp. 5-15. Western scholarship includes the somewhat out-dated but still highly relevant Croizier, Traditional Medicine in Modern China; D. Lampton, The Politics of Medicine in China: The Policy Process, 1949-77 (Folkestone, 1977). The early handling of Chinese medicine and the resulting institutionalization and standardization of the medicine in mainland China is the topic of my forthcoming book, Medicine of Revolution: Chinese Medicine in Early Communist China, 1945-63 (London, forthcoming, 2004).
40. Early histories of medicine in CCP China are few and far between. The best Chinese accounts are Lu Ling , 'State Policy and Organizational Construction for Combining Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine since the Founding of the People's Republic of China, China Historical Materials of Science and Technology, 3 (1999), 189-197; Wang Zhipu and Cai Jingfeng (eds), Fifty Years of Chinese Medicine and Pharmaceutics in China (1949-99) (Fuzhou, 1999), pp. 5-15. Western scholarship includes the somewhat out-dated but still highly relevant Croizier, Traditional Medicine in Modern China; D. Lampton, The Politics of Medicine in China: The Policy Process, 1949-77 (Folkestone, 1977). The early handling of Chinese medicine and the resulting institutionalization and standardization of the medicine in mainland China is the topic of my forthcoming book, Medicine of Revolution: Chinese Medicine in Early Communist China, 1945-63 (London, forthcoming, 2004).
41. Guo Moruo , 'Develop the Research of History, Welcome the Climax of Cultural Construction (, )', Historical Research, 1 (1954), 1-4, p. 3. For more information on the reorganization of China's history along Marxist lines, see the epilogue of Q. E. Wang, Inventing China Through History: The May Fourth Approach to Historiography (Albany, 2001), pp. 202-5.
42. , Guo Moruo , 'Develop the Research of History, Welcome the Climax of Cultural Construction (, )', Historical Research, 1 (1954), 1-4, p. 3. For more information on the reorganization of China's history along Marxist lines, see the epilogue of Q. E. Wang, Inventing China Through History: The May Fourth Approach to Historiography (Albany, 2001), pp. 202-5.
43. This revival of China's 'cultural legacy' has been described at some length in R. C. Croizier (ed.), China's Cultural Legacy and Communism (London, 1970); Croizier, Traditional Medicine in Modern China, pp. 175-6. See also Chou Yang, China's New Literature and Art (Peking, 1954).
44. This revival of China's 'cultural legacy' has been described at some length in R. C. Croizier (ed.), China's Cultural Legacy and Communism (London, 1970); Croizier, Traditional Medicine in Modern China, pp. 175-6. See also Chou Yang, China's New Literature and Art (Peking, 1954).
45. This revival of China's 'cultural legacy' has been described at some length in R. C. Croizier (ed.), China's Cultural Legacy and Communism (London, 1970); Croizier, Traditional Medicine in Modern China, pp. 175-6. See also Chou Yang, China's New Literature and Art (Peking, 1954).
46. Histories of medicine in China are a modern affair. They were another product of Chinese medicine's encounter with Western medicine. The first comprehensive history of Chinese medicine to span the length of China's considerable recorded history was produced by the Chinese medical physician, Chen Bangxian (1889-1976), in the book, The History of Medicine in China (Shanghai, 1919).
47. These were: 'A Short History of the Acute Infectious Diseases in China', Chinese Medical Journal, 50 (1936), 172-83; 'Historical Notes on some Vitamin Deficiency Diseases in China', CMJ, 58 (1940), 314-23; 'The History of Tuberculosis in China', CMJ, 61 (1942), 272-9.
48. These were: 'A Short History of the Acute Infectious Diseases in China', Chinese Medical Journal, 50 (1936), 172-83; 'Historical Notes on some Vitamin Deficiency Diseases in China', CMJ, 58 (1940), 314-23; 'The History of Tuberculosis in China', CMJ, 61 (1942), 272-9.
49. These were: 'A Short History of the Acute Infectious Diseases in China', Chinese Medical Journal, 50 (1936), 172-83; 'Historical Notes on some Vitamin Deficiency Diseases in China', CMJ, 58 (1940), 314-23; 'The History of Tuberculosis in China', CMJ, 61 (1942), 272-9.
