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

medical system, in terms of working with limited resources in a fragmented and unstable
situation.
Finally, people like Lin Qiaozhi and Marion Yang, both PUMC-trained physicians,
continued to work under the CCP administration. One of the “three most respected women in
China [in 1972],” 604 Lin became a member of People’s Committee and remained on staff at
PUMC after 1949. She was instrumental in promoting maternal and child health throughout the
1960s and 1970s, and was one of the architects of the CCP’s family planning strategy. 605 Yang
lived until 1983. Upon her death, she left 69,000 yuan, which in 1988 was used to establish the
Marion Yang Endowment (Yang Chongrui Jijinhui杨崇瑞基金会), administered by the First
National Midwifery School Alumni Association of Beijing Medical College Alumni (Beijing
yike daxue jiaoyou zonghui guoli di yi zhuchan xuexiao xiaoyou gonghui 北京医科大学校友总
会国立第一助产学校校友分会). The endowment operated a scholarship fund for young
women to pursue maternal and child health studies. In 1990, the Alumni published a book
dedicated to Yang, filled with glowing remembrances of a dedicated teacher and activist who
worked to further maternal and child health in China. 606 More research on this area is needed in
order to fully explore the relationship between the Guomindang and CCP public health systems.
Where does this leave us today? By 1997, over 60 percent of women in China delivered
their babies in hospital facilities, with 76 percent of urban women delivering in hospitals. The
number of hospital births has continued to rise. In the largest urban centers like Shanghai, nearly
604
Bowers, Western Medicine in a Chinese Palace, 222.
605
Guo, Lin Qiaozhi.
606
Yan Renying, ed., Yang Chongrui Boshi: Danchen Bai Nian Ji Nian (Dr. Marion Yang: 100 Year
Commemoration) (Beijing: Beijing yike daxue, zhongguo xiehe yike daxue lianhe chubanshe, 1990).
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