Fo Ci Pharmaceutical Factory, founded in Shanghai in 1932, was the first modern joint-stock enterprise to successfully commercialize 'Chinese medicine made in the western way'. It pioneered the 'condensed pill' technology according to traditional Chinese medical theories, gaining wide recognition for its remarkable efficacy. It emphasized laboratory analysis, experimental research and formula transparency. It maximised its influence domestically and exported its products overseas with flexible market strategies. It survives today despite obstacles like industry resistance and the War of Resistance against Japan. In contrast, Cui Hua Pharmaceutical Factory, as the first western-style pharmaceutical factory of traditional Chinese medicine, established a sound organizational structure, management system and active business strategies. However, it failed three years later after its establishment because of its poor efficacy, poor quality and inconsistency with traditional Chinese medicine theories. Additionally, it lost the market with a lack of long-term planning and risk assessment. This paper focuses on the development of Fo Ci and makes reference to Cui Hua, offering a comparative study in terms of historical context, corporate culture, product characteristics, market exploration, and risk responses. Their success and failure provided valuable insights for modern enterprises of Chinese medicines, such as adapting to trends in market research, strictly controlling product quality while balancing traditions and innovation, optimising internal structures and strengthening talent development to enhance competitiveness and risk resistance to achieve sustainable development.
This paper systematically reviewed the evolvement and development of pulse diagnosis illustrations in the annotated versions of Nan Jing in both Chinese and Japanese editions. It compared and analysed the content and characteristics of the three pulse diagram systems - the Ding, the Hua and the Zhang in China with that in the annotated edition of Nan Jing in the Japanese edition in the Edo period of Japan. The paper demonstrated the core function of pulse diagrams in interpreting the theories of pulse in Nan Jing. It was found that the pulse diagram illustrations evolved through multiple dynasties and came to the Ding system which focused on the pulse patterns corresponded to 'heaven and humans', the Hua which integrated multi-dimensional factors and the Zhang which fully differentiated diagrams clinically. By comparison the annotated Japanese version of Nan Jing,based on the three pulse diagram systems above in China, featured with localisation evolution, such as disassembled diagram illustrations, metric refinement, and functional differentiation. It was also found that Nan Jing in China as well as in Japan both undertook holistic insights and dialectical thinking, presented different interpretation for the diverse medical practice and cultural context differentiation, providing academic references for the visualized evolvement and cross-cultural communication in terms of traditional Chinese pulse theory.
A project to unify the terminology of diseases in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) nationwide was initiated by the Central National Medical Bureau in 1933, with the project named 'the Case of TCM Disease Name Unification'. This paper investigated the process and the content of the project, referenced the specific opinions of the renowned physicians who experienced the project, analysed the perspectives of the project that sparked social controversy, such as the development principles of Chinese medicine, the social situation at that time, the principles of integrated medicine and the scientific modernisation of Chinese medicine, and summarised the opposing opinions and underling factors. The three findings were as follows: the fundamental differences between traditional Chinese and Western medical systems, the power limitations of the Central National Medical Bureau, and the immature understanding of combining Chinese and Western medicine. It was also found that unifying the terminology of diseases in traditional Chinese medicine was an important trial in terms of and the scientific modernisation of Chinese medicine. However, its practical approach to 'control Chinese medicine with Western medicine' drove anxiety in people about the independence of Chinese medicine. This case provides TCM standardization, terminology normalization, and the practice of integrating Chinese and Western medicine with an historical reference.