50. For more details, please see K. Taylor, '"Improving" Chinese Medicine: The Role of Traditional Medicine in Newly Communist China, 1949-53', in A. K. L. Chan, G. K. Clancey, and Hui-Chieh Loy (eds), Historical Perspectives on East Asian Science, Technology and Medicine (Singapore, 2002), 251-63.
51. The implications of this radical, albeit short-lived, scheme of having doctors of Western medicine study Chinese medicine have been somewhat overlooked in histories of Chinese medicine. Works describing this extraordinary programme include Ma et al., History of Intercultural Medicine, pp. 580-4; Cai, General History of Chinese Medicine, pp. 425-6; Taylor, Medicine of Revolution, pp. 107-60.
52. The implications of this radical, albeit short-lived, scheme of having doctors of Western medicine study Chinese medicine have been somewhat overlooked in histories of Chinese medicine. Works describing this extraordinary programme include Ma et al., History of Intercultural Medicine, pp. 580-4; Cai, General History of Chinese Medicine, pp. 425-6; Taylor, Medicine of Revolution, pp. 107-60.
53. The implications of this radical, albeit short-lived, scheme of having doctors of Western medicine study Chinese medicine have been somewhat overlooked in histories of Chinese medicine. Works describing this extraordinary programme include Ma et al., History of Intercultural Medicine, pp. 580-4; Cai, General History of Chinese Medicine, pp. 425-6; Taylor, Medicine of Revolution, pp. 107-60.
54. More details in Hua Zhongfu , 'A Brief History of China's Research Academy of TCM', China Historical Materials of Science and Technology, 7 (5 1986), 47-58, p. 48.
55. There have been innumerable publications on the Great Leap Forward. For a comprehensive overview of the period, a few suggestions are: R. MacFarquhar, The Origins of the Cultural Revolution: Vol. 2 The Great Leap Forward (New York, 1983); A. L. Chan, 'Leaders, Coalition Politics and Policy-formulation in China: The Great Leap Forward Revisited', Journal of Contemporary China, 8 (1995), 57-78. David Lampton also gives a detailed account of public health policy at this time in D. Lampton, 'Health Policy during the Great Leap Forward', China Quarterly, 60 (1974), 668-98.
56. There have been innumerable publications on the Great Leap Forward. For a comprehensive overview of the period, a few suggestions are: R. MacFarquhar, The Origins of the Cultural Revolution: Vol. 2 The Great Leap Forward (New York, 1983); A. L. Chan, 'Leaders, Coalition Politics and Policy-formulation in China: The Great Leap Forward Revisited', Journal of Contemporary China, 8 (1995), 57-78. David Lampton also gives a detailed account of public health policy at this time in D. Lampton, 'Health Policy during the Great Leap Forward', China Quarterly, 60 (1974), 668-98.
57. There have been innumerable publications on the Great Leap Forward. For a comprehensive overview of the period, a few suggestions are: R. MacFarquhar, The Origins of the Cultural Revolution: Vol. 2 The Great Leap Forward (New York, 1983); A. L. Chan, 'Leaders, Coalition Politics and Policy-formulation in China: The Great Leap Forward Revisited', Journal of Contemporary China, 8 (1995), 57-78. David Lampton also gives a detailed account of public health policy at this time in D. Lampton, 'Health Policy during the Great Leap Forward', China Quarterly, 60 (1974), 668-98.
58. For example, the Li Tao article on opthalmology, CMJ (1958), had appeared earlier in the Journal of Chinese Opthalmology, 5 (1956), under the title of, more literally translated as 'Broad Outline of the History of China's Opthalmology'.
59. For example, the Li Tao article on opthalmology, CMJ (1958), had appeared earlier in the Journal of Chinese Opthalmology, 5 (1956), under the title of, more literally translated as 'Broad Outline of the History of China's Opthalmology'.
60. The policy of 'integration' began to take formal root from around 1960. This was a more conservative approach to what had previously been a policy of the 'unification' of the two medicines. For more details, see Taylor, Medicine of Revolution, pp. 199-201. Many mainland China histories of medicine, however, do not make this distinction but tend to lump all activities between Chinese and Western medicine in CCP China under the category of 'integration'. See the discussions in Meng Qingyun (ed.), Fifty Years of the Development of Chinese Medicine and Pharmaceutics in China (1949-99) (Beijing, 1999), pp. 477-80; Ma et al., History of Intercultural Medicine, pp. 584-601.
