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

November 25-December 8), Zhangzhou (March 10), and Xian (Shaanxi province, May 13-31).
Marion Yang’s vision was thus not limited to Beijing. She worked to extend the influence of
modern maternal and child health throughout China.
Aside from the director, other FNMS staff members were often sent to fledgling
programs in rural and urban areas to help administer midwifery schools and maternal and child
health initiatives. For example, by 1934, all of the FNMS’s senior staff was sent elsewhere.
Four midwives and one physician went to the Central Midwifery School in Nanjing; one
physician and one midwife were sent to take charge of the Shaanxi Provincial Midwifery School
in Xian; one physician and two midwives went to the Jiangxi Provincial Midwifery School in
Nanchang; and one physician and one midwife went to Lanzhou, Gansu, to open a provincial
midwifery school there. 404
SUCCESSES AND SHORTCOMINGS OF THE FNMS
Was the First National Midwifery School successful? Did it do its intended job of training
midwives with the purpose of lowering maternal and infant mortality rates? By 1934, there were
nearly 2,000 registered midwives in China. In comparison, there were an estimated 400,000
untrained midwives, who were blamed for the majority of infant and maternal deaths. 405 Still,
even in Peking in 1931, half of all births were attended by old-style midwives, and 25 percent by
relatives or with no help from others. 406
The total number of FNMS graduates was small but influential. The FNMS initially had
facilities to house 40 midwifery students, and in 1929 the school had 10 students in each of the
404 "Sixth Annual Report, FNMS."
405 Dr. John B. Grant, letter to Victor Heiser, March 16, 1931, folder 373, series 601, box 45, RG 1, RAC.
406 Grant, "Midwifery Training."
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