Global Medicine in China: A Diasporic History

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Overseas Chinese played a crucial role in advancing medical science in China and Taiwan by providing funding, supplies, and expertise, saving more than four million lives and training fifteen thousand medical personnel. This expansion of care and education transformed military medicine into a field-based practice for all and led to lasting legacies of universal care, practical medical education, and mobile medicine.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 328 pages
Publication date: 20 October 2020
Publisher: Stanford University Press

In 1938, just one year into the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese military found itself in a catastrophic state of medical affairs. Soldiers were plagued by deadly illnesses, and their wounds were left untreated due to a severe shortage of blood transfusions. The urgent need for medical assistance sparked an unprecedented surge of scientific knowledge in China and Taiwan throughout the twentieth century. Wayne Soon, in his groundbreaking work, argues that Overseas Chinese played a pivotal role in this development. Utilizing their extensive global connections and diasporic networks, they secured vital funds, supplies, and medical expertise, which were desperately needed to address the crisis. The remarkable expansion of care and education that they initiated resulted in the saving of over four million lives and the training of more than fifteen thousand medical personnel. Moreover, the introduction of military medicine transformed biomedicine from an exclusive domain of elite, urban civilian institutions and laboratories into an adaptable field-based practice accessible to all. The lasting legacies of this effort include universal care, practical medical education, and the development of mobile medicine.

Weight: 500g
Dimension: 153 x 227 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781503614000