61. The policy of 'integration' began to take formal root from around 1960. This was a more conservative approach to what had previously been a policy of the 'unification' of the two medicines. For more details, see Taylor, Medicine of Revolution, pp. 199-201. Many mainland China histories of medicine, however, do not make this distinction but tend to lump all activities between Chinese and Western medicine in CCP China under the category of 'integration'. See the discussions in Meng Qingyun (ed.), Fifty Years of the Development of Chinese Medicine and Pharmaceutics in China (1949-99) (Beijing, 1999), pp. 477-80; Ma et al., History of Intercultural Medicine, pp. 584-601.
62. The policy of 'integration' began to take formal root from around 1960. This was a more conservative approach to what had previously been a policy of the 'unification' of the two medicines. For more details, see Taylor, Medicine of Revolution, pp. 199-201. Many mainland China histories of medicine, however, do not make this distinction but tend to lump all activities between Chinese and Western medicine in CCP China under the category of 'integration'. See the discussions in Meng Qingyun (ed.), Fifty Years of the Development of Chinese Medicine and Pharmaceutics in China (1949-99) (Beijing, 1999), pp. 477-80; Ma et al., History of Intercultural Medicine, pp. 584-601.
63. Xu Yunbei, 'Doctors of Chinese and Western Medicine should Unite and Co-operate, [so as to] Diligently Develop our Nation's Medical Science. People's Daily (10 February 1961), p. 7.
64. 'Report of the Ministry of Health's Party Committee Regarding the Circumstances of the National Discussion Group on the Exchange of "doctors of Western medicine study Chinese medicine" Experiences (9 April 1960)', in PRC Ministry of Health's Department of TCM (ed.), Collection of Documents on Chinese Medical Work (restricted distribution) 1949-83 (Beijing, 1985), 173-7, p. 174.
65. See, for example, 'Treatment of Acute Pancreatitis by Traditional Chinese and Modern Methods', China's Medicine, 12 (1967), 858-63;
66. 'The Integration of Modern and Traditional Chinese Medicine in the Treatment of Fractures of the Shafts of both Forearm Bones', CMJ, 82 (1963), 493-504.
67. Croizier, Traditional Medicine in Modern China, p. 189.
68. Elisabeth Hsu has identified acupuncture analgesia as the key moment when China displayed to the world that 'Chinese medicine was a science'. In E. Hsu, 'Innovations in Acupuncture: Acupuncture Analgesia, Scalp and Ear Acupuncture in the People's Republic of China', Social Science and Medicine, 42 (1996), 421-30, p. 424.
69. For a discussion of how China's low-technology system of 'barefoot doctors' inspired the flagging ideals of the World Health Organization, see Sung Lee, 'WHO and the Developing World: The Contest for Ideology', in A. Cunningham and B. Andrews (eds), Western Medicine as Contested Knowledge (Manchester, 1997), 24-45.
70. Notable results of these are R. and V. Sidel, The Health of China: Current Conflicts in Medical and Human Services for One Billion People (London, 1982); S. M. Hillier and J. A. Jewell, Health Care and Traditional Medicine in China 1800-1982 (London, 1983).
71. Notable results of these are R. and V. Sidel, The Health of China: Current Conflicts in Medical and Human Services for One Billion People (London, 1982); S. M. Hillier and J. A. Jewell, Health Care and Traditional Medicine in China 1800-1982 (London, 1983).
72. These were: I. H. Wagman, W. K. Dong, and J. A. McMillan, 'Possible Physiological Bases for Acupuncture Analgesia', American Journal of Chinese Medicine, 4 (1976), 313-31; D. Stewart, J. Thomson, and I. Oswald, 'Acupuncture Analgesia: An Experimental Investigation', BMJ, 1 (1977), 67-70; F. Mann, 'Treatment of Intractable Pain by Acupuncture', Lancet, 2, 14 July 1973, 57-60.
