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The Puzzle of Spermatorrhea in Republican China

The Puzzle of Spermatorrhea in Republican China 3 e cn 33 0- C 3 u i Shapiro of Spermatorrhea Spermatorrhea, or more specifically yijing,* was not a new disease; we find it already diagnosed in antiquity.3 What one first notices about yijing, in fact, is its ordinariness-physicians in China have written about the disorder and prescribed medicine for its treatment for more than eighteen hundred years. Yet during the early twentieth century, a striking amount of public space was devoted to yijing. T h e clinical record, too, in both the sidestreet clinic and the new modern hospital, suggests a disproportionate concentration on the malady. This essay seeks to elucidate the sources of this puzzling preoccupation. How should we interpret the prominence in the medical and popular imagination of the period? Why were Republican-era city dwellers so concerned with a disorder that was, after all, well understood by Chinese medicine and was but one ailment among many? To answer these questions, we must untangle a larger skein of puzzles of early-twentiethcentury urban China. Before turning to these issues, we first must examine the disorder itself. We begin with the claims of traditional medicine. Traditional Ideas about the Body Spermatorrhea was a category of disease deeply http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png positions asia critique Duke University Press

The Puzzle of Spermatorrhea in Republican China

Shapiro, Hugh
positions asia critique , Volume 6 (3) – Dec 1, 1998
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Publisher
Duke University Press
Copyright
Copyright 1998 by Duke University Press
ISSN
1067-9847
eISSN
1527-8271
DOI
10.1215/10679847-6-3-551
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Abstract

3 e cn 33 0- C 3 u i Shapiro of Spermatorrhea Spermatorrhea, or more specifically yijing,* was not a new disease; we find it already diagnosed in antiquity.3 What one first notices about yijing, in fact, is its ordinariness-physicians in China have written about the disorder and prescribed medicine for its treatment for more than eighteen hundred years. Yet during the early twentieth century, a striking amount of public space was devoted to yijing. T h e clinical record, too, in both the sidestreet clinic and the new modern hospital, suggests a disproportionate concentration on the malady. This essay seeks to elucidate the sources of this puzzling preoccupation. How should we interpret the prominence in the medical and popular imagination of the period? Why were Republican-era city dwellers so concerned with a disorder that was, after all, well understood by Chinese medicine and was but one ailment among many? To answer these questions, we must untangle a larger skein of puzzles of early-twentiethcentury urban China. Before turning to these issues, we first must examine the disorder itself. We begin with the claims of traditional medicine. Traditional Ideas about the Body Spermatorrhea was a category of disease deeply

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positions asia critique – Duke University Press

Published: Dec 1, 1998

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