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China is a state in East and Central Asia, one of the oldest in the world.
The Manchu invasion in the mid-17th century led to the liquidation of the medieval Chinese (Han) Ming dynasty and the establishment of a new Qing dynasty with its capital in Beijing. Key posts in the state ended up in the hands of the Manchu feudal nobility and those Chinese who agreed to support the invaders. By the end of the 18th century, the Qing Empire remained a fairly developed agricultural country with very productive crafts and thriving trade.
Its vast territory included: Manchuria - the domain of the conquerors, 18 Chinese (Han) provinces proper, as well as dependent territories - Mongolia, Xinjiang and Tibet. In addition, most of the neighboring states of the Middle Empire (or the Celestial Empire, as the inhabitants themselves called the country) were in vassal-tribute relations with it.
In the 1st half of the 19th century, China's tributaries included Korea, Vietnam, Burma, Siam, Nepal, Sikkim and Ryukyu. Some provinces were united into viceroys headed by viceroys. Since 1756, the country was closed to foreign traders with the exception of the port of Macau, where the Portuguese settled. The countries of Europe and North America, which were experiencing the Industrial Revolution, were still perceived by the Manchu rulers as Western barbarians."
Throughout almost the entire 19th century, Chinese society remained traditional, resembling a pyramid. At the very top sat the emperor (bogdykhan), who had unlimited power. Numerous relatives of the ruler of China, dignitaries and servants made up the imperial court. Under Bogdykhan there was a state chancellery, a state council, and a military council. Executive functions were carried out by employees of six departments: ranks, taxes, rituals, works, military and judicial.
The Confucian empire was built on a Sinocentric model of government in the eye of the Son of Heaven (as the emperor was called), to whom the divine Heaven granted a special mandate (permission) to rule the country. According to this concept, all its inhabitants were “children of the emperor,” and the “barbarians” were obliged to “tremble and obey” the ruler of the Celestial Empire.
The dominant position in the state apparatus was occupied by the descendants of the Manchu conquerors. Below were the so-called. Banner Mongols and Chinese (Han). At the next stage were the so-called. internal barbarians, i.e. non-Han peoples who inhabited large territories - Uighurs, Kazakhs, Tibetans, Dungans. At the very bottom of the “pyramid” were the Miao, Yi, Zhuang and others tribes, considered “wild”. Finally, the inhabitants of the Qing Empire's vassal countries were traditionally viewed as "external barbarians."
The armed forces of Qing China consisted of regular cavalry, infantry, artillery, sapper units, and a navy. A privileged position was occupied by the so-called. eight-banner troops stationed in the capital and major provincial cities. They consisted of Manchus and partly Mongols. Actually, the Chinese (Han) units were consolidated into the so-called corps of troops. green banner.
The medieval examination system continued to operate in the empire, which ensured the existence of a layer of educated officials - shenyni. The ideology of the ruling classes was based on the teachings of the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius (Kun Fuzi), updated by his followers in the 11th-12th centuries. At the same time, Buddhism (in the western regions - Islam) and local belief - Taoism - became widespread.
The socio-economic system of China, which developed in the 17th and 18th centuries, seemed unshakable. The country had a system of mutual responsibility and mutual surveillance. The Qing authorities issued a code of laws that contained a detailed list of crimes and punishments. All attempts by Europeans, primarily the British, to establish official diplomatic relations with Beijing, “opening” China to the products of the first British factories, ended in failure (missions of McCartney in 1793, Amherst in 1816, Napier in 1834). However, contradictions grew within the country, caused by the uneven economic development of the provinces, the inequality of nationalities, and the inequality of social groups (large landowners, officials, peasants, urban proletarians). The first symptoms of the internal weakening of the empire were popular movements led by the White Lotus secret societies in 1796-1804. and "Heavenly Mind" in 1813-1814. A serious factor in the internal life of China, despite the formal ban, since the 1820s. there was a sharp increase in the scale of trade in the narcotic substance opium. If in 1815-1819. its illegal import from British India and the Ottoman Empire amounted to more than 20 thousand boxes (60 kg each), then in 1835-1838. it exceeded 140 thousand boxes.
