What’s going on with the “Abolition of Traditional Chinese Medicine Case”?

The case of abolition of traditional Chinese medicine during the Kuomintang period. The most cruel discrimination and torture against traditional Chinese medicine was the Kuomintang government. In February 1929, the National Government held the first Central Health Commission meeting and approved the "Abolition of Old Medicine (Traditional Chinese Medicine) to Remove Obstacles to Medical and Health Care" proposed by Western medicine doctor Yu Yunxiu and others. It also planned to "request an explicit order to abolish the old medical school." It was submitted to the Ministry of Education and stipulated 6 specific measures to eliminate traditional Chinese medicine: 1. Implement the registration of old doctors and obtain a license before they can operate. The registration period is one year. 2. Train old doctors for a period of five years. After the training is completed, a certificate will be given. Those without this certificate will cease operations. 3. Since 1929, former doctors who are over 50 years old and have been operating in the country for more than 20 years are exempted from supplementary education and given a special business license, but are not allowed to diagnose and treat notifiable infectious diseases and issue death certificates. This special business license is valid for 15 years and cannot be used upon expiration. 4. It is prohibited to introduce old doctors in newspapers. 5. Check news magazines and prohibit non-scientific medical propaganda. 6. It is prohibited to establish old medical schools. This is the infamous “Abolition of Traditional Chinese Medicine Case” in history. Yu Yunxiu, who studied in Japan to study Western medicine, is a representative figure of the school that abolished traditional Chinese medicine. He has always attacked and belittled Chinese medicine, equating Chinese medicine with witchcraft, and even pointed out that "Chinese medicine is the culprit of murders" and wants to abolish it and then expedite it. His approach to traditional Chinese medicine is to "discard medicine and save medicine". Traditional Chinese medicine is abolished, but traditional Chinese medicine can still be used as medical research materials. Yu Yunxiu’s four reasons for “abolition of the case of traditional Chinese medicine” are: (1) The theories of traditional Chinese medicine are all absurd and grotesque; (2) The pulse method of traditional Chinese medicine is based on the study of Wei Hou, which is self-deception; (3) Traditional Chinese medicine is incapable of preventing epidemics; (4) The pathogenic theory of traditional Chinese medicine hinders scientificization. He explained many times that the proposal was to gradually eliminate traditional Chinese medicine within fifty years. The first was to allow traditional Chinese medicine to die of old age and die naturally; the second was not to allow schools to operate, leaving no successors. Therefore, Yu Yunxiu was ridiculed by the world as a "slave of Eastern and Western medicine" and became a sinner through the ages. On February 26, 1929, Shanghai News first disclosed the matter. When the news came out, the whole country was shocked and people's blood boiled. The Chinese medicine community experienced unprecedented unity and awakening, setting off a massive anti-abolition wave across the country. The Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine Association first initiated a joint meeting of Shanghai pharmaceutical groups, inviting representatives from more than 40 traditional Chinese medicine groups including the China Medical Federation, the Chinese Medical Federation, Shanghai Chinese Medical College, and the Medical Chunqiu Society to discuss countermeasures (Petition Report of National Medical and Pharmaceutical Organizations Chronicle of Medical Field, 1929, 34: 48. Petition report of national medical groups, Medical Field Spring and Autumn Period, 1929, (34): 48). It was discussed and decided at the meeting to organize the Shanghai Federation of Pharmaceutical Groups to take unified action, and decided to prepare for the convening of the National Pharmaceutical Group Congress, scheduled for March 17. On August 17, 1923, the National Congress of Pharmaceutical Groups held its opening ceremony at the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce venue. In order to show support for the conference, Shanghai's traditional Chinese medicine and traditional Chinese medicine circles were closed for half a day. Many eye-catching slogans were posted in front of pharmacies, such as "Supporting traditional Chinese medicine is to maintain the quintessence of our country" and "Banning traditional Chinese medicine is the death of the sick people." , "Oppose the Ministry of Health's resolution to ban traditional Chinese medicine" and so on. Huge couplets "Promote Chinese medicine to prevent cultural invasion" and "Promote Chinese medicine to prevent economic invasion" were hung at the venue. Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi and others attended the conference. There were 262 representatives from 132 groups in 15 provinces including Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Henan, Hebei, Shandong, and Shanxi. Important proposals passed by the conference include: (1) Petition issues, decided by The Executive Committee is responsible for selecting Xie Liheng, Sui Hanying, Jiang Wenfang, Zhen Cunren, and Zhang Mei'an to form a petition group in Jinjing to submit petitions to the Third National Congress of the Kuomintang, the National Government, the Executive Yuan, the Legislative Yuan, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, etc. The unit petitioned for the cancellation of the proposal to abolish traditional Chinese medicine. (2) Regarding construction issues, it requested that traditional Chinese medicine schools be added to the school system, and the proposal be approved to establish provincial traditional Chinese medicine schools. (3) March 17 was designated as the day for the unity of the traditional Chinese medicine community. ——National Medical Day.

Therefore, the Chinese Medical Center did not do much after its establishment and was in name only. It was sharply criticized by the Chinese medicine community.