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

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crisis in maternal and child health, the Ministry of Health planned to offer short courses lasting<br />

two or three months to old-style midwives, often called chanpo xunlianban (产婆训练班), “on<br />

asepsis and the primary physiological principles … while at the same time more advanced<br />

midwifery schools [zhuchan xuexiao 助产学校] with appended hospitals for practical work will<br />

be established.” 208 The number of these advanced schools would grow as midwifery school<br />

graduates were available to staff them. The First National Midwifery School (di yi zhuchan<br />

xuexiao 第一助产学校) in Beiping would be the model for other midwifery schools, and local<br />

health bureaus and departments were encouraged to follow this policy. 209 I will return to the<br />

FNMS in Chapter Three.<br />

The Midwifery Board aimed to provide midwife training at national, provincial, and rural<br />

levels. The Ministry of Health together with the National Midwifery Board established curricula<br />

guidelines and licensing registration of public health nurses and midwives in 1929. In 1930,<br />

these organizations, along with the First National Midwifery School, launched the National<br />

Maternity and Child Health Service (or Programme), headed by Marion Yang. Its first five-year<br />

plan emphasized training personnel, experimenting with teaching methods, and “educating the<br />

public to utilize modern maternity care.” 210 In 1932, Marion Yang toured numerous rural and<br />

urban locations in China to investigate maternal and child health problems and recommend<br />

solutions. She assisted the Yenching University Sociology Department’s Sociological<br />

Experimental Station at Qinghe (see below) to establish a rural “reconstruction” program to<br />

improve maternal and child health. That year Yang also provided technical assistance for<br />

maternal and child health work in Shanghai; Yutien county, Hebei province; the Jiangsu<br />

208 Ibid., 145.<br />

209 Ibid.<br />

210 "Fifth Annual Report, FNMS, Beiping, July 1, 1933 - June 30, 1934." (Beiping: First National Midwifery School,<br />

Beiping, 1934).<br />

80

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