During the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, Guangdong was at the forefront of ideological trends and social reforms, leading to numerous innovations, including medicine. Prominent figures like Sun Yat-sen viewed Western medicine as a means to elevate China’s civilization at the time. Among the many proactive practitioners was an extraordinary woman, Zhang Zhujun (1876-1964), the first female Western doctor in China.
A trendsetter
According to Chen Zehong, an expert on Guangzhou’s local history, Zhang Zhujun could be considered a trendsetter. Imagine the sight of a woman in a Western suit, holding a walking stick, wearing leather shoes, and sitting in a Western-style rattan sedan chair carried by four people on the streets of Guangzhou over a hundred years ago. She was from Panyu, and her father was a scholar in the Qing Dynasty.
Usually, she would have become a lady in such a traditional intellectual family. However, a severe brain illness at the age of 16 changed everything. She was treated at the American-run Boji Hospital and miraculously recovered. This experience inspired her to become an outstanding Western doctor.
Zhang Zhujun first attended the affiliated Nanhua Medical School of Boji Hospital in Guangzhou, then transferred to nearby Hackett Medical College for Women, graduating with honors in 1900 as the first female Western doctor in Chinese history.
Zhang Zhujun quickly established two hospitals in Liwan and Henan — Tifu Hospital and Nanfu Clinic — and personally served as the director. Chen Zehong noted that this pioneered the establishment of hospitals run by Chinese women serving as directors in Guangzhou. She later transformed Nanfu Clinic into Yuxian Girls’ School, the earliest girls’ school run by Chinese in Guangdong.
Zhang Zhujun was outgoing, well-connected, fluent in English, academically accomplished, and advocated for reformist ideas. Many prominent figures in Guangdong, such as Yu Boyang and Hu Hanmin, were closely associated with her. During the summer and autumn, she often rented a flower boat by the river to escape the heat, where many people would gather for discussions.
Serving on the front lines
During the Wuchang Uprising, Zhang Zhujun rushed to the front lines. She had previously been invited by her sister living in Singapore to investigate and was appointed as the assistant director of the Singapore Chinese Hospital. There, she witnessed the devastating plague and focused on preventive medicine. Her research in this area soon proved helpful.
In 1904, when cholera spread in Guangzhou, she accurately identified the transmission as being caused by patients’ vomit contaminating river water. She urged citizens to stop drinking polluted river and well water and suggested that authorities transport water from Shimen in the Guangzhou suburbs for public use. She also advised families of patients to burn vomit and diarrhea instead of dumping them into rivers and banned the sale of rotten fruits. Her recommendations were adopted, and the cholera epidemic was controlled within weeks, becoming a classic case in China’s preventive medicine history.
In the same year, Zhang Zhujun left Guangzhou and moved to Shanghai. The following year, she founded the Women’s Chinese and Western Hospital and served as its director. 1906, she co-founded the Women’s Chinese and Western Medical School with Shanghai businessman Li Pingshu, which became Shanghai’s earliest women’s medical school.
While in Guangzhou, Zhang Zhujun secretly joined the Tongmenghui led by Sun Yat-sen. After the Wuchang Uprising broke out in 1911, she immediately organized the Chinese Red Cross in Shanghai, serving as its president. She quickly gathered 123 people to support the uprising in Wuhan. Coincidentally, Huang Xing came to Shanghai, preparing to lead the revolution in Wuhan.
However, Qing soldiers were strictly inspecting along the Yangtze River. Zhang Zhujun disguised Huang Xing as a Red Cross member, allowing him to secretly enter Wuhan with the group. When she arrived in Wuhan, the revolutionary army and Qing soldiers had been fighting for ten days. She rushed to the front lines to aid soldiers and was even hit by stray bullets.
By the end of November 1911, a temporary ceasefire was declared in Wuchang, and Zhang Zhujun returned to Shanghai. In 1924, while traveling to Hong Kong by ship, she encountered pirates. Upon learning of her identity, the pirates returned her belongings and retreated with respect.
When cholera broke out in Shanghai in 1926, Zhang Zhujun employed the same methods she used in Guangzhou, achieving excellent results and receiving praise from all sides. During the War of Resistance, she also significantly assisted wounded Chinese soldiers and civilians. Zhang Zhujun remained unmarried throughout her life. In 1946, she passed away in Shanghai at the age of 88.
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