The word China comes from the Khitan (Chinese) people, who lived in the 11th-13th centuries east of the Tien Shan. If the population of China at the beginning of the 19th century was about 300 million people, then by the end of the century it reached 400 million. Europeans pursued an active colonial policy, Western countries sought to “open” the Chinese market and turn China into their colonial appendage. For many years, British merchants exported from China silk, tea, porcelain, paying for these goods in silver. This did not suit Great Britain, which found it more profitable to pay for imports with its own goods. But China considered all states and their rulers outside its borders to be “external vassals,” and refused to establish diplomatic relations at the embassy level or develop trade relations. In addition, trade suffered greatly from arbitrariness and bribery on the part of officials.
The West had no mechanisms to pressure China, which was self-sufficient and protected its domestic market by restricting trade. Western countries had a need to import tea (which was not produced anywhere else at that time) and raw silk. After capturing opium-producing Bengal, the British sharply increased the import of opium into China, evening out the balance of trade in their favor. The Chinese government legally restricted the import of opium, allowing it to be imported only for medical purposes. But the smuggling of this product was constantly growing, and by the forties of the 19th century it had grown to 40 thousand boxes of opium per year. The income of English merchants from the opium trade significantly exceeded the income from the tea and silk trade.
In China, opium smoking has spread to large sections of the population. One of the Chinese officials testified in 1838: “Starting from the bureaucratic class down to the owners of workshops and shops, actors and servants, as well as women, Buddhist monks and Taoist preachers - all of them smoke opium in broad daylight, buy pipes and all the accessories for smoking opium." The Chinese government began to confiscate the drug and then destroy it, which led to serious losses for English merchants. This was the reason for the first Anglo-Chinese “Opium” War. In the spring of 1840, the British Parliament decided, without formally declaring war, to send a naval squadron to the shores of China. In June 1840, 20 warships with a total crew of 4,000 people approached the southern coast of China. Demands were put forward: compensation for losses for confiscated opium, compensation for losses in organizing a military expedition, elimination of obstacles to trade, and providing the British with an island near China that could become a trading base. Moving north, British troops captured the Zhuoshuan Islands, near Ningbo. In this situation, the Chinese government began to pursue a capitulatory policy. It agreed to all demands except one, to transfer the island of Hong Kong to Great Britain.
In January 1841, the British continued hostilities, and on January 20, Chinese representatives signed the Chuanbei Convention, agreeing to all demands; on February 1, the British authorities declared all residents of Hong Kong to be subjects of the Queen of Great Britain. The Emperor did not want to admit defeat, and, having declared war on Great Britain, decided to continue military operations. The British captured Zhujiang, capturing 380 guns, and soon raised their flag over Guangzhou. From August 1841 to May 1842, military operations took place in the provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang. In July, British troops under Pottinger began the siege of Nanjing, the second most important city in China after Beijing. Steam ships, more modern artillery and rifled guns, against Chinese flints, ensured victory for the British. On August 29, 1842, the Treaty of Nanjing was signed on board the English warship Cornwall. According to the agreement, China opened five ports for English trade: Xiamen (Amoy), Fuzhou, Ningbo, Shanghai and Guangzhou, established low customs duties on English goods, and paid England a large indemnity. The Emperor of China yielded to Fr. Hong Kong to the Queen of Great Britain.