Mary Esther Ferguson (1897-1989) was the daughter of John Calvin Ferguson, a renowned American social activist, educator, and collector in the early period of the Republic of China. Together with her father, she made an outstanding contribution to the cultural heritage preservation in China. M.E. Ferguson joined the Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) as the Registrar in 1928. She had served as the secretary to the Board of Trustees for nearly 20 years thereafter. She personally witnessed a series of major historical events, in this period, including the administrative reforms of the "Old PUMC," the Japanese occupation of Peiping, the post-war reopening, and its takeover by the new Government. Her work, China Medical Board and Peking Union Medical College, is not only an important monograph for the research of the administrative history of the "Old PUMC", but also an invaluable first-hand source. As a core participant and witness to the administrative management system of PUMC, Ferguson meticulously documented in her book the specific practice and institutional changes in various aspects such as personnel management, financial operations, academic administration, and Board decision-making throughout the creation and development of PUMC. This provides researchers with an irreplaceable perspective and rich information for further analysis of the unique administrative management model and operational logic of the "Old PUMC" as an essential reference.
Bleaching powder served as the primary disinfectant for drinking water in both urban and rural areas in Shanghai from 1920 to 1983, particularly in rural regions. The liquid chlorine disinfection was introduced by the Yangshupu Water Plant in 1920, marking the inception of chlorination disinfection practice in China. The measures for a drinking water sanitation management framework, taken by the Shanghai health administrative authorities in the late 1920s, laid the foundation for the widespread adoption of bleaching powder. Bleaching powder was extensively applied to public water sources including wells and riverbanks against cholera during the 1930s. In terms of technological practice, bleaching powder was used directly as powder, then gradually improved as liquid, followed by chlorine bleach tablets. After that, two chlorination methods were developed: single-dose chlorination and continuous chlorination in order to solve problems such as poor stability, excessive residue and inaccurate dosing. The driving force for the use of bleaching powder and epidemic prevention was technology dissemination to support public health led by the government. Bleaching powder disinfection represented a pivotal shift from traditional empirical approaches to modern chemical treatment of decentralized drinking water systems in Shanghai, meeting the practical demands for stability, convenience and safety.
Zhang Gang's Diary (1888-1942) was a private document that recorded the social and public life in Wenzhou during the late Qing Dynasty and the period of the Republic of China, providing resources and historical materials of local epidemics in this period. This paper examines/reviews the epidemic-related content in the diary and the responses of the authorities and the public to the epidemic. It was found that the epidemic triggered panic among the public, and many people turned to seeking blessings and protection from gods and Buddhas. It was also found that traditional Chinese medicine played a positive role in dealing with the epidemic, with numerous cases of effective treatment recorded in the diary. The diary reflected the transformation trajectory of modern society, the introduction of Western medicine providing new options for the public, vaccination gradually becoming institutionalized, and the increasing rise of public health.
The First Health Station in Peiping was officially established in 1925 with the support and promotion of John B. Grant, an American sanitarian expert teaching in Peking Union Medical College at that time. Oral public health served as one of its foundational initiatives, including dental disease screening for specific populations, diagnosis and treatment, and some oral hygiene publicity and education. This represented the first oral public health practice in the Beijing area during the Republican period, jointly carried out by the government and a public health institution. However, this practice was ineffective as a social trial. This meant the original concept of Grant failed to be fully realised. This was because of economic underdevelopment, inadequate government capacity, a shortage of professional personnel and low public awareness of oral health. This practice indicates incompatibility between the Grant model and local Chinese realities in the perspective of oral health and provides supporting evidence for a critical reassessment of his model in the Chinese context.
The Kwangtung Branch of the National Medical Association of China was the first local branch of the National Medical Association of China at home inside and outside the country. Its members who can be traced back were 25, including members from Guangzhou and Hong Kong. They mainly came from the Anglo-American schools, and 19 of them from the Christian Church. Because of these factors, the members of Kwangtung Branch played an important role in promoting the organization and development of the National Medical Association of China and the development of western medicine in China.
This paper divided the history of family doctor renaming into the stages of origin, prosperity, decline and revival by examining its development history for the first time. It documented the changes of family doctor training and the process of its renaming at different times. It clarified the meanings and scope of family doctors and general practitioners and analyzed the differences between the two names in terms of emerging background, disciplinary foundation, training pattern and their main characteristics. It finally put forward some corresponding suggestions on the application of the family doctors and general practitioners in China.
