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

pharmaceutics. According to Peabody, “Many of them get married [and stop practicing] but
some few go into practice or study on in the hospital. … Dr. [Jin] says that there is no difficulty
about teaching men and girls medicine together. She always calls on a man to assist her in the
performance of difficult operations.” 501
The employment possibilities for zhuchanshi were varied, unlike the traditional
jieshengpo. They could work in a regular hospital, women’s hospital, or dispensary. By 1947
the Guangzhou Midwifery Association had helped to place 20 of its member midwives in
hospitals in and around Guangzhou. 502 They could have worked in rural and urban health
demonstration stations that were being established throughout the country. Graduates of the
advanced course of the First National Midwifery School could teach in other midwifery
programs. As stated above, zhuchanshi could also fill government positions in the provincial and
national public health administrations. Many of these women moved around from post to
provincial post, whereas the old-style jieshengpo were firmly rooted in their local communities.
For example, a graduate from Shandong of the First National Midwifery School in Beiping
worked at the Beiping Municipal maternal and child health Bureau (Beiping shili gonganju
baoying shiwusuo 北平市立公安局保婴事务所) for one year, then at the Nanjing Central
Midwifery School (the Second National Midwifery School, Zhonghua di er zhuchan xuexiao中
华第二助产学校), then for the Fujian Provincial Nursing and Midwifery School, finally
migrating to Guangdong to work for various posts in the Guangdong Provincial Public Health
Administration. This is one way that childbirth became more impersonal with the advent of the
zhuchanshi. The childbirth attendant was no longer a long-term member of her local community
with its associated responsibilities, ties, and relationships.
501 Peabody, "Visit to Peiyang Hospital."
502 Xie, "Yi Zhounian Huiwu Baogao," 21.
202