Medicine And Nation

There was a debate between the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) andthe western medicine in modern China the essence of which was how theChinese medicine could go forward with the national development. TheBing-yin or 1926 medicine society, which was composed of students of thePeking Union Medical College, was an important society in the camp of thewestern medicine. They drew a blueprint for Chinese medicine in theMedicine Weekly.They defined the new medicine according to the universal medicalhistory. To them, 'jiu' or old meant the medicine in modern China whichincluded not only the TMC but also the western medicine, while the 'xin' ornew meant the new medicine which was to grow out of the old. Although thewestern medicine gave stimulation, the Chinese medicine could not turn to thenew medicine until it found its own way to self innovation. They also payedclose attention to the relationship between the medicine and thenation-building. The TMC was national but not modern while the westernmedicine was modern but not national. So they strived for a new medicineaccording to the social system of modern China and people's demands. Andthe new medicine should be scientific, national and social. So they called forscientific study of the TMC, put forward a proposal for the public health inChina and made a penetrating analysis of the national medicine ( guo-yi).They pointed out that it was important to mobilize the whole nation to developthe new medicine. So they proposed that the government and other socialgroups should take their own duties in the development of new medicine.They themselves educated the people with modern knowledge of medicine,and constructed the healthy custom of the people.We should analyze the typical cases such as the Bing-yin medical societyin detail in the history of the debate between the TMC and the westernmedicine in order to study and probe into the relationship of the medicine andthe nation. And we also could hope to comprehend such ideas as 'zhong' orChina, 'xi' or western, 'guo' or nation which is important in the history ofidea in modern China.