In accordance with the treaties that followed Nanjing, first England, then the USA, France, and some other Western countries received the rights of extraterritoriality and the creation of foreign settlements in “open” ports. In 1850, the Taiping Uprising broke out in China (translated as “Taiping” - “great prosperity”) - a peasant war directed against feudal oppression and the power of the foreign Manchu dynasty. In January 1851, the creation of the Taiping state was announced, and a war against the ruling regime was launched. In January 1853, the rebels took the large administrative center of Wuchang. Their army reached a million people. They did not engage in robbery, but destroyed tax registers, killed or expelled officials, and took away property from the rich. On March 19, 1853, they captured Nanjing. The internal structure of the Taiping state corresponded to the norms of “war communism.” So, for example, all land was not transferred to private ownership, but was divided in proportion to the number of eaters. After the harvest, all surpluses were withdrawn to the state storage, and families were left with food only to feed them until the next harvest. In the cities, all industry was nationalized. All workers and artisans were united into professional workshops-battalions.
The Taipings proclaimed Christianity as the state religion, and church attendance was strictly obligatory. In 1856, an internecine war for power began in the Taiping state, in which up to 100 thousand people died. As a result of the socio-economic crisis and civil strife, the Taiping state lost Jiangsu in 1857, and Nanjing in 1859. Then a series of victories were won, so in 1861 they took Hangzhou and Ningbo and then besieged Shanghai. In their fight against the Qing government, the Taiping people hoped for help from Western countries, keeping in mind the religious factor. Indeed, Protestant missionaries sympathized with the rebels and visited their leaders. However, Western politicians and businessmen believed that it was more profitable for them to support the Qing government rather than the Taiping government. If at the beginning of the uprising the West adhered to neutrality, then it later leaned toward supporting Beijing. Thus, the Qing government received a loan, modern weapons and three ships. Anglo-French troops carried out armed raids against the Taipings, and the Qing army had European instructors and detachments of mercenaries recruited in Europe. After this, a turning point in the war occurred; in July 1864, the capital of the Taiping state, the city of Nanjing, was taken. The main forces of the rebels were defeated, although resistance continued until 1868. In addition to the Taiping uprising, in the third quarter of the 19th century, the Chinese Empire was rocked by a number of other uprisings. During these turbulent years, Chinese emigration to Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries increased sharply. The main flow of emigration passed through the city of Shantou, a Chinese seaport on the South China Sea.
Immediately after the defeat in the Second Opium War, the Qing government began to pursue a policy of modernizing China, “yang wu” (assimilation of foreign experience). Enterprises producing modern weapons appeared. In 1868, the first steamship was built in Shanghai. But for the most part, raw material processing enterprises were built. However, the reforms almost did not affect the credit and financial sphere, public education, and land relations. In 1864, the conflict between Japan and China ended without war with the signing of a peace treaty in Beijing on October 31, according to which the Luqu Islands were ceded to Japan. In 1894, due to disputes over influence in Korea, the Sino-Japanese War began. Having defeated the Chinese troops in Korea, the Japanese transferred military operations to Manchuria and a month later they took Port Arthur; on February 12, 1895, the Chinese naval base of Weihaiwei capitulated, and already in early March Yingkou was taken. As a result of the Shimonoseki Peace Treaty, signed on April 17, 1895, Japan received Taiwan, the southern part of Manchuria, and monetary indemnity. However, Russia, France and Germany presented Japan with a diplomatic note recommending that it give up the Liaodong Peninsula in exchange for additional indemnity. Japan was forced to accept these conditions. China, after the war with Japan, was weakened, and the Western powers took advantage of this to divide it into spheres of influence. Thus, the German squadron captured the seaport of Jiaozhou (Qingdao), then the Russian squadron entered Port Arthur, the British occupied Weihaiwei, and the French acquired Guangzhouwan. Later, these acquisitions were formalized as lease agreements. All this led to the growth of anti-foreign sentiment in China and the rise to power of conservative-patriotic forces. In 1900, the Yihetuan Rebellion (Boxer Rebellion) began, which was accompanied by massacres and executions of missionaries, Chinese Christians and foreigners. By the end of the 19th century, China remained a weak and backward empire, politically dependent on Western countries.
