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

agenda of social and preventive medicine was meant to reinforce political stability by building
up internal administrative structures.” 41
I argue that in China, the government and the citizenry adapted philanthropy in the form
of modern medicine to suit their own needs. It was not forced upon them, nor was it adopted
outright without change and therefore was not imperialistic. In this regard, I agree with
Laurence Schneider’s analysis of philanthropies in China. He does not consider Western
medicine or Rockefeller philanthropy in China to be imperialistic because the Nationalist
government actively sought funding and technical assistance from foreign powers, in large part
because of their own inadequate funds. Political modernizers and intelligentsia alike supported
and encouraged this cooperation. 42 The First National Midwifery School, discussed in Chapter
Three, is a prime example of the cooperation between the Guomindang and private foreign
philanthropists. In addition, Schneider argues that Western philanthropies did not promote
science and modernization in China or other countries solely to exploit them. The motivations
and the degrees of agency of all parties in these matters are extremely complex and thus cannot
be simplified in such terms as cultural imperialism.
SCOPE
Between the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911 and the establishment of the Nationalist, or
Guomindang, government in Nanjing in 1927, the central government had at best a tenuous grasp
on the country. Most of China was under the control of local warlords, and there were no
successful national efforts to control or support modern midwifery. During the Nanjing Decade
41 Paul Weindling, "Philanthropy and World Health: The Rockefeller Foundation and the League of Nations Health
Organisation," Minerva 35 (1997).
42 Schneider, Biology and Revolution.
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