The Medical Journal for Women, chiefly edited by Wang Shenxuan as a specialised journal on women's health , was founded by the Suzhou Women's Medical Association in the winter of 1927. The original intention of the journal was to 'help change women's condition and improve academic communication'. It was initially planned to be published quarterly in February, May, August and November each year. However, it was not released on schedule because of Wang Shenxuan's busy clinic. The journal was closed partly because the Suzhou Women's Medical Association no longer specialised in the medicine for women, with the enlargement of its enrollment size, and partly because it changed its name to the Suzhou National Medical Society. The journal released a total of 12 issues. It took root in traditional Chinese medicine theories in the content and focused on exploring practice clinically and academically with reference of western medicine. As the journal of the Suzhou Women's Medical Association, it also undertook the mission of liaising with internal and external members of the association and teaching and training people for the purpose of public health. The journal showed the development of women's medicine in the Republic of China as key historical material for the research of the interaction and communication of journals in the period of the Republic of China and the transformation of women's status in modern times. However, as a medical journal issued for the public, the journal showed its limitation of academic openness since it simply had the papers published, written by the teachers and students of the Suzhou Women's Medical Association.
This paper attempts to recreate and reconstruct the process of 'translation-transformation-application' of arsenical knowledge in the late Qing Dynasty by examining the four representative medical translations: An Outline of Western Medicine (Xi Yi Lue Lun), Explanations of Western Medicine (Xi Yi Lue Shi), Universal Prescriptions (Wan Guo Yao Fang), and A Compendium of Western Drugs (Xi Yao Da Cheng). It was found that in terms of nomenclature, the early coexistence of heterogeneous vernacular names such as Xin () and Xin Shi () underwent evolution and adjustment within medical texts, eventually coexisting with chemical nomenclature such as Shen (、). This resulted in a hybrid terminology system that integrated traditional experiences with modern chemical elements. In terms of dosage forms and quantity, arsenicals expanded from a single medicinal liquor into five major categories - solution, ointments, solids, pastes, and pills. This evolution presented a trajectory from an early phase of 'extensive collection' to a later phase of 'simplified consolidation' based on chemical classification. In terms of chemistry and toxicology, the translated works helped to establish a quantifiable and verifiable framework of modern pharmacology for substances long regarded as 'poisons' initially by successively introduced experimental detection techniques (such as the Marsh test), valence-based classifications, and semi-sinicized chemical formulas. In terms of authoritative citation, translators attempted to establish a chemical basis for arsenicals, facilitating their transformation from empirical poisons into 'scientific drugs' by drawing extensively on experimental data from European and American chemists and physicians. This study argues that the transfer of Western arsenical knowledge in the late Qing Dynasty was a process of continuous communication between translators and the medical community by introducing the knowledge and local practice rather than a simple linear process of scientization.
Wang Jiufeng, a renowned physician in Zhenjiang in the period of Qianjia in the Qing Dynasty, transitioned from Confucianism to medicine and became proficient in the art of healing. The existing records of his life and works are rarely seen and often inconsistent. This paper examined his family background, life events, disciples, friends and works based on the genealogy compiled by Wang Jiufeng himself, and investigated some contentious issues in current literature materials, such as the differentiation between the North Wang Jiufeng and the South Wang Jiufeng, his year of death, his alternative name Mingjing, the cause of his deafness, and the official positions he held. It was found that there was only one Wang Jiufeng, a popular physician, wherever he appeared at that time.