China's reforms in the 19th century were the result of a long and extremely painful process. The ideology that had been established over many centuries, which was based on the principle of the deification of the emperor and the superiority of the Chinese over all surrounding peoples, inevitably collapsed, breaking at the same time the way of life of representatives of all segments of the population.
New masters of the Celestial Empire
Since China was subjected to the Manchu invasion in the mid-17th century, the life of its population has not undergone fundamental changes. The overthrown one was replaced by the rulers of the Qing clan, who made Beijing the capital of the state, and all the key positions in the government were occupied by the descendants of the conquerors and those who supported them. Otherwise, everything remains the same.
As history has shown, the new owners of the country were prudent managers, since China entered the 19th century as a fairly developed agricultural country with well-established internal trade. In addition, their policy of expansion led to the fact that the Celestial Empire (as its inhabitants called China) included 18 provinces, and a number of neighboring states paid tribute to it, being in Beijing. Every year gold and silver from Vietnam, Korea, Nepal, Burma, as well as the states of Ryukyu, Siam and Sikkim.
Son of Heaven and his subjects
The social structure of China in the 19th century was like a pyramid, at the top of which sat the Bogdykhan (emperor), who enjoyed unlimited power. Below him was a courtyard, entirely consisting of the ruler’s relatives. Under his direct subordination were: the supreme chancellery, as well as the state and military councils. Their decisions were implemented by six executive departments, whose competence included issues: judicial, military, ritual, tax, and, in addition, related to the assignment of ranks and the performance of public works.
China's domestic policy in the 19th century was based on the ideology according to which the emperor (Bogdykhan) was the Son of Heaven, who received a mandate from higher powers to rule the country. According to this concept, all residents of the country, without exception, were relegated to the level of his children, who were obliged to unquestioningly carry out any command. An analogy with the Russian monarchs, anointed by God, whose power was also given a sacred character, involuntarily suggests itself. The only difference was that the Chinese considered all foreigners to be barbarians, obliged to tremble before their incomparable Lord of the world. In Russia, fortunately, they did not think of this.
Steps of the social ladder
From the history of China in the 19th century, it is known that the dominant position in the country belonged to the descendants of the Manchu conquerors. Below them, on the steps of the hierarchical ladder, were ordinary Chinese (Han), as well as Mongols who were in the service of the emperor. Next came the barbarians (that is, not the Chinese) who lived on the territory of the Celestial Empire. These were Kazakhs, Tibetans, Dungans and Uighurs. The lowest level was occupied by the semi-wild tribes of Juan and Miao. As for the rest of the planet's population, in accordance with the ideology of the Qing Empire, it was viewed as a crowd of external barbarians, unworthy of the attention of the Son of Heaven.
Chinese Army
Since in the 19th century the focus was mainly on the capture and subjugation of neighboring peoples, a significant part of the state budget was spent on maintaining a very large army. It consisted of infantry, cavalry, sapper units, artillery and navy. The core was the so-called Eight Banner troops, formed from the Manchus and Mongols.
Heirs of ancient culture
In the 19th century, Chinese culture was built on the rich heritage inherited from the times of the rulers of the Ming Dynasty and their predecessors. In particular, the ancient tradition was preserved, on the basis of which all applicants for one or another public position were required to undergo a strict examination test of their knowledge. Thanks to this, a layer of highly educated bureaucrats emerged in the country, whose representatives were called “shenyni”.
Representatives of the ruling class always held in high esteem the ethical and philosophical teachings of the ancient Chinese sage Kong Fuzi (VI - V centuries BC), known today under the name of Confucius. Reworked in the 11th - 12th centuries, it formed the basis of their ideology. The bulk of the Chinese population in the 19th century professed Buddhism, Taoism, and in the western regions - Islam.
Closedness of the political system
While showing fairly broad religious tolerance, the rulers at the same time made a lot of efforts to preserve the internal political system. They developed and published a set of laws that determined the punishment for political and criminal crimes, and also established a system of mutual responsibility and total surveillance that covered all segments of the population.
