Saving lives in wartime China : : how medical reformers built modern healthcare systems amid war and epidemics, 1928-1945 / / by John R. Watt.

• Superior document: China Studies, Volume 26
• Author: Watt, John R. 1934-
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden, Netherlands : : Brill,, 2014.; ©2014
• Year of Publication: 2014
• Language: English
• Series: China studies (Leiden, Netherlands) ; v. 26.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (361 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

In the 1920's and 1930's most Chinese people suffered from overwhelming health problems. Epidemic diseases killed tens of millions, drought, flood and famine killed many more, and unhygienic birthing led to serious maternal and child mortality. The Civil War between Nationalist and Communist forces, and the nationwide War of Resistance against Japan (1937-1945), imposed a further tide of misery. Troubled by this extensive trauma, a small number of healthcare reformers were able to save tens of thousands of lives, promote hygiene and sanitation, and begin to bring battlefield casualties, communicable diseases, and maternal child mortality under control. This study shows how biomedical physicians and public health practitioners were major contributors to the rise of modern China.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- Introduction: Saving Lives in the Context of Disease, Poverty and War -- 1. Epidemics, Wars and Public Healthcare Advocacy in Republican China, 1911–1928 -- 2. Advances and Setbacks in Nationalist China’s Public Health Management, 1928–1937 -- 3. Red Army Health Services in Jiangxi and on the Long March, 1927–1936 -- 4. Japanese Invasion, Army Medicine, and the Chinese Red Cross Medical Relief Corps (CRCMRC), 1937–1942 -- 5. How Rigidity, Disease and Hunger Undermined Nationalist China’s Military Medical Reformers -- 6. Public Health Amid the Turmoil of War, 1938–1949 -- 7. Yan’an’s Health Services under Mao Zedong’s Leadership, 1937–1945 -- 8. Saving Lives in Wartime China: Why It Mattered -- Bibliography -- Index of Names -- Index of Subjects.