21 - 23 JUNE 2000
PARIS, FRANCE
Medicine in China
Health techniques and social history
The international workshop 'Medicine in China: Health techniques and social history' was held at the Fondation Hugot. This workshop was organized by the Centre d'Études sur la Chine Moderne et Contemporaine, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Frédéric Obringer and Françoise Sabban), in association with the Collège de France (Pierre-Étienne Will) and the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (Catherine Despeux).
By FRÉDÉRIC OBRINGER
Twenty-nine scholars from Asia, Europe, North America, and Australia participated in the workshop. The scientific objectives were the following:- to draw up a general view of, firstly, the most recent research on the history of medicine in China, the social and political responses to illnesses and, in particular, to epidemics; and, secondly, of 'health techniques', for instance preventive and curative techniques or dietetics from the perspective of the history of techniques as well of the history of medicine;
- to show that the social history of medicine and the 'internal history' of medicine are complementary;
- to promote international collaboration;
- to give junior researchers the chance to become informed about the most acute problematics;
- to publish a volume of conference proceedings, with a complete bibliography.
Without a shadow of a doubt, the workshop produced the results which were anticipated. A good general overview was given of the most recent research on the history of medicine in China. The papers on the first day, discussing medical historiography, showed some new approaches, in particular the advocation of the use of non-written sources (pharmaceutical equipment, for example) and of non-technical literature. Those presentations on the second and third days could be divided into four main topics: the foundation of a tradition under the Han dynasty; health techniques, with special attention paid to pharmaceutical prescriptions; the social and medical reactions to famine; and health policy in Late Imperial China.
The presence of specialists in social history as well as of historians of medicine with a more 'technical' point of view clearly proved the importance of the contextualization, but also underlined the necessity for a very detailed reading of the sources. Another fruitful outcome was the participation of various colleagues (often as discussants) specialized in the history of Western medicine. Because of this, there were good comparative discussions, and in a very friendly atmosphere.
Future plans
A selection of the papers will be published. The editors wish to construct more than a simple volume of conference proceedings, but to build a real book. The quality of the papers will help to realize this ambition. It is also important that the volume be published within a decent time frame. Finally, the different discussions during the workshop have suggested that some great international projects with comparative counterparts are now going to be promoted. *
Dr Frédéric Obringer is affiliated with the Centre d'Études sur la Chine Moderne et Contemporaine in Paris, France.
E-mail: obringer@ehess.fr