At the same time, China in the 19th century was a country closed to foreigners, and especially to those who sought to establish political and economic contacts with its government. Thus, the attempts of the Europeans not only to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing, but even to supply the goods they produced to its market ended in failure. China's economy in the 19th century was so self-sufficient that it could be protected from any outside influence.
Popular uprisings in the early 19th century
However, despite the outward prosperity, a crisis was gradually brewing in the country, caused by both political and economic reasons. First of all, it was provoked by the extreme unevenness of economic development of the provinces. In addition, social inequality and infringement of the rights of national minorities were an important factor. Already at the beginning of the 19th century, mass discontent resulted in popular uprisings, led by representatives of the secret societies “Heavenly Mind” and “Secret Lotus”. All of them were brutally suppressed by the government.
Defeat in the First Opium War
In terms of its economic development, China in the 19th century lagged significantly behind the leading Western countries, in which this historical period was marked by rapid industrial growth. In 1839, the British government tried to take advantage of this and forcefully open its markets to its goods. The reason for the outbreak of hostilities, called the “First Opium War” (there were two of them), was the seizure in the port of Guangzhou of a significant amount of drugs illegally imported into the country from British India.
During the fighting, the extreme inability of the Chinese troops to resist the most advanced army at that time, which Britain had at its disposal, became abundantly clear. The subjects of the Son of Heaven suffered one defeat after another both on land and at sea. As a result, the British met June 1842 in Shanghai, and after some time they forced the Chinese government to sign an act of surrender. According to the agreement reached, from now on the British were given the right to free trade in five port cities of the country, and the island of Hong Kong, which previously belonged to China, was given to them for “eternal possession.”
The results of the First Opium War, which were very favorable for the British economy, turned out to be disastrous for ordinary Chinese. The flood of European goods forced the products of local manufacturers out of the markets, many of whom went bankrupt as a result. In addition, China has become a destination for the sale of huge quantities of drugs. They were imported earlier, but after the opening of the national market to foreign imports, this disaster assumed catastrophic proportions.
Taiping Rebellion
The result of increased social tension was another uprising that swept the entire country in the mid-19th century. Its leaders called on the people to build a happy future, which they called the “Heavenly Welfare State.” In Chinese it sounds like "Taiping Tiang". This is where the name of the participants in the uprising came from - Taipings. Their distinctive sign was red headbands.
At a certain stage, the rebels managed to achieve significant success and even create some semblance of a socialist state in the occupied territory. But very soon their leaders were distracted from building a happy life and completely devoted themselves to the struggle for power. The imperial troops took advantage of this circumstance and, with the help of the same British, defeated the rebels.
Second Opium War
As payment for their services, the British demanded a revision of the trade agreement concluded in 1842 and the provision of greater benefits to them. Having received a refusal, the subjects of the British crown resorted to previously proven tactics and again staged a provocation in one of the port cities. This time the pretext was the arrest of the Arrow ship, on board of which drugs were also found. The conflict that broke out between the governments of both countries led to the outbreak of the Second Opium War.
This time, military actions had even more disastrous consequences for the Emperor of the Celestial Empire than those that took place in the period 1839 - 1842, since the French, greedy for easy prey, joined the British troops. As a result of joint actions, the allies occupied a significant part of the country and again forced the emperor to sign an extremely unfavorable agreement.
Collapse of the Dominant Ideology
The defeat in the Second Opium War led to the opening of diplomatic missions of the victorious countries in Beijing, whose citizens received the right of free movement and trade throughout the Celestial Empire. However, the troubles did not end there. In May 1858, the Son of Heaven was forced to recognize the left bank of the Amur as Russian territory, which completely undermined the reputation of the Qing dynasty in the eyes of its own people.
