12.12.2012 Views

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

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

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

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

careers in public health.” 304 Grant was instrumental in getting funding and approval for a<br />

midwifery school from the Rockefeller Foundation. He believed that the high infant mortality<br />

rate caused by tetanus neonatorum was “one of the outstanding public health problems” facing<br />

China, and it was easily controllable by creating midwifery training programs. 305 Grant noted<br />

that several governmental and private midwifery schools had been established in China in the<br />

previous 15 years, but that the best government-run one (in Taiyuanfu, Shansi province) “would<br />

not qualify for the lowest standards of midwifery schools in northern Europe.” 306 The private<br />

schools run by Hackett Medical School in Guangzhou and St. Elizabeth’s in Shanghai produced<br />

“moderately well-trained graduates.” 307 He repeatedly prodded the Rockefeller Foundation’s<br />

International Health Division to support and fund the fledgling First National Midwifery School.<br />

Marion Yang, founder and head of the FNMS, credits her dedication to improving maternal and<br />

child health to the tireless work of John Grant. He helped her to win a fellowship for study at<br />

Johns Hopkins University and travel abroad, and he continued supporting and encouraging Yang<br />

in her efforts. 308<br />

Marion Yang was the pioneer of midwifery training in Republican China, and no other<br />

person was as instrumental in creating a legitimate midwifery profession. Yang was born in<br />

1891 to what Yang herself characterized as a relatively well-off “middle peasant” (zhongnong 中<br />

农) family, though her family was obviously not of the peasant class. 309 Her father was<br />

considered a genius because he had obtained the xiucai (county level imperial examination)<br />

degree at the age of 16 and passed the provincial exams (zhongju) at age 18. Her mother was the<br />

304<br />

Ibid., 203-4.<br />

305<br />

John B. Grant, letter to Victor Heiser, September 20, 1926.<br />

306<br />

John B. Grant, "Midwifery Training."<br />

307<br />

Ibid.<br />

308<br />

Chongrui Yang, "Wo De Zizhuan,” 147-48.<br />

309<br />

The bulk of this section is taken from an autobigraphical sketch, Yang Chongrui, “Wo de Zizhuan.”<br />

121

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!