73. These were: I. H. Wagman, W. K. Dong, and J. A. McMillan, 'Possible Physiological Bases for Acupuncture Analgesia', American Journal of Chinese Medicine, 4 (1976), 313-31; D. Stewart, J. Thomson, and I. Oswald, 'Acupuncture Analgesia: An Experimental Investigation', BMJ, 1 (1977), 67-70; F. Mann, 'Treatment of Intractable Pain by Acupuncture', Lancet, 2, 14 July 1973, 57-60.
74. These were: I. H. Wagman, W. K. Dong, and J. A. McMillan, 'Possible Physiological Bases for Acupuncture Analgesia', American Journal of Chinese Medicine, 4 (1976), 313-31; D. Stewart, J. Thomson, and I. Oswald, 'Acupuncture Analgesia: An Experimental Investigation', BMJ, 1 (1977), 67-70; F. Mann, 'Treatment of Intractable Pain by Acupuncture', Lancet, 2, 14 July 1973, 57-60.
75. L. L. Barnes, 'Multiple Meanings of Chinese Healing in the United States', in L. L. Barnes and S. S. Sered (eds), Religion and Healing in America (London, forthcoming, 2004).
76. T. J. Kaptchuk, Chinese Medicine: The Web that has no Weaver (London, 1983), p. ix. For the excitement that acupuncture generated in the United States, see, for example, J. J. Bonica, Therapeutic Acupuncture in the People's Republic of China; Implications for American Medicine', Journal of the American Medical Association, 228 (1974), 1544-51.
77. T. J. Kaptchuk, Chinese Medicine: The Web that has no Weaver (London, 1983), p. ix. For the excitement that acupuncture generated in the United States, see, for example, J. J. Bonica, Therapeutic Acupuncture in the People's Republic of China; Implications for American Medicine', Journal of the American Medical Association, 228 (1974), 1544-51.
78. Pioneering efforts to convey Chinese medical knowledge to the West were underway by the late 1960s - Manfred Porkert started on a Habilitation at the University of Munich in 1969 on the 'Entsprechungssystem der chinesischen Medizin [The System of Correspondences of Chinese Medicine]', Paul Unschuld was carrying out participant observation in Taiwan during 1969-70; work that was later published as Die Praxis des traditionellen chinesischen Heilsystems [The Practice of the Traditional Chinese Healing System] (Weisbaden, 1973) ; Ted Kaptchuk had arranged to study Chinese medicine in Macao by 1973. Due to the physical blockades of knowledge around mainland China, their research tended to be based in outlying Chinese populations such as Taiwan, Macao, and Hong Kong, yet their views have generally been taken to be representative of the situation in the mainland.
79. There were also serious attempts to properly understand the background of the medicine. These included the seminal J. Needham and Lu Gwei-Djun, Celestial Lancets: A History and Rationale of Acupuncture and Moxa (Cambridge, 1980); P. U. Unschuld, Medicine in China: A History of Ideas (Berkeley, 1985). These scholarly investigations very likely did not share the same motivations as the practitioners for their interest in China. Paul Unschuld and his wife, Ulrike, first went to Taiwan to further Paul's aspirations of becoming an expert in Sino-Soviet relations. In order to obtain funding, they capitalized on their training as pharmacologists and applied for a grant to study traditional health care systems. Once in Taiwan, they had to fulfil their research obligations, and the rest, as they say, is history. Communicated in private conversations and also in P. U. Unschuld, 'Medical History in Chinese Studies: A Personal Perspective on Achievements, Approaches, Expectations', in Huang Kewu (ed.), Gender and Medical History (Taibei, 2002), 127-64. Whatever their motivations, these authors certainly benefited from the growing popular interest in Chinese medicine. Joseph Needham and Lu Gwei-Djun, for example, chose to publish Celestial Lancets separately from, and ahead of, the planned Science and Civilisation volume on the History of Medicine. In the authors' foreword, they justified their decision, saying that: 'Our discussion in this monograph really belongs to Vol. 6 of the Science and Civilisation in China series, but so widespread is the current interest in acupuncture throughout the world that it has seemed advisable to issue our account in separate form without waiting for its appearance in the cadre of a discussion of the history of Chinese medicine as a whole.'