The crisis caused by the defeat in the Opium Wars and the weakening of the country as a result of popular uprisings led to the collapse of the state ideology, which was based on the principle “China is surrounded by barbarians.” Those states that, according to official propaganda, were supposed to “tremble” before the empire led by the Son of Heaven turned out to be much stronger than it. In addition, foreigners who freely visited China told its inhabitants about a completely different world order, which was based on principles that excluded the worship of a deified ruler.
Forced reforms
Things related to finances were also very deplorable for the country's leadership. Most of the provinces that were formerly Chinese tributaries came under the protectorate of stronger European states and stopped replenishing the imperial treasury. Moreover, at the end of the 19th century, China was engulfed in popular uprisings, which caused significant damage to European entrepreneurs who opened their enterprises on its territory. After their suppression, the heads of eight states demanded large sums of compensation to be paid to the affected owners.
The government led by the imperial Qing dynasty was on the verge of collapse, which prompted it to take the most urgent measures. These were reforms that were long overdue, but implemented only in the 70-80s. They led to the modernization of not only the economic structure of the state, but also to a change in both the political system and the entire dominant ideology.
China in the 19th century suffered the “Opium War” of 1839-1842, which exposed all the rottenness and vices of the outdated feudal system, marking the beginning of the enslavement of China by Western imperialists, turning it into a dependent, semi-colonial country. China in the 19th century. Chinese industry, based on manual labor, could not withstand competition with the machine. The unshakable Middle Empire experienced a social crisis. Taxes stopped coming, the state was on the verge of bankruptcy, uprisings began, massacres of the emperor's mandarins and bosses of Fu Xi began. The country finds itself on the brink of destruction and is under threat of violent revolution.China in the mid-19th century
The double oppression of Chinese feudal lords and foreign invaders, which lasted for almost a century, hampered the development of Chinese culture. In the mid-19th century, the situation in China It also worsened significantly due to the ideological expansion that accompanied the advance of Western enslavers on the political and economic fronts. Under the conditions of colonial plunder, national medicine found itself in the most unfavorable conditions throughout its existence. And China became, perhaps, the only country where two medicines appeared and now exist simultaneously. The road to the country for Western medicine, or, as it is called in China, European medicine, was opened by the Anglo-Chinese War of 1839-1842.Opium shipments to China
At the end of the 18th century, foreign merchants found a product with which they began to break through the “closed door” policy of the Qing Empire. Large shipments began to arrive at the only port of China accessible to them - Macau. opium. The shameful role of the enlightened poisoners of hundreds of thousands of people worried little about the English and American merchants. At the beginning of the 19th century, 4 thousand boxes of the drug were delivered to the country annually, that is, about 160 tons. And by 1839 this number increased 10 times.
Port of Macau - used to supply opium to China. But it was not the health and well-being of the Chinese people that worried the reactionary Manchu government, but the reserves of the silver treasury, from where the currency floated into the pockets of foreign businessmen. With the help of the United States, which was also not averse to profiting at the expense of China, capitalist England broke the resistance of the imperial troops, brutally dealt with the squads of the “Pingyingtuan” (the pacifiers of the British) and imposed the unequal Treaty of Nanjing on the Qing. Since 1842, 5 ports became open: Canton, Amoy, Fuzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai, and a few years later the USA and France received the same privileges as England. China's dependence on foreign imperialists
From now on the transformation begins China into a country dependent on foreign imperialists. In order to at least to some extent weaken the continuously growing popular movement against foreign enslavers and strengthen their dominance, Western countries applied the proven policy of “carrot and stick”. While carrying out the cruelest exploitation, they at the same time tried to create the appearance of caring for the people.European medicine comes to China in the 19th century
For this purpose, in the mid-19th century in China, especially in port “open” cities, the first medical institutions were opened European type- outpatient clinics and hospitals (in 1844-1848, the first such hospitals were created in the cities of Shanghai, Xiamen, Linbo, Fuqi. And by 1876, there were 16 hospitals and 24 first-aid posts in the country, created by Europeans). Thus, in the train of guns and opium, the “second medicine” comes to the country. The very method of its appearance, and even more so the goals set for it, predetermined the relationship that developed between national and imported medicine. And if we take into account that European medicine of that time, in terms of treatment results, was not much different from Chinese, it will become clear which of them was preferred by the broad masses of the country. And the quantitative ratio was too unequal. For dozens of European doctors (in 1859 there were only 28 foreign doctors in China), there were hundreds of thousands of local healers who came from the people, who knew their character, traditions, and way of life well.
