Description
Book SynopsisThis book, the first work in English on the history of disease in China, traces an epidemic of bubonic plague that began in Yunnan province in the late eighteenth century, spread throughout much of southern China in the nineteenth century, and eventually exploded on the world scene as a global pandemic at the end of the century.
Trade Review"This is an outstanding work on one of the major diseases of world history. It is particularly important because most of what we know of the historic impact of diseases on society is based on the European experience. Presenting new and little-known material on the history of bubonic plague in China, Carol Benedict offers an original analysis of how economic growth and development in late Qing China produced ecological changes that promoted the spread of plague. The book will greatly broaden our understanding of the social history of disease, and it provides an excellent model of how to do this kind of research."—Ann Janetta, University of Pittsburgh
"Should interest a broad audience-- those interested in the history of medicine, modern world history, and late imperial and modern Chinese history. . . . But Benedict does not restrict her analysis to China. By applying a regional systems model . . . she contributes to the comparative history of disease." —
Journal of Asian StudiesTable of ContentsA note on translations, transliteration, names, and places; Abbreviations; Introduction; 1. Origins of plague in Southwestern China, 1772-1898; 2. The interregional spread of plague, 1860-1894; 3. The spatial diffusion of plague in the Southeast coast Macroregion, 1884-1949; 4. Nineteenth-century Chinese medical, religious, and administrative response to plague; 5. Civic activism, colonial medicine, and the 1894 plague in Canton and Hong Kong; 6. Plague and the origins of Chinese state medicine in the new policies reform era, 1901-1911; Conclusion; Appendixes: patterns of plague morbidity and mortality in Taiwan, 1897-1917, and Hong Kong, 1893-1923; A. Plague morbidity and mortality in Hong Kong, 1894-1923, and Taiwan, 1897-1917; B. Comparative causes of death in Hong Kong, 1893-1907, and Taiwan, 1897-1906; Notes; Works cited; Character lists; A. Names, terms, and titles; B. Place names; Index.
