This innovative book uses the lens of cultural history to examine the development of medicine in Qing dynasty China. Focusing on the specialty of 'medicine for women' (fuke), Yi-Li Wu explores the material and ideological issues associated with childbearing in the late imperial period. She draws on a rich array of medical writings that circulated in seventeenth- to nineteenth-century China to analyze the points of convergence and contention that shaped people's views of women's reproductive diseases. These points of contention touched on fundamental issues: How different were women's bodies from men's? What drugs were best for promoting conception and preventing miscarriage? Was childbirth inherently dangerous? And who was best qualified to judge? Wu shows that late imperial medicine approached these questions with a new, positive perspective.

About the Author
Yi-Li Wu is an independent scholar and a Center Associate of the Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan.

Reviews
"A major addition to the growing literature on the history of gender and medicine in Imperial China." -- Angela Ki Che Leung Journal Of Chinese Studies "Yi-Li Wu's volume is essential reading for students and researchers alike." -- Larissa N. Heinrich East Asian Science, Technology, And Medicine "[A] well-written and extensively researched work on traditional medicine in late imperial China." Journal Of Interdisciplinary History "[Wu's] clear prose and concise explanations make this analysis of intricate ideas accessible... A fine introduction to the history of Chinese reproductive medicine." Harvard Journal Of Asiatic Stds "[Wu's] research is meticulous, her erudition deep but lighthanded, and her writing lucid... Conceptually and comparatively sophisticated." Journal Of Asian Stds (Jas) / Se Asia & Western Pacific "Splendid... Wu's broad command of difficult Chinese classical writings is sharpened by her mastery of the cross-cultural history of medicine." Bulletin Of The History Of Medicine



Book Information
ISBN 9780520260689
Author Yi-Li Wu
Format Hardback
Page Count 378
Imprint University of California Press
Publisher University of California Press
Weight(grams) 635g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 28mm