Study On The Missionary John Dudgeon In Late Qing Dynasty

John Dudgeon (1837-1901) was a well-known medical missionary in late Qing Dynasty. He came to China in 1863 and died in Beijing in 1901. In his 38 years of residence in China, he translated and wrote a large number of books on Chinese and western medicine. He introduced western medicine, science and technology to China, and also translated and introduced Chinese medicine and culture to Europe. He played a role as a bridge of exchanges between Chinese and western medicine. As a doctor, he actively practiced the mission of life-saving. He established Double Flag Hospital in Beijing. In those years he treated and cured countless patience and won the praises of ordinary people and celebrities in Beijing.At present, there are not many research findings on John Dudgeon, specialized works are less. In this paper, the author tries to do further study on the basis of previous research. By studying the personal accounts of John Dudgeon and important documents and the circumstances of modern Chinese society, the author tries to restore several decades of living and working pictures of John Dudgeon, especially revealing his important link role in the exchanges between Chinese and western medicine in modern times.The exchanges of early modern Chinese and western medicine were closely linked to the activities of missionary doctors in China. The medical missionaries bear a dual mission of preaching and practicing medicine. They had wide contact with all walks of Chinese people and had a profound understanding of Chinese society. Many of John Dudgeon's translated and written works were made to meet the requirement of Chinese society.John Dudgeon lived in China for many years and learnt the reality of China very well. He wrote many articles on opium, foot-binding and disaster-relief. In these articles, John often traced to the source of phenomenon and took specific numbers of survey as scientific grounds of argument, analyzed the existing problems and brought forward concrete and feasible solving measures. On the issue of anti-opium, John was more foreseeable. He realized the harm of morphine early and published articles to state its poison and appeal to control it strictly. He thought "only who has a degree of medicine can prescribe morphine".In addition, John made many achievements in introducing western technology to China. He had published many articles on western printing methods, railway transportation and photography. In particular, he had translated photography books, which is the first specialized book on western photography imported from the West to China. Later he wrote a supplement, which revealed the mystery of photography and introduced its techniques. Moreover, this book popularized knowledge of science in China and broke the wrong view that photography was "sorcery" or "heresy". It played a leading role in the spread of photography in China.John was a missionary, but also a great doctor serving for saving lives. He worked in China for many years, tirelessly and sedulously, and built a bridge for the exchanges of Chinese and western medicine. He was not Chinese, nor a social reformer, but an active participant of social reform in late Qing Dynasty. He wrote books and made all efforts to change the miserable life of Chinese common people. Although his specialty was medicine, he not only specialized in it, but had a high accomplishment in photography. What's more, he unstintingly shared experience, translated books and spread photography in China.John enjoyed an important status in the exchanges of Chinese and western cultures, especially in the exchanges of Chinese and western medical culture in early modern times. His speeches and behaviors, works and practices had a positive impact on the transition of social culture in modern China.