80. There were also serious attempts to properly understand the background of the medicine. These included the seminal J. Needham and Lu Gwei-Djun, Celestial Lancets: A History and Rationale of Acupuncture and Moxa (Cambridge, 1980); P. U. Unschuld, Medicine in China: A History of Ideas (Berkeley, 1985). These scholarly investigations very likely did not share the same motivations as the practitioners for their interest in China. Paul Unschuld and his wife, Ulrike, first went to Taiwan to further Paul's aspirations of becoming an expert in Sino-Soviet relations. In order to obtain funding, they capitalized on their training as pharmacologists and applied for a grant to study traditional health care systems. Once in Taiwan, they had to fulfil their research obligations, and the rest, as they say, is history. Communicated in private conversations and also in P. U. Unschuld, 'Medical History in Chinese Studies: A Personal Perspective on Achievements, Approaches, Expectations', in Huang Kewu (ed.), Gender and Medical History (Taibei, 2002), 127-64. Whatever their motivations, these authors certainly benefited from the growing popular interest in Chinese medicine. Joseph Needham and Lu Gwei-Djun, for example, chose to publish Celestial Lancets separately from, and ahead of, the planned Science and Civilisation volume on the History of Medicine. In the authors' foreword, they justified their decision, saying that: 'Our discussion in this monograph really belongs to Vol. 6 of the Science and Civilisation in China series, but so widespread is the current interest in acupuncture throughout the world that it has seemed advisable to issue our account in separate form without waiting for its appearance in the cadre of a discussion of the history of Chinese medicine as a whole.'
81. There were also serious attempts to properly understand the background of the medicine. These included the seminal J. Needham and Lu Gwei-Djun, Celestial Lancets: A History and Rationale of Acupuncture and Moxa (Cambridge, 1980); P. U. Unschuld, Medicine in China: A History of Ideas (Berkeley, 1985). These scholarly investigations very likely did not share the same motivations as the practitioners for their interest in China. Paul Unschuld and his wife, Ulrike, first went to Taiwan to further Paul's aspirations of becoming an expert in Sino-Soviet relations. In order to obtain funding, they capitalized on their training as pharmacologists and applied for a grant to study traditional health care systems. Once in Taiwan, they had to fulfil their research obligations, and the rest, as they say, is history. Communicated in private conversations and also in P. U. Unschuld, 'Medical History in Chinese Studies: A Personal Perspective on Achievements, Approaches, Expectations', in Huang Kewu (ed.), Gender and Medical History (Taibei, 2002), 127-64. Whatever their motivations, these authors certainly benefited from the growing popular interest in Chinese medicine. Joseph Needham and Lu Gwei-Djun, for example, chose to publish Celestial Lancets separately from, and ahead of, the planned Science and Civilisation volume on the History of Medicine. In the authors' foreword, they justified their decision, saying that: 'Our discussion in this monograph really belongs to Vol. 6 of the Science and Civilisation in China series, but so widespread is the current interest in acupuncture throughout the world that it has seemed advisable to issue our account in separate form without waiting for its appearance in the cadre of a discussion of the history of Chinese medicine as a whole.'
82. They were by no means the first to discuss the therapeutic effects of Chinese medicine in the West. Earlier, high-profile attempts in the twentieth century included the Frenchman, George Soulié de Morant, whose work on acupuncture during the 1920s and 1930s re-awakened the West to this Oriental system of medicine, and the English physician Felix Mann, founder of the Medical Acupuncture Society, who is particularly well-known for his work on the scientification of acupuncture during the 1960s and 1970s. (See P. Zmiewsky (ed.), Georges Soulié de Morant: Chinese Acupuncture (Brookline MA, 1994); F. Mann, Acupuncture: The Ancient Chinese Art of Healing (London, 1962)). These high-profile figures, however, focused on the phenomenon of acupuncture rather than on presenting a basic theory of the medicine.
83. They were by no means the first to discuss the therapeutic effects of Chinese medicine in the West. Earlier, high-profile attempts in the twentieth century included the Frenchman, George Soulié de Morant, whose work on acupuncture during the 1920s and 1930s re-awakened the West to this Oriental system of medicine, and the English physician Felix Mann, founder of the Medical Acupuncture Society, who is particularly well-known for his work on the scientification of acupuncture during the 1960s and 1970s. (See P. Zmiewsky (ed.), Georges Soulié de Morant: Chinese Acupuncture (Brookline MA, 1994); F. Mann, Acupuncture: The Ancient Chinese Art of Healing (London, 1962)). These high-profile figures, however, focused on the phenomenon of acupuncture rather than on presenting a basic theory of the medicine.
