Study On The Thought Of Anti-traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM)under The Background Of The Anti-superstition Movement In The Late Qing Dynasty And The Republic Of China Era

There are lots of complex social situation,internal and external problems in the late Qing dynasty and the Republic of China era,the anti-superstition movement took place in such a historical environment.The movement is the way and means that a group of intellectuals and social elites have explored in the country's destiny and future thinking in order to achieve social progress and national strength.The aim of this movement is to open up people's mind and seek progress,but with the development of this movement,some things that were not belong to superstition are also classified as superstition,one of which is Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM).Throughout the academic circles' s study on anti-TCM have produced a lot of results,however,there are few studies that put the emergence of anti-TCM in the background of the anti-superstition movement.In order to make up for the shortcomings of this part,this paper investigate the thought and evolution of anti-TCM from the occurrence and development of the anti-superstition movement,and then analyzed the reasons behind it.This paper combs the basic thread of anti-superstition movement and anti-TCM thought from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China era,and also focuses on the propaganda and implementation of the anti-superstition movement and the comments of scholars and politicians on the anti-TCM thought during the Nanjing National Government period.The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between the above two,the reasons behind it and the guiding significance for today's society.This paper consists of five chapters: the first chapter is the introduction section;the second chapter brought up the narration respectively from the two periods of the late Qing dynasty and the Republic of China era,and took the historical development of anti-superstition movement as the principal line.Firstly,it started from the social and cultural background back then and discussed the formation and content of the anti-superstition discourse,then it reorganized thedeveloping sequence of anti-superstition movement in general;the third chapter systematically examined the contents related to anti-superstition movement in Nanjing national government period,including the issues such as the communication,nature,harm,measure and method etc.of superstition,hoping to gain a more detailed and intuitive understanding on the anti-superstition movement by focusing on this particular period;the fourth chapter reorganized the developing sequence of the anti-TCM thought,which occurred almost at the same time as the occurrence of anti-superstition movement,following the periodical sequence of late Qing dynasty,Beiyang government period and Nanjing national government period.It discussed emphatically the anti-TCM remarks of the scholars and government staffs,and analyzed the reasons behind it,and summarized the characteristics of the anti-TCM thought during its development and evolution process in the period from the late Qing dynasty to the Republic of China era;the fifth chapter is the conclusion,and an overall summary of the anti-superstition movement and anti-TCM thought in the period from the late Qing dynasty till the Republic of China era as mentioned in the preceding chapters,and it also emphatically analyzed the effects of anti-superstition movement on anti-TCM thought.Through the above research,the main conclusions are drawn as follows:1)The formation of anti-superstition discourse is mainly related to three factors,one being that the connotation of superstition expanded from the belief in ghosts and gods contained in the local vocabulary,the psychology of seeking good fortune and avoiding disaster,and the derivatives related to them,to the superstition concept which entered China through Japanese translation and introduction in the period from the late Qing dynasty till the Republic of China era and which is opposite to science and reason,making superstition become the obstacle in seeking to be scientific;the second one is that,since the period from the late Qingdynasty to the Republic of China era,government and advanced intellectuals and elites had all been seeking the way to break from the feudal society and establish a new society,and superstition was the outcome of the old society and characterization of old order;thirdly,enlightenment had always been the appeal in the period from the late Qing dynasty to the Republic of China era.And improving folk customs and enlightening the public was an important task among them.Plus,superstition was the fundamental factor imprisoning the public's mind back then.2)Since the late Qing dynasty,anti-superstition discourse had already come into existence and been implemented by the government,being directed at the conducts of using superstition to rake in money or carrying out superstition activities in public places,and its measures and contents were relatively limited.However,when it came to the Republic of China era,the contents and forms of anti-superstition movements became much richer and more sound compared with before.3)Anti-TCM thought emerged during the late Qing dynasty period,and the main reason back then was individual's doubt on the curative effects of TCM and individual's critique based on theoretic basis.In the Republic of China era,from the indirect repudiation by the authority in the Beiyang government period on the legality of TCM to the direct passing of the proposal to abolish TCM in Nanjing national government period,in which numerous scholars and government staffs participated,the problem of whether to keep or abolish TCM expanded from the initial theory-based discussion to a discussion involving multiple aspects including society,country and politics.4)The reason why anti-superstition movement is closely related to anti-TCM thought is: since the period from the late Qing dynasty to Republic of China era,the enlightenment becoming so narrowed that there was only democracy and science left in the May Fourth Movement,coupled with the fact that some intellectuals and scholars had one-facetedunderstanding on “science”,caused different levels of objections to all the things which were opposite to science;under the background of anti-superstition movement,the discourses of numerous celebrities and scholars and even politicians which associated or even equated Chinese medicine with superstition,formed a particular ages atmosphere,made the thought to abolish TCM be penetrated through it from the beginning till the end.At present,the Chinese government attaches great importance to TCM and has raised the promotion and development of TCM to the national strategic level.Through the study on the thought of anti-TCM,hopping to have some warning and enlightenment for the promotion and protection of TCM.Moreover,today's society advocates the diversity of knowledge.We should realize that each kind of knowledge is born in different social and cultural backgrounds,each kind of knowledge has its uniqueness and irreplaceability.What we need to do is to develop the right cognitive approach to view the difference between different knowledge and avoid putting one knowledge above another.This understanding has positive practical significance for the present.