{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/124641"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/124641","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Physicians, pharmacists, and merchants: Professionalization of medicine in early modern China, 1500-1900","abstract":"Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2026-05-01","abstract_html":"Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2026-05-01","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Zhang, Xinge"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"E Asian Languages & Cultures","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Chow, Kai-Wing","Tierney, Robert","Wilson, Roderick","Shao, Dan","Nappi, Carla"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-05","date_published":"2024-05","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:02Z","subjects":["Medical Field","Professionalization","Early Modern China"],"languages":["en","eng"],"rights":["Copyright 2024 Xinge Zhang"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124641","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Chow, Kai-Wing","Tierney, Robert","Wilson, Roderick","Shao, Dan","Nappi, Carla"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Zhang, Xinge"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2024-05","2024-04-09"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["E Asian Languages & Cultures"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Medical Field","Professionalization","Early Modern China"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en","eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2024 Xinge Zhang"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124641"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2026-05-01","The student, Xinge Zhang, accepted the attached license on 2024-04-02 at 14:58.","The student, Xinge Zhang, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2024-04-02 at 15:26.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2024-04-09 at 16:37.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #20291 on 2024-09-16 at 00:49:02","This study examines the process in which the expansion of various groups of medical experts resulted in further division of labor and the emergence of different professions in the “medical field” in early modern China from the sixteenth through the early twentieth centuries. During the late imperial period, with more failed examinees flocking to medicine, competition, greater specialization, trade, and commercial publishing fueled a process of “professionalization” that restructured the medical field, resulting in the separation of labor between physicians, pharmacists, and merchants. Driven by economic, social, and cultural forces, this process manifested itself in several areas of practices involving medicine. First, by considering medicine as a respectable career choice and developing a sense of professional community through cooperation and associations, various groups of medical practitioners came to establish and defend their own distinct professional identities and expertise. The process of professionalization also witnessed the emergence of a corpus of canonical texts that would define the core curriculum of classical medicine still recognized in the teaching of Traditional Chinese Medicine today. Third, codes of medical ethics and trading practices were developed to regulate the clinical and ethical behaviors of these groups of experts. Last, the formation of local and translocal medical associations facilitated the development of standardized training for students and regulation of practitioners’ professional activities. The restructuring of the medical field resulted in the tripartite division of labor in medicine among service providers: doctors, pharmacy specialists, and traders, each specialized in providing one type of professional services to the public. This study sheds lights on China in a comparative perspective on medical professionalization in the early modern period, challenging the still dominate view that medicine did not emerge as a profession in Ming Qing China because of the absence of the factors such as licensing laws and university-based medical education. It emphasizes the need to move out of the Eurocentric shadow to explore the indigenous evolution of professionalism in medicine and take into consideration the impact of different social and cultural dynamics on the process of professionalization."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Physicians, pharmacists, and merchants: Professionalization of medicine in early modern China, 1500-1900"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Chow, Kai-Wing","Tierney, Robert","Wilson, Roderick","Shao, Dan","Nappi, Carla"],"dc:creator":["Zhang, Xinge"],"dc:date":["2024-05","2024-04-09"],"dc:description":["Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2026-05-01","The student, Xinge Zhang, accepted the attached license on 2024-04-02 at 14:58.","The student, Xinge Zhang, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2024-04-02 at 15:26.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2024-04-09 at 16:37.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #20291 on 2024-09-16 at 00:49:02","This study examines the process in which the expansion of various groups of medical experts resulted in further division of labor and the emergence of different professions in the “medical field” in early modern China from the sixteenth through the early twentieth centuries. During the late imperial period, with more failed examinees flocking to medicine, competition, greater specialization, trade, and commercial publishing fueled a process of “professionalization” that restructured the medical field, resulting in the separation of labor between physicians, pharmacists, and merchants. Driven by economic, social, and cultural forces, this process manifested itself in several areas of practices involving medicine. First, by considering medicine as a respectable career choice and developing a sense of professional community through cooperation and associations, various groups of medical practitioners came to establish and defend their own distinct professional identities and expertise. The process of professionalization also witnessed the emergence of a corpus of canonical texts that would define the core curriculum of classical medicine still recognized in the teaching of Traditional Chinese Medicine today. Third, codes of medical ethics and trading practices were developed to regulate the clinical and ethical behaviors of these groups of experts. Last, the formation of local and translocal medical associations facilitated the development of standardized training for students and regulation of practitioners’ professional activities. The restructuring of the medical field resulted in the tripartite division of labor in medicine among service providers: doctors, pharmacy specialists, and traders, each specialized in providing one type of professional services to the public. This study sheds lights on China in a comparative perspective on medical professionalization in the early modern period, challenging the still dominate view that medicine did not emerge as a profession in Ming Qing China because of the absence of the factors such as licensing laws and university-based medical education. It emphasizes the need to move out of the Eurocentric shadow to explore the indigenous evolution of professionalism in medicine and take into consideration the impact of different social and cultural dynamics on the process of professionalization."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124641"],"dc:language":["en","eng"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2024 Xinge Zhang"],"dc:subject":["Medical Field","Professionalization","Early Modern China"],"dc:title":["Physicians, pharmacists, and merchants: Professionalization of medicine in early modern China, 1500-1900"],"dc:type":["text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["E Asian Languages & Cultures"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:02Z"}