84. Porkert, Theoretical Foundations of Chinese Medicine, p. 4.
85. Kaptchuk, The Web that has no Weaver, p. xxi.
86. Sivin, Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China, p. xx.
87. Maciocia, The Foundations of Chinese Medicine, p. ii-iii.
88. Zhu Chao and Zhang Weifeng (eds), A History of Medical Education in New China (Beijing, 1990), p. 134. From 1972, Zhou Enlai set to solving the impasse in educational policy reached due to the recalcitrance of the Gang of Four, who were intent on downplaying all theoretical studies in favour of the practical. Zhou began to encourage the propagation of a Basic Theory (jichu lilun) at institutions of higher education which would enable at least the fundamental principles of the natural sciences to be taught. Such courses would be more focused, thus allowing a more systematic and efficient study of the subject area. Further details are given in Chen Wenbin, Lin Yunhui, and Cong Jin (eds), Fifty Years of the Chinese. Communist Party (1949-99) (Beijing, 1999), p. 396. I am grateful to David Bray and Hu Huakai for providing me with details of this under-researched policy.
89. Zhu Chao and Zhang Weifeng (eds), A History of Medical Education in New China (Beijing, 1990), p. 134. From 1972, Zhou Enlai set to solving the impasse in educational policy reached due to the recalcitrance of the Gang of Four, who were intent on downplaying all theoretical studies in favour of the practical. Zhou began to encourage the propagation of a Basic Theory (jichu lilun) at institutions of higher education which would enable at least the fundamental principles of the natural sciences to be taught. Such courses would be more focused, thus allowing a more systematic and efficient study of the subject area. Further details are given in Chen Wenbin, Lin Yunhui, and Cong Jin (eds), Fifty Years of the Chinese. Communist Party (1949-99) (Beijing, 1999), p. 396. I am grateful to David Bray and Hu Huakai for providing me with details of this under-researched policy.
90. This was Beijing Academy of TCM (ed.), Basic Theory of TCM (Shanghai, 1974) and was part of the third edition of national TCM textbooks. It was only designed for a three-year course, due to the restrictions of the Cultural Revolution and is not regarded as a pivotal work.
91. There were, in fact, other 'basic theories of TCM' around at the time which were aimed at the practitioner of Chinese medicine, yet, perversely, these were not texts chosen by our main protagonists. Such books included Gansu Province's School of TCM (ed.), Revised Edition of Chinese Medicine Entering the Door (xinbian zhongyi rumen) (Lanzhou, 1962); The Fujian Academy of TCM Education and Teaching Group of Medical Classics (ed.), The Basics of TCM (zhongyi jichu xue) (Fuzhou, 1963). Twenty-one such titles were produced between 1957 and 1972. See Hou Jiayu (ed.), Complete Catalogue of Chinese Medical Books (medical book catalogue covering forty years) 1950-1989 (Chengdu, 1994), pp. 232-3. These were not mainstream teaching materials, yet they were not without local influence.
92. There were, in fact, other 'basic theories of TCM' around at the time which were aimed at the practitioner of Chinese medicine, yet, perversely, these were not texts chosen by our main protagonists. Such books included Gansu Province's School of TCM (ed.), Revised Edition of Chinese Medicine Entering the Door (xinbian zhongyi rumen) (Lanzhou, 1962); The Fujian Academy of TCM Education and Teaching Group of Medical Classics (ed.), The Basics of TCM (zhongyi jichu xue) (Fuzhou, 1963). Twenty-one such titles were produced between 1957 and 1972. See Hou Jiayu (ed.), Complete Catalogue of Chinese Medical Books (medical book catalogue covering forty years) 1950-1989 (Chengdu, 1994), pp. 232-3. These were not mainstream teaching materials, yet they were not without local influence.
