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

Medical Missionary Society. Dr. Main and his wife had wanted to start such an institution for
many years but did not because Dr. Main “felt the native gentry should move in the matter.”
Mrs. Kao, a prominent Hangzhou philanthropist, “conceived the idea of starting such an
institution with [Dr. Liu Ming-ts, Dr. Main’s chief assistant].” 98 Kingston DeGruche, Dr. Main’s
biographer, stated that
“the sufferings of women in China through the ignorance which attends them in
their confinements passes description, not only to the women themselves at the
time, but afterwards also, and to the babies, who often suffer contusions on the
head and body. Blindness and deafness through wrongs inflicted on them at their
birth, neglect of necessary cleanliness and lack of proper care in many cases carry
life-long trouble and affliction. … [Mrs. Kao], with her friends, was not only
willing but anxious that some definite help for Chinese women in their
confinements should be provided. These ladies were most sympathetic with the
idea of training native women midwives and monthly nurses, that this appalling
evil should be lessened as far as possible.” 99 Upon the first class’s graduation in
1908, Mrs. Kao presented each nursing student with “a fully stocked medicine
and instrument case.” 100
As soon as the Training Home for Midwifery opened in Hangzhou, the staff received 90
student applications. Of those, 22 were accepted, and nine stayed on to work at the hospital after
graduation. Students attended lectures on anatomy, physiology and midwifery, as well as a daily
practicum. They also took a course on Romanized Chinese so that they could take notes on
Western medical terms. The faculty taught students to give vaccinations to children and adults
and to treat cases of opium poisoning, a common suicide method among Chinese women. The
Hospital and Training Home were very successful, even among the Hangzhou elite. The
98 Kingston DeGruche, Dr. D. Duncan Main of Hangchow (Who Is Known in China as Dr. Apricot of Heaven
Below) (London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, Ltd.), 74.
99 Ibid., 73.
100 Ibid., 75.
50