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

Ministry of Health implemented maternal and child health programs. Midwife training in
particular was part of a larger movement to quickly train “health aides” with less training than
physicians in order to reach more people more quickly. At the same time, modern midwifery fit
perfectly with the Nationalist focus on science as the solution to many of China’s ills. 180
The newly formed Guomindang government in Nanjing established a National Midwifery
Board in 1929 that sponsored and developed midwifery programs. One of their most important
efforts was the First National Midwifery School (FNMS), a joint endeavor with the China
Medical Board. During that same year, the Ministry of Health’s first Five-Year Plan aimed to
improve maternal and child health nationwide. It established national and provincial programs to
train new and old-style midwives, standardized curricula and examinations for midwifery and
other medical training programs, and instituted a national midwife registration and licensing
program. Part of this turn to Western maternal and child health practices stems from the
government’s attempts to curtail the power of traditional Chinese medical practitioners in favor
of a new and modern medical system. 181 These efforts went a long way to validate and solidify
the role of modern midwives as the birth attendants for a modern nation. This chapter will focus
on Nationalist policies to regulate and educate midwives within the broader context of improving
China’s public health.
Guomindang midwifery reform was part of the larger effort to extend state control and to
bring previously private matters into the public sphere. This included regulating the family as
well as the newly emerging midwifery profession. The Nationalist government sought to extend
its control into the private lives of its citizens, much more so than China’s imperial governments
had attempted in the past. As Susan Glosser has illustrated, the state took over the family
180 Schneider, Biology and Revolution.
181 Xu Xiaoqun, Chinese Professionals.
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