Physicians, pharmacists, and merchants: Professionalization of medicine in early modern China, 1500-1900

Zhang, Xinge

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124641 Copy

Description

Title

Physicians, pharmacists, and merchants: Professionalization of medicine in early modern China, 1500-1900

Author(s)

Zhang, Xinge

Issue Date

2024-04-09

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Chow, Kai-Wing

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Chow, Kai-Wing

Committee Member(s)

• Tierney, Robert
• Wilson, Roderick
• Shao, Dan
• Nappi, Carla

Department of Study

E. Asian Languages & Cultures

Discipline

E Asian Languages & Cultures

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• medical field
• professionalization
• early modern China

Abstract

This study examines the process in which the expansion of various groups of medical experts resulted in further division of labor and the emergence of different professions in the “medical field” in early modern China from the sixteenth through the early twentieth centuries. During the late imperial period, with more failed examinees flocking to medicine, competition, greater specialization, trade, and commercial publishing fueled a process of “professionalization” that restructured the medical field, resulting in the separation of labor between physicians, pharmacists, and merchants. Driven by economic, social, and cultural forces, this process manifested itself in several areas of practices involving medicine. First, by considering medicine as a respectable career choice and developing a sense of professional community through cooperation and associations, various groups of medical practitioners came to establish and defend their own distinct professional identities and expertise. The process of professionalization also witnessed the emergence of a corpus of canonical texts that would define the core curriculum of classical medicine still recognized in the teaching of Traditional Chinese Medicine today. Third, codes of medical ethics and trading practices were developed to regulate the clinical and ethical behaviors of these groups of experts. Last, the formation of local and translocal medical associations facilitated the development of standardized training for students and regulation of practitioners’ professional activities. The restructuring of the medical field resulted in the tripartite division of labor in medicine among service providers: doctors, pharmacy specialists, and traders, each specialized in providing one type of professional services to the public. This study sheds lights on China in a comparative perspective on medical professionalization in the early modern period, challenging the still dominate view that medicine did not emerge as a profession in Ming Qing China because of the absence of the factors such as licensing laws and university-based medical education. It emphasizes the need to move out of the Eurocentric shadow to explore the indigenous evolution of professionalism in medicine and take into consideration the impact of different social and cultural dynamics on the process of professionalization.

Graduation Semester

2024-05

Type of Resource

Thesis

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2024 Xinge Zhang

Owning Collections