This volume provides a history of how “the human” has been constituted as a subject of scientific inquiry in China from the seventeenth century to the present. Organized around four themes—“Parameters of Human Life,” “Formations of the Human Subject,” “Disciplining Knowledge,” and “Deciphering Health”—it scrutinizes the development of scientific knowledge and technical interest in human organization within an evolving Chinese society. Spanning the Ming-Qing, Republican, and contemporary periods, its twenty-four original, synthetic chapters ground the mutual construction of “China” and “the human” in concrete historical contexts. As a state-of-the-field survey, a definitive textbook for teaching, and an authoritative reference that guides future research, this book pushes Sinology, comparative cultural studies, and the history of science in new directions.
Howard Chiang, Ph.D. (2012), Princeton University, is Assistant Professor of History at the University of California, Davis. He is the author of
After Eunuchs: Science, Medicine, and the Transformation of Sex in Modern China (Columbia, 2018) and editor of
Sexuality in China: Histories of Power and Pleasure (Washington, 2018).
Contents
Acknowledgements List of Illustrations Notes on Contributors
Introduction: A New Order of Things: Scientific Visions of the Human in China Howard Chiang
Part 1: Parameters of Human Life
1 Technology Francesca Bray
2 Cartography Alexander Akin
3 Ethnography Laura Hostetler
4 Historiography Matthew W. Mosca and Howard Chiang
5 Reproduction Yi-Li Wu
6 Ghostly Encounters Hsiu-fen Chen
Part 2: Formations of the Modern Subject
7 Race Frank Dikötter
8 Ethnicity Bin Yang
9 Citizenship Joshua Hill
10 Class Stephen A. Smith
11 Sexuality Howard Chiang
12 Gender Tani Barlow
Part 3: Disciplining Knowledge
13 Economics Joyman Lee
14 Psychology Zhipeng Gao
15 Statistics Andrea Bréard
16 Sociology Yung-chen Chiang
17 Anthropology Hsiao-pei Yen
18 Political Science John Feng
Part 4: Deciphering Health
19 Anatomy David Luesink
20 Forensic Medicine Daniel Asen
21 Physical Hygiene Ruth Rogaski
22 Mental Health Wen-Ji Wang and Hsuan-Ying Huang
23 Psychiatry Harry Yi-Jui Wu
24 Psychoanalysis Jingyuan Zhang
All interested in the history of science and medicine, Chinese intellectual and cultural history, and anyone concerned with the comparative studies of human subjectivity and the social management of science and cultural difference.