Xia Yingtang, a representative figure of the Shanghai school in traditional Chinese medicine during the Republic of China, was renowned with Ding Ganren as "Ding in the North, Xia in the South". With exceptional medical expertise, he founded the Xia-style of internal medicine lineage and actively engaged in public medical affairs. He established charitable institutions such as the Hucheng Branch of the China Red Cross Society and the Hucheng Branch Hospital, organizing and participating relief efforts in wartime and epidemic prevention and control. His contributions profoundly influenced the construction and development of China's public health system and professional education. He was dedicated to the reform and advancement of TCM education by establishing the Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine School and the Shanghai Women's School of Traditional Chinese Medicine. In particular, he bravely confronted the danger of traditional Chinese medicine extinction, actively participated in the opposition to the "Proposal to Abolish Traditional Chinese Medicine", promoted the promulgation of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Regulations, and advocated for the establishment of the National Traditional Chinese Medicine Day, playing a key role in securing the legitimate status of traditional Chinese medicine. This paper analysed the historical newspapers, archives, and other relevant materials and examined the life of Xia Yingtang and his medical activities, It attempts to elucidate his contributions to traditional Chinese medicine and public health, restore his historical position in the modern development of traditional Chinese medicine, and call for broader academic attention and further research on this 'overlooked' physician.
The nature of medical practice involves both technical dimension of pathology and treatment and the socio-cultural dimension in terms of doctor-patient interaction, as a core components of the human health protection system. The gynecological and pediatric treatment narratives in the Class Compilation of Ancient and Modern Medical Cases of China (Zhong Guo Gu Jin Yi An Hui Bian) in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China is believed to provide a typical sample for exploring multidimensional interactions in the traditional medical field at that time. With the increasing popularization of medical professional knowledge in this period, patients might use their own medical knowledge to self-diagnose and implicitly made contrast with the professional diagnosis and treatment of doctors, indicating the conflict of knowledge and power in the traditional medical field. Additionally, patients and their families might question the diagnosis and treatment plan due to the various standards of Chinese medical groups and the frequent occurrence of misdiagnosis. However, they might choose to trust doctors at the critical treatment stage, showing the contradictory characteristics of doctor-patient interaction. Confronting the infiltration of Western medical knowledge, the traditional Chinese medicine community strengthened the humanistic care and emotional interaction in the consultation process as an adaptive strategy for traditional medicine to cope with the challenges of modernity while maintaining its professional authority and consolidating the trust of the patients.
Dr. Guo Xiumei has been engaged in academic research and exchange between China and Japan for over 30 years, establishing long-term, extensive and in-depth connections with her Chinese peers in the field of medical history and literature. She has resided in Japan since the 1990s for extended periods, pursuing advanced studies while conducting research on the history and texts of traditional medicine. She systematically collated the works of Edo-period Japanese researchers, particularly those of Mori Tachiyuki, and comprehensively studied and translated the key bibliographic works on ancient Chinese medical texts in Japan, such as the Yi Ji Kao (the medical documents) and the Yi Ji Kao before the Song Dynasty. Additionally, she translated the academic monographs of renowned scholars Osadome Hiroshi and Mayanagi Makoto. Dr. Guo has developed a keen and in-depth understanding of Japan's academic landscape, as well as the scholarly styles and achievements, with years of dedicated research into ancient medicine and texts, combined with her frontline experience in Japanese academia. In the past twenty years, she has served as a bridge for academic exchange and collaboration between China and Japan with her linguistic and professional expertise, making contributions to the advancement of traditional Chinese medicine literature in China.
The document No. B147: 36 (the obverse side), unearthed in Cave 147 in the North region of Mogao grotto at Dunghuang, is a fragment of a medical manuscript in Tibetan. It has the remains of 7 hand-painted wheel drawings and Tibetan script in cursive style. Tibetan was found inside the wheel hub and blade-like compartments (4-8 compartments) separated by the spokes, matching some Tibetan outside of the wheel rim. It can be seen in the remaining illustrations that a formula is in each wheel drawing and a name of a hurb in each compartment, with the name of the key hurb written inside of the wheel hub. Each formula has 7-9 ingredients. The efficacy of each formula is written above or outside the wheel hub. The medicine and efficacy in the wheel hub formulae are in line with Tibetan medicine theory, while the same formulae are not found in any of the Chinese or Tibetan medicinal manuscripts at Dun Huang, nor found in the form of wheel hub paintings. However, two of the basically similar formulae are found in the Four Medical Tantras (Rgyud Bzhi), but these wheel hub formulae do not specify the proportioning, dosage, use and contraindications. As a result, they might be taken orally as charms for disease treatment provided by mantrikas or warlocks.
