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KMID : 0857920220250020147
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Yonsei Journal of Medical History
2022 Volume.25 No. 2 p.147 ~ p.172
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A Turning Point in the Modern Teaching of Western Medicine in China : the Early Days of the Rockefeller Foundation and its Collaboration with Medical Missionaries
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Jo Jeong-Eun
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Abstract
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In this study, we examined a medical education plan envisioned by the Rockefeller Foundation during its early days in China as well as the reactions of medical missionaries, focusing on how the two parties started to collaborate. The study, therefore, offers a glimpse into how modern medical education was established in China.
The Rockefeller Foundation is a charitable institution set up by oil magnate John D. Rockefeller in 1913. Its goal is to promote a stable and happy life for the citizens of the United States (US) and people living in regions reached by the influence of the US. The foundation seeks to pioneer knowledge and enlighten these people to encourage the spread of civilization. Frederick T. Gate, an adviser to the foundation’s charitable projects, believed that scientific medicine was the best example of the greatness of Western thought; he thus proposed to establish a medical research institute in China to disseminate knowledge of Western medicine in the country. The Rockefeller Foundation accepted this idea and dispatched the first China Medical Commission in 1914. Eventually, the commission published a report containing the results of its investigations and its recommendations. To implement the latter, the China Medical Board (CMB) was set up.
At the time, there were missionary medical schools, government medical schools, and medical schools affiliated with foreign governments in China. The missionaries’ schools had a substantial influence. The first draft of recommendations made by CMB made the medical missionaries feel anxious and prompted them to rethink and reorganize their activities. The Rockefeller Foundation made efforts to mitigate the missionaries’ concerns so that it could smoothly proceed with its medical education and charitable activities. The missionaries, who had initially felt threatened by the foundation’s inroad into China, came to accept its plan for collaboration, assuaged by its conciliatory tones and substantial financial support. Chinese doctors had no reason to oppose the activities of the foundation, which provided funding for high-quality medical education.
Overall, the missionaries and the Chinese doctors did not oppose the various proposals made by CMB based on the recommendations of the China Medical Commission in 1914. However, a controversy remained over which language should be used to teach. While the Rockefeller Foundation attached importance to English education, it could not ignore those who wished for the teaching to be in Chinese. At the Peking Union Medical School (PUMC), which was managed by CMB, an emphasis was placed on providing top-level medical teaching in English; at the same time, though, support was given to schools that taught in Chinese, following the suggestion of the missionaries. Going from conflict to compromise and cooperation, the Rockefeller Foundation and the medical missionaries guided medical education in China. As a result, the foundation’s stance on Chinese medical education evolved to become more concrete and sophisticated.
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KEYWORD
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Modern China, Medical Education, Rockefeller Foundation, Medical Missionary, China Medical Board, China Medical Commission
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