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

field work. Upon graduation, the students were to return to their home institutions to continue
their work. The FNMS was thus able to extend its reach beyond Beijing. As Yang stated, “It
was felt that this would be helpful in raising midwifery standards throughout the country and
would also help the Central Government to enforce registration regulations of midwifery
schools.” 341 The National Health Administration offered fellowships to selected students. The
course was limited to10 students per term, who would study “Ethics of the Midwifery
Profession,” obstetrics, public health, and delivery and ward practicum. Additionally, each
student was required to handle10 hospital and five home deliveries, for a total of 1,198
classroom and practicum hours. 342 Most students in the first year were from Jiangsu province,
where Marion Yang had undertaken significant consulting work to improve the area’s maternal
and child health services. By 1934, six rural xian-level maternity hospitals in Jiangsu were under
the supervision of graduates from this course. 343 Fourteen students were in this course in 1934-
35, with 12 graduates that year. 344
TWO-MONTH REFRESHER COURSE
The Two-Month Refresher Course was given twice yearly “as a supplementary course for
midwives who have received certificates from unregistered schools.” 345 The first class of this
type began in September 1932. By the time that the FNMS was founded, there were between 45
and 50 private midwifery schools in China that had issued certificates to hundreds of women,
most of whom had never had clinical instruction and, according to Yang, had received only
341
"Fifth Annual Report, FNMS," 1.
342
Ibid., ii.
343
"Sixth Annual Report, FNMS."
344
Ibid.
345
"First National Midwifery School, Peiping," 7.
139