The politics of pandemics in China since late imperial times : from religious practice to the emergency disciplinary state

Deadly pandemics have ravaged China throughout its history due to population mobility and displacement resulting from wars, trade, socio-political restructuring, and globalization. This paper analyzes the changing socio-political interpretations of diseases and pandemics, associated response sch...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Fang, Xiaoping
Other Authors: School of Humanities
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.jstor.org/stable/45295301
https://hdl.handle.net/10356/153517
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
id sg-ntu-dr.10356-153517
record_format dspace
spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1535172022-01-12T02:30:41Z The politics of pandemics in China since late imperial times : from religious practice to the emergency disciplinary state Fang, Xiaoping School of Humanities Humanities::History::Asia Pandemics Public Health Politics Deadly pandemics have ravaged China throughout its history due to population mobility and displacement resulting from wars, trade, socio-political restructuring, and globalization. This paper analyzes the changing socio-political interpretations of diseases and pandemics, associated response schemes, and the state’s role in these historical processes from the late imperial Chinese era. It argues that supernatural interpretations of frequent pandemics resulted in religious practice becoming a popular collective response in late imperial China. From the late-nineteenth century, the nationalist significance of diseases facilitated the efforts of modern epidemic prevention in the context of nation-building. However, difficulties in coordination were encountered between central and local governments and between administrative and medical systems. In Mao’s China after 1949, diseases were radically politicized to justify the Party’s political legitimacy. Public health initiatives and interventionist policies designed to control pandemics brought about broader social restructuring and significantly contributed to the rise of an emergency disciplinary state through the integration of both health and political governance. Ultimately, the state would come to play the predominant role in managing public health emergency crises. 2022-01-12T02:30:41Z 2022-01-12T02:30:41Z 2020 Journal Article Fang, X. (2020). The politics of pandemics in China since late imperial times : from religious practice to the emergency disciplinary state. American Journal of Chinese Studies, 27(2), 81-95. 2166-0042 https://www.jstor.org/stable/45295301 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/153517 2 27 81 95 en American Journal of Chinese Studies © 2020 American Association of Chinese Studies. All rights reserved.
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Humanities::History::Asia
Pandemics
Public Health Politics
spellingShingle Humanities::History::Asia
Pandemics
Public Health Politics
Fang, Xiaoping
The politics of pandemics in China since late imperial times : from religious practice to the emergency disciplinary state
description Deadly pandemics have ravaged China throughout its history due to population mobility and displacement resulting from wars, trade, socio-political restructuring, and globalization. This paper analyzes the changing socio-political interpretations of diseases and pandemics, associated response schemes, and the state’s role in these historical processes from the late imperial Chinese era. It argues that supernatural interpretations of frequent pandemics resulted in religious practice becoming a popular collective response in late imperial China. From the late-nineteenth century, the nationalist significance of diseases facilitated the efforts of modern epidemic prevention in the context of nation-building. However, difficulties in coordination were encountered between central and local governments and between administrative and medical systems. In Mao’s China after 1949, diseases were radically politicized to justify the Party’s political legitimacy. Public health initiatives and interventionist policies designed to control pandemics brought about broader social restructuring and significantly contributed to the rise of an emergency disciplinary state through the integration of both health and political governance. Ultimately, the state would come to play the predominant role in managing public health emergency crises.
author2 School of Humanities
author_facet School of Humanities
Fang, Xiaoping
format Article
author Fang, Xiaoping
author_sort Fang, Xiaoping
title The politics of pandemics in China since late imperial times : from religious practice to the emergency disciplinary state
title_short The politics of pandemics in China since late imperial times : from religious practice to the emergency disciplinary state
title_full The politics of pandemics in China since late imperial times : from religious practice to the emergency disciplinary state
title_fullStr The politics of pandemics in China since late imperial times : from religious practice to the emergency disciplinary state
title_full_unstemmed The politics of pandemics in China since late imperial times : from religious practice to the emergency disciplinary state
title_sort politics of pandemics in china since late imperial times : from religious practice to the emergency disciplinary state
publishDate 2022
url https://www.jstor.org/stable/45295301
https://hdl.handle.net/10356/153517
_version_ 1722355297713913856