The city of Shanghai pioneered European-style medical institutions in the 19th century. But behind the shoulders of the small avant-garde, among whom were not only missionaries and certified traveling salesmen of various companies of patented means, but also real medical enthusiasts, stood the then progressive capitalist mode of production. The rapid development of natural sciences in Western Europe gave a powerful impetus to medicine, and its achievements, although with a significant delay, began to be applied more and more widely in China every year. And this meant that the horizons of the doctors working here were also gradually expanding. Thus, the discovery of the ether anesthesia method in 1846 played a significant role, thanks to which the rapid development of clinical surgery began. And the Chinese began to turn more often to European surgeons (it should be noted that China took the lead in the discovery of anesthesia. Bian Que and Hua Tuo also performed, according to fairly reliable data that have reached us, abdominal operations. But the information about the methods they used and painkillers were lost in the Middle Ages). Always extremely attentive and receptive to everything useful, willingly using the experience of others, Chinese doctors have never remained indifferent to the successes of their colleagues from other countries. In the 50-80s of the last century, they began to quite intensively study the experience of European doctors (the doctor Ho Xi in 1850-1859 translated European textbooks on internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology into Chinese). The first European-style educational institutions were created. But these institutes, organized in China according to the English and French models (the first such institute was created in Shanyang about 70 years ago), accepted almost exclusively people from the comprador bourgeoisie, which in no way contributed to the development of national medicine. Subservient to foreigners, the local bourgeoisie surpassed even their patrons in persecuting everything Chinese. In reality, this meant the strangulation of the people's liberation movement and national culture, which was, of course, very beneficial to its imperialist masters. Chinese Traditional Medicine Prohibition Law
The clique of Chiang Kai-shek, who carried out a counter-revolutionary coup on April 12, 1927, carried out an especially zealous anti-people policy and, having entered the service of the Anglo-American imperialists, made a deal with the landowners, feudal lords and the comprador bourgeoisie. One of the many acts of betrayal of national interests committed by his clique was officially adopted in 1929 by the reactionary Kuomintang government law banning Chinese traditional medicine.
Chiang Kai-Shek - pursued a policy of banning Chinese traditional medicine. This monstrous decision, which clearly ran counter to the fundamental interests of the Chinese people and common sense and was practically not implemented due to the active protest of the broadest sections of the country's population, nevertheless, did not pass without leaving a mark on the development of medical science in China. Representatives of the bourgeois elite went out of their way so diligently that the consequences of the policy of denigrating the heritage of national medicine could not but be reflected in the subsequent fierce struggle of the Chinese people on all sectors of the cultural front. Denial of Chinese traditional medicine
After all, even after the victorious completion of the people's revolution in China, there were people in the health authorities of the PRC who tried to push through the ideas of complete denial of traditional Chinese medicine. One of the bearers of these “ideas” was former Deputy Minister of Health He Chen. Repeating the worthless provisions of bankrupt “theories,” he argued that Chinese medicine is “not scientific” because it “does not have a modern scientific basis.” Devoid of any compelling reasons, this statement turned out to be extremely harmful, since in essence it was deeply anti-people. The Chinese Communist Party gave a proper rebuff to He Chen and his associate Wang Bin, the former Deputy Minister of Health, as well as all their supporters and followers. This intense struggle against the anti-patriotic sentiments and attitudes of a small number of Chinese health workers deserves some more detail.Existence of two medicines in China