93. There were, in fact, other 'basic theories of TCM' around at the time which were aimed at the practitioner of Chinese medicine, yet, perversely, these were not texts chosen by our main protagonists. Such books included Gansu Province's School of TCM (ed.), Revised Edition of Chinese Medicine Entering the Door (xinbian zhongyi rumen) (Lanzhou, 1962); The Fujian Academy of TCM Education and Teaching Group of Medical Classics (ed.), The Basics of TCM (zhongyi jichu xue) (Fuzhou, 1963). Twenty-one such titles were produced between 1957 and 1972. See Hou Jiayu (ed.), Complete Catalogue of Chinese Medical Books (medical book catalogue covering forty years) 1950-1989 (Chengdu, 1994), pp. 232-3. These were not mainstream teaching materials, yet they were not without local influence.
94. Lü Bingkui, Collected Works of Lü Bingkui's Sixty Years of Practising Medicine (Beijing, 1993), p. 7.
95. Nanjing Academy of TCM (ed.), Outline of TCM (Beijing, 1958), p. 1.
96. Lü, Collected Works of Lü Bingkui, p. 7.
97. Books on 18 different subject areas had been available since 1963. See Lu Lianfang, 'The Setting up of Textbooks for Higher-Level TCM Education', TCM Education, 16 (1997), 7-11, p. 8.
98. H. Ågren (reviewer), 'Manfred Porkert, The Theoretical Foundations of Chinese Medicine: Systems of Correspondence', American Journal of Chinese Medicine, 3 (1975), 397.
99. F. P. Lisowski, 'A First Break-through', Eastern Horizon, 14 (1975), 67-8.
100. Health Unit of the Logistics Department of the Guangzhou Army (ed.), Revised Outline of TCM (For the Use of Doctors of Western Medicine Studying Chinese Medicine) (Beijing, 1972), p. 1.
101. Sivin, Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China, p. 33.
102. 'Sivin hat sich der schwierigen Aufgabe unterzogen, den authentischen Elementen der klassischen chinesischen Medizin in einem hybriden Lehrbuch, das eine Synthese aus dieser mit einfach anzuwendenden Versatzstücken der wissenschaftlichen Medizin anstrebt, nachzuspüren', H. Ågren (reviewer), 'Nathan Sivin, Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China', Archives Internationales D'Histoire des Sciences 40 (1990), 150-1.
103. Judith Farquhar (reviewer), 'Nathan Sivin, Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China', ISIS, 81 (1990), pp. 316-17.
104. Cai Jingfeng puts the marker at 1978, saying that the 1978 edition of the Basic Theory of TCM was to serve as the model format. However, the national Chinese medical programme was still not fully back on track after the excesses of the Cultural Revolution and it was not until 1982 that the Ministry of Health set up a Committee for the Editing and Compiling of National Higher-Level Chinese Medicine and Pharmaceutics Textbooks. This was to produce the fifth edition of national textbooks which were to set the standard for the next 20 years, and included the landmark version of the Basic Theory of TCM, that of Yin Huihe (ed.), Basic Theory of TCM (Shanghai, 1984). In Cai Jingfeng, Li Qinghua, and Zhang Binghuan (eds), A General History of Chinese Medicine: Volume of Modern Times (Beijing, 2000), pp. 282-3.
105. Cai Jingfeng puts the marker at 1978, saying that the 1978 edition of the Basic Theory of TCM was to serve as the model format. However, the national Chinese medical programme was still not fully back on track after the excesses of the Cultural Revolution and it was not until 1982 that the Ministry of Health set up a Committee for the Editing and Compiling of National Higher-Level Chinese Medicine and Pharmaceutics Textbooks. This was to produce the fifth edition of national textbooks which were to set the standard for the next 20 years, and included the landmark version of the Basic Theory of TCM, that of Yin Huihe (ed.), Basic Theory of TCM (Shanghai, 1984). In Cai Jingfeng, Li Qinghua, and Zhang Binghuan (eds), A General History of Chinese Medicine: Volume of Modern Times (Beijing, 2000), pp. 282-3.
106. Cai, General History of Chinese Medicine, p. 283.
107. The years 1977-80 inclusive produced fifteen such volumes. In Hou, Complete Catalogue of Chinese Medical Books, pp. 233-4.
108. For a broad description of the different paths that Chinese medicine has followed at home and abroad, see K. Chan and H. Lee (eds), The Way Forward for Chinese Medicine (London, 2002).