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

countries.” 319 In other words, proper midwifery techniques were crucial to improving general
maternal and child health. While Yang’s new midwifery utilized all the technological advances
and scientific medicine, it was not to be removed from the larger national public health goals.
Nor was it to be removed to the hospital whereby only those with money, connections, or in
close proximity would be able to take advantage of scientific midwifery. Yang would bring her
midwifery to the people, through clinics, community centers, home visits, and especially the
Child Health Institute and the Health Demonstration Stations.
The Rockefeller Foundation agreed at its November 9, 1928, board meeting to cooperate
for a five-year period with the Municipality of Peking and the Chinese government to establish
the school. The school was opened in a temporary location in October 1929, and it moved to a
one and one-half acre plot at 84 Jiaodaokou Dajie in September 1931. The buildings were
Chinese residences remodeled to suit the purposes of the FNMS, with the addition of one two-
story brick “foreign building” that housed the outpatient dispensary and waiting room, kitchen,
dining room, and student dormitory. There were also plans for an 80-bed maternity hospital.
There was central heating and electricity throughout the school. According to the Rockefeller
Foundation/International Health Division’s Dr. Victor Heiser, “It is amazing how economically a
modern maternity hospital can be administered under Chinese auspices.” 320 The cost of
remodeling and constructing the FNMS was $125,000.
The Chinese government provided the land and buildings, and PUMC requested capital
for equipment and teaching personnel for five years from the Rockefeller Foundation’s
International Health Division. The first year’s budget from June 1, 1929 to May 31, 1930, was
319 "First National Midwifery School, Peiping," (Peiping: First National Midwifery School, 1932).
320 Dr. Victor Heiser, "Excerpt from Dr. Heiser's Diary, China, November 1932," folder 373, box 45, series 601, RG
1, RAC.
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