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

medical beliefs. 73 Furthermore, some of the nutrition prescriptions for Chinese patients ran
counter to traditional Chinese beliefs, such as consuming large amounts of red meat and dairy
products. On the other hand, medical missionaries did not always dismiss outright Chinese
childbirth practices. A Dr. Browning of Ningbo wrote in the China Medical Missionary Journal
that Western physicians may learn something from Chinese midwives about placental separation
and tying the umbilical cord. Dr. Browning had been called to attend a confinement case, but
when he arrived, the baby was already delivered and lying in a tub with its placenta still
attached. The doctor, surprised at the sight, learned that in this particular area of China,
midwives cut the umbilical cord only after the baby had been washed and dressed. This practice
ran counter to the speedy severing and tying of the cord common in modern childbirth at the
time. In the article, Dr. Browning claimed that the Chinese way was the more “natural” process,
allowing for a slower transition for the baby from the womb to the outside world. He urged his
fellow practitioners to consider what harm they may be doing by being too hasty. 74 Although
this is a good example of the ways the Chinese and Westerners accommodated each other, this
attitude was not common among medical missionaries. Most spoke of Chinese midwives – and
their patients – with scorn and pity.
EARLY MODERN MEDICAL TRAINING IN CHINA
As early as 1901, Dr. James Boyd Neal, then editor of the China Medical Missionary Journal,
wrote that Chinese should be trained in medicine in order to provide “relief of much of the
suffering of this disease-cursed people” as well as to save souls by spreading Christianity. 75 Neal
73 Wu, “Introducing the Uterus to China.”
74 Dr. Browning, "Notes of Cases," CMMJ 6, no. 2 (1892): 82-85.
75 Dr. James Boyd Neal, "Medical Education for the Chinese," CMMJ XV, no. 3 (1901): 220.
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