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

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we can see in Figure 5.6 a clothesline with clean clothes, a baby bathtub, crib, bassinet, and<br />

diapering paraphernalia. Some of these organizations, like one at the Shanxi Hua County Public<br />

Health Station, distributed clean gauze with which to wrap the umbilical cord. 558 (A common<br />

method of tetanus transmission was the mud or dung often used to pack the cord stump.) The<br />

Mothers’ Club attached to the Cheeloo Medical School in Jinan, Shandong Province, intended to<br />

“[lay] the foundation stone for the child’s habits.” 559 They gave demonstrations and lectures on<br />

the following topics: suitable food and clothing; daily routine at birth, 6 months, and 12 months;<br />

clean water and its appropriate vessels; infant skin care; infant formula preparation; fresh air and<br />

sunshine; dental hygiene; and development.<br />

The Mother’s Association in Nanjing (Nanking), financed and staffed by the Nanjing<br />

Public Health Bureau, taught weekly classes in mothercraft, including “marriage problems, child<br />

welfare, family budget and house-keeping, general hygiene, disease prevention, first aid, and<br />

other kindred subjects.” 560 The First National Midwifery School, under the Beiping Child Health<br />

Institute, began similar mothercraft classes in 1930 because “it is the mothers who can actually<br />

practice child health and it is the mothers who build toward ‘school’ and ‘adult’ health. Before<br />

the mothers can be expected to undertake this responsibility they must be ‘health conscious.’” 561<br />

The mothers were expected not only to learn modern methods of health and child care, but also<br />

to spread this knowledge in their communities. The FNMS also distributed informational leaflets<br />

on maternal and child health, with such titles as “Important Hints for Expected Mothers,<br />

Parturient Mothers and On the Care of Infants,” “How to Maintain Health and Prevent<br />

Abnormalities for Antepartum, Partum, and Postpartum Mothers,” and “Hints on Proper Food<br />

558 Neizhengbu, Neizheng Nianjian.<br />

559 Annie V. Scott MD, "Well Baby Clinic: Its Organization and Aim," Chinese Medical Journal 50 (1936): 620-22.<br />

560 "Mother's Association in Nanking," Chinese Medical Journal 47 (1933): 418.<br />

561 LON-HO, "Collaboration with the Government of China."<br />

232

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