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

often moved around for jobs or took government posts. Jieshengpo, although of low social
status, had carried out important social duties regarding birth rituals. The role of the local
community midwife eventually disappeared and was replaced by a modern professional located
in a hospital. Furthermore, the jieshengpo were responsible for only a short period in the
mother’s and infant’s lives, while probably remaining an important part of their social life. The
zhuchanshi, however, extended their control to encompass the period from conception to birth
and beyond, while their broader community role diminished. The role of the patients, too,
underwent important changes. Women had primarily been reproducers of their families, with
their importance attached to carrying on the family name. In the twentieth century, women also
became important as reproducers of the nation. Their burden as reproducers doubled to include
supplying the state with the next healthy, intelligent generations.
It is useful to compare China’s situation with that of the United States, because much of
China’s medical modernization came from America. India also provides an important
comparison, because both China and India experienced varying degrees of colonial medicine. In
the United States, male physician-assisted births rapidly became the norm beginning in the early
1900s and extending to the 1970s, when the feminist movement to regain control of birth began.
In China and other developing countries like India, midwives remained the primary birth
assistants, whereas in the United States male physicians increasingly took over that role. On first
glance, we may conclude that the reason for the difference is that gender distinctions in China
and India are more traditionally-based and more resistant to change. On the other hand, specific
circumstances in these developing countries may have created this difference. After all, China in
the early twentieth century did not have the resources or the manpower to train enough
physicians to attend all births. Jieshengpo were re-trained temporarily, only until enough
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