Description
Book SynopsisWithin a mere decade, the creation of a Tibetan medicine industry in the People's Republic of China has resulted in hospital pharmacies throughout the Tibetan areas of China being converted into pharmaceutical companies. Confronted with the logic of capital and profit, these companies now produce commodities for a nation-wide market.
Trade Review “This is an outstanding piece of scholarship… the overall structure of the book is excellent.” · Sienna Craig, Dartmouth College
“This is a timely and well-researched work that brings into focus the intersection between a globally expanding market in Tibetan medicine, the lived practice of medicine production, and issues pertinent to Tibetan identity. It is engaging and insightful, and nicely grounded ethnographically.” · Denise M. Glover, University of Puget Sound
“…a highly readable exploration of medical, socio-cultural, political, economic, and aesthetic issues in the industrial production of Tibetan medicine in the PRC. The author approaches this subject with a pleasing curiosity, often questioning in unexpected ways assumptions that are regularly made about Tibet. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.” · Theresia Hofer, University of Oslo
Table of Contents List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgements
Notes on Transliteration and Transcription
Acronyms
Map of Tibet
Cast of Main Characters
Chapter 1. Introduction
- Perspectives on Tibetan medicine
- Aku Jinpa
- Official Views
- The Topic of Inquiry
- Industrial Modernities
- Tibetanness and the Moral Space of Tradition
- The Industry as Assemblage
- Language and Terminology
Chapter 2. The Creation of an Industry
- Sowa Rigpa and TCM – Different Trajectories
- Interference and Non-Interference
- The Making of TCM
- Tentative Integration of Sowa Rigpa
- Textbooks, Standardised Practice and Pharmacy
- From Pharmacy to Factory
- Reform and Revival
- Socialist Market Economy
- Founding Shongpalhachu
- Tibetan Drug Standards and Chinese Pharmacopoeia
- The Introduction of Good Manufacturing Practice
- Ownership and Investment
- Relations Between GMP Factories and Hospitals
- The SFDA and National Drug Registration
- The Size of the Industry
- Forces at Work
Chapter 3. Manufacturing Good Practice
- GMP in China
- The Steps of Production
- Sourcing and Storage of Raw Materials
- Simple Pre-Processing: Washing, Trimming, Sorting
- Complex Pre-Processing: Tsothal
- Grinding, Mixing, and Making Pills
- Sterilisation
- Drying
- Rationales, Practicalities
- Validation
- Self-Inspection
Chapter 4. Raw Materials, Refined
- Domestic Sourcing Strategies
- Long-term Relations to Village Collectors
- Cultivation
- Commercial Traders
- Transnational Trade and Border Regimes
- Import licences
- Trader Tactics
- Taxonomy and Legibility
- Business Cultures
- CITES and Nepalese Authorities
- Baru
- Gyatig
- Back to Tibet
- Tactics and Strategies
Chapter 5. Knowledge, Property
- Owners and Pirates
- The Problem of Patents
- Precious Pills, Precious Properties
- Filtering Knowledge
- ‘Old’ and ‘New’ Knowledge
- Randomised Controlled Trials
- The Knowledge Commodity
- Decoupling Forms of Knowledge
- Property, Knowledge
Chapter 6. The Aesthetic Enterprise
- Disenchantment, Enchantment
- Mendrup
- Rituals of GMP
- Packaging Remedies
- Design
- Materiality
- Advertisement
- Three Campaigns
- Visual Themes
- The Buddhist Company
- Yuthog
- Spiritual Spa
- Arura’s Museum
- Enchanting Whom?
Chapter 7. The Moral Economy of Tibetanness
- The Tibetanness Economy
- Preservation and Development
- Civilisation, Culture
- Theme Parks: Manufacturing Minzu
- Exhibiting Sowa Rigpa and a Farewell to GMP
- Morality and Spectacles of Authenticity
- Real and Fake
- Profit and the Ethics of Being a Doctor
- The Problem of Trust
- Balancing Profit with Altruism
- Morality at Large
- Building a Harmonious Society, Resisting Culture
- The Moral Economy at Large
Chapter 8. Conclusions
- Fallacies
- One – Industry and Modernism
- Two – Globalisation and Sinicisation
- Three – Knowledge
- Assemblage, Revisited
- Contemporary by Assemblage
- Territorial by Assemblage
Bibliography
Glossary
