BUILDING THE NATION THROUGH WOMEN'S HEALTH: MODERN ...

卫生模范区) was begun in 1927 under the jurisdiction of the Shanghai Municipal Public Health
Bureau. Its staff of two full-time and two part-time physicians, three public health nurses, two
midwives, and one sanitary inspector provided public health care and education to a rural
population of 38,000 with an annual budget of $18,000. 273 In addition to public health and
sanitation campaigns, Gaoqiao had a trained midwife (zhuchanshi) for “normal deliveries”
(zhengchangchan 正常产) and a doctor (yisheng 医生) for difficult deliveries (nanchan 难产).
The district also advocated pre- and postnatal care for the masses (minzhong 民众). According
to its 1936 annual report, the public health station’s midwives delivered more than 30 percent of
the district’s babies. 274 Dr. Marion Yang gave technical assistance to the District’s maternal and
child health efforts in 1933. Chapei District focused on improving maternal and child health
under the Shanghai Child Welfare Association established in 1933 under the auspices of the
Bureaus of Social Affairs, of Public Health, and of Education. It became a branch association of
the National Child Welfare Association, a private organization founded in 1927 primarily by
foreign contributions.
Another good example of municipal government support of midwifery training can be
seen in 1930s Canton. Part of the Canton government’s extremely progressive Three-Year Plan
passed in 1933 included the establishment of municipal nurse training programs, a municipal
maternity hostel “for the common people,” and an eventual maternity hospital. It also listed
provisions for improving the municipal midwifery school and establishing city wide nursing and
midwifery graduation examinations. Each year of the Three-Year Plan enforced nurse training
among girls in municipal schools (while all boys were to receive military training). 275
273 "Sixth Annual Report, FNMS."
274 Neizhengbu, Neizheng Nianjian, G223-24.
275 Edward Bing-Shuey Lee, Modern Canton (Shanghai: The Mercury Press, 1936), especially Appendix III, 153-68.
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