The propositions that He Chen put forward to justify his openly hostile position towards Chinese traditional medicine were as not new as they were dangerous. Speculative, sophistical statements based on the inconsistency of some provisions of Chinese traditional medicine with those accepted by so-called European science have been repeatedly used almost from the very first days existence of two medicines in China. This was sometimes a notable success. Chinese medicine did not have a broad scientific base in the form of data based on the achievements of natural sciences. This hampered the further development and generalization of his rich practical experience and the proper justification of its main theoretical provisions. In the same way, one could not expect significant development from traditional medicine during the long period of general stagnation of the economy and culture of China, due to the difficult historical circumstances of the last few centuries. Therefore, if we talk about the degree of scientific validity of traditional medicine, then first of all, those who consider Chinese national medicine outside the historical conditions of its origin and development should be reproached for the lack of it. From a fundamental point of view, He Chen’s following thesis that Chinese medicine is “hopelessly outdated,” that it no longer “meets the requirements of today,” etc., was also not new. This conclusion followed from the following basic premises:Chinese medicine is a product of the feudal period... and certain people, certain techniques are only suitable for a certain time; With the development of society, naturally, new things arise that replace the old.Outwardly, all these statements seem correct and legitimate. But in reality, all this is far from what it seems at first glance. If we agree with the first position, then why, for example, a sail or a windmill, or a water supply system, known thousands of years before us, even in the slave system, can still move ships, thresh grain, supply water, and Chinese traditional medicine suddenly lost its practical value only because feudalism has been eliminated. After all, a number of diseases that she treated then still exist today. The fact of the matter is that medicine, this one of the most important areas of natural knowledge, is not the product of any one era or one class. Medicine, as one of the oldest fields of knowledge, is the product of a thousand-year struggle of man to preserve his health and prolong life. and has been healing people from various diseases for many thousands of years. She is still doing this today. But, of course, now the conditions for the development of Chinese traditional medicine have changed significantly, opening up endless possibilities for its further improvement. European medicine is built on the basis of modern natural science, and in this sense it is, of course, more advanced than traditional medicine. Thus, denying the well-known positive role of Chinese traditional medicine is nothing more than a deliberate distortion of reality. And the roots of such denial lie in the opinion, diligently propagated for a long time by various reactionary ideologists, that Chinese culture has long ago and forever reached a dead end, and in the desire to objectively follow the example of Chiang Kai-shek, who tried to “close down” with the stroke of a pen Chinese medicine, which had been developing in the country for many millennia. He Chen did not limit himself only to theoretical calculations. He went so far as to assert that about 500 thousand traditional doctors “are not worth one representative of European medicine,” and that Chinese doctors “under no circumstances should be allowed to work” in hospitals and outpatient clinics. Moreover, their use in public health agencies was considered unacceptable. And this was stated at a time when there was an urgent need for medical workers in the country. There were only about 50 thousand certified doctors out of a population of 600 million at that time. Expanding and strengthening the ranks, directing their useful activities to serve the people is a subject of special concern to the Communist Party of China, which is pursuing a policy of uniting representatives of national and European medicine. It was this policy that the organizers of the persecution of folk doctors tried to revise. He Chen developed a whole system of measures to “test their qualifications” with a single goal: to deprive these doctors of the opportunity to engage in medical practice and provide care to patients. That this was the case can be judged at least by the fact that of the four sections under which the test was carried out, only one related to Chinese folk medicine, while all the rest were European. Naturally, few could pass such an exam, and often not even those who had rich knowledge in the field of Chinese traditional medicine, but those who were, to one degree or another, familiar with European science. If such people, although rare, were found in cities, then what can we say about villages, where 400,000 people work, which is 80 percent of all folk doctors in the country. Therefore, it turned out that in 68 counties of Northern China, as a result of this notorious “proficiency test”, 90 percent of those examined were recognized as “not meeting the requirements.”
