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Forgotten Disease - Illnesses Transformed in Chinese Medicine (Paperback)
Loot Price: R640
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Forgotten Disease - Illnesses Transformed in Chinese Medicine (Paperback)
Series: Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
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Around the turn of the twentieth century, disorders that Chinese
physicians had been writing about for over a millennium acquired
new identities in Western medicine—sudden turmoil became cholera;
flowers of heaven became smallpox; and foot qi became beriberi.
Historians have tended to present these new identities as
revelations, overlooking evidence that challenges Western ideas
about these conditions. In Forgotten Disease, Hilary A. Smith
argues that, by privileging nineteenth century sources, we
misrepresent what traditional Chinese doctors were seeing and
doing, therefore unfairly viewing their medicine as inferior.
Drawing on a wide array of sources, ranging from early Chinese
classics to modern scientific research, Smith traces the history of
one representative case, foot qi, from the fourth century to the
present day. She examines the shifting meanings of disease over
time, showing that each transformation reflects the social,
political, intellectual, and economic environment. The breathtaking
scope of this story offers insights into the world of early Chinese
doctors and how their ideas about health, illness, and the body
were developing far before the advent of modern medicine. Smith
highlights the fact that modern conceptions of these ancient
diseases create the impression that the West saved the Chinese from
age-old afflictions, when the reality is that many prominent
diseases in China were actually brought over as a result of
imperialism. She invites the reader to reimagine a history of
Chinese medicine that celebrates its complexity and nuance, rather
than uncritically disdaining this dynamic form of healing.
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