Wenjun Fu L&S Social Sciences
The History of Blood in Modern China
The knowledge of the human body has changed throughout history. Since the late Qing period (1901–1911), biologists and Western doctors introduced anatomical concepts of the human body to China. This project uses blood as an example to explore a historical narrative of the body in both Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Western medicine during Republican China (1911–1949). The body is so relevant to us — so why do we understand it so differently and variably? How did the knowledge of blood differ between TCM and Western medicine in early twentieth-century China? What shaped and shifted people’s perceptions of blood and the body? What were the respective roles of TCM and Western medicine in this discursive struggle, and what were the relationships and tensions between them? This program aims to understand what qi and blood are as conceptualized by Traditional Chinese Medicine, by reading The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon, a Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) medical text. For the modern aspect, I plan to find primary sources through databases such as Chinese Periodicals Full-text (1911-1949) and learn how scientific knowledge about blood was translated and disseminated in China.
Message To Sponsor
Thank you so much for your generous support of my project this summer. I’m excited to explore medicine history of China, especially the concept of blood shifted between traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine in early twentieth-century China. This opportunity will allow me to examine how medical knowledge is shaped, contested, and translated across cultures and time. I’m truly grateful for the chance to pursue this research.