In the early period of the New China, a massive large-scale water conservancy project was constructed by the Yellow River and the Huai River management. The health problems in water conservancy sites affected the health of migrant workers and the development of the project seriously. To solve these problems, a series of effective and efficient policies and measures were taken by the Communist Party of China and the governments at all levels, involving the holistic top-level design, policy-making and implementation, strengthening centralised leadership and organisation, building-up medical networks, training local medical staff for acupuncture, and focusing on prevention and treatment with the mass base. These measures effectively improved the health work in the construction site by reducing the epidemic and frequently-occurring diseases, changing the dirty and disorderly appearance of the construction sites, improving health awareness and hygiene consciousness, and constructing orderly and clean site communities. As a result, these measures protected the workforce, improved the medical network in the socialism system, cohered the medical construction force by holding both traditional Chinese doctors and western medicine physicians together, reshaped the new workforce, reinforced the management to the grass-root society and therefore, consolidated the new power.
The traditional research on ancient epidemics are often restricted by historical records and archaeological findings, without direct empirical support. Molecular archaeology, as a newly-developing discipline, is revolutionizing the disease research for ancient time. Molecular archaeological techniques, such as ancient DNA analysis, enable to access pathogen genetic information and reveal critical aspects such as pathogen species, evolutionary patterns, transmission routes, and host interactions. This paper explored an innovative interdisciplinary approach combining the research of ancient epidemics in China with molecular archaeology. On the one hand, historical materials were collected and ancient clinical records were analyzed to provide background information and epidemiological assessments for the study of ancient epidemics. On the other hand, ancient DNA experimental techniques were applied with data interpretation, including sample collection, processing, DNA extraction, sequencing, pathogen screening, and phylogenetic analysis, to provide molecular archaeological evidence of ancient epidemics. The final conclusions were drawn on cross-validation and complementary analysis of historical data and molecular biological data. This multi-dimensional, evidence-based, interdisciplinary research method facilitates a comprehensive, in-depth, and accurate understanding of ancient epidemics. It indicates a new paradigm in ancient epidemic research in China with significant development potential, possibly driving major advancements in the field.
The brief opening of the free market from 1956 to 1957 had a direct impact on the production, supply, and marketing of traditional Chinese medicine materials as an exploratory trial in the planned economic era. The free market opening under government control partially alleviated the shortage of traditional Chinese medicine supply, sparked debates in academia and management and resulted in the emergence of a management system with "the three types of materials". The debate on the attributes of the free market and the concerns about its potential direction towards spontaneous capitalism were amplified in the social context in 1957. This led to the lose of the opportunity to explore more flexible and pragmatic macroeconomic policies.
Areca catechu L. (Binglang) has a long medicinal history. Its young fruits were consumed in the Han Dynasty and were found to have the effect of 'lowering qi and aiding digestion', laying the foundation for its medicinal application.Its medicinal part was also its fruits based on the medical books such as Ming Yi Bie Lu in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The seeds of Areca catechu L. were named as Binglang-Zi or Binglang-Ren while the fruits were referred to as Binglang. Dafu-Binglang began to appear in medicinal records in the Tang Dynasty. The husk of Dafu-Binglang, named as Dafupi, became the mainstream medicinal commodity in the Song Dynasty. The medicinal part of the Binglang gradually shifted to mature seeds. The seeds of Binglang were taken as the medicinal part in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Among their seeds, the slender and pointed one shaped like a chicken's heart were considered to be of ideal quality. Dafupi were mainly derived from the husk of Dafu-Binglang. Archaeological relics of Areca catechu L. unearthed from the Liao and Southern Song Dynasties included young fruits, mature fruits, and seeds. These relics confirmed the diversity of the medicinal components of Binglang in the Song and Liao periods. This paper clarifies the origin of Binglang and Dafupi as well as the changes in their medicinal use in diverse historical periods. It provides historical evidence for the consistency of prescriptions with various historical periods.
