Bridie Andrews. The Making of Modern Chinese Medicine, 1850–1960

Histories of medicine across colonial Asia—from British India to the U.S. Philippines, French Indochina to Japanese Taiwan—have tended to accentuate the antagonistic relationship between Western medicine and indigenous healing practices. The emphasis in much of this scholarship has been on how nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century imperial interests were bolstered by medical and public health institutions, which functioned as critical tools for facilitating the extension and consolidation of colonial power. Over the last decade, however, there has been a significant pushback against this narrative of seamless technological diffusion. Historians have increasingly documented the coexistence of health systems, highlighting the ways in which Western medicine was indigenized in local settings and how contradictory state-sponsored practices were constituted through interactions with a plurality of native cultures. As Bridie Andrews reminds us in the introduction to The Making of Modern Chinese Medicine, 1850–1960, the focus has shifted from medicine to medicines, from modernity to modernities. Early on in the book, Andrews is at pains to underscore the broad spectrum of medical practices that coexisted in nineteenth-century China: from the remedies offered by herbalists to healing by shamans, bone-setters, midwives, priests, and Western medical missionaries. The emphasis is on contestation, negotiation, and accommodation.

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