Between 1988 and 2022, China post issued nine sets of postage in a series with a title “Scientists of modern China“. This series has a total of 38 postage stamps, three of them related to medical science. Most others are physicists, chemists, mathematicians and architects. Three medical scientists in the series Tang Feifan, Zhang Xiaoqian, and Lin Qiaozhi have an untold story marred with politics and persecution. These three lived through tumulus phases in history of China.
Qing dynasty ruled China till 1912, when it overthrew monarchy and became a republic. Till 1949, the Chinese republic saw many civil wars, and Japanese occupation between 1938 and 1945. In 1949, Mao took control and established Peoples republic of China.
The time between 1949 and 1958 were formative years of Chinese communism. In 1958 Mao announced the Great Leap forward with an aim of ramping up industrial production. While critics of the regimen were purged, great leap led to a famine, as agricultural production declined. Mao was sidelined. In 1966, in an effort to safeguard communism, Mao launched Cultural revolution. Again, intellectuals perceived as capitalist elements got persecuted. Cultural revolution ended in 1976, with death of Mao. The story of three medical personalities in postage stamps from China is a story of persecution, politics, and science.
Tang Feifan
Born in 1897 in difficult times of crumbling Qing dynasty, Tang chose medicine as a career. By 1921 he was a medical graduate and had also completed a doctoral from Yale. After another stint at Harvard, he returned back to China in 1929, and became a professor at the National Central University. During the Japanese occupation and war (1938-1945), he established BCG vaccine production facility, and later Penicillin production unit. Later in the People’s republic of China, he was director of the Chinese Medical Academy and was the first scientist in the world to be able to culture a Chlamydia trachomatis. Initially thought of as a virus, it turned out to be a bacteria.
In 1956-57, Chinese leader Mao launched a hundred flowers campaign, to promote free speech. Criticism of the leadership was encouraged, but perhaps it was a ploy. Later in 1958-59 all the vocal critics were imprisoned and banished. Tang was also denounced, labelled as an ‘American Spy’. He killed himself in September of 1958.
In 1978, Chinese finally remembered its persecuted intellectuals. In 1981 he was awarded world trachoma medal, and in 1992 he was honoured with a postage stamp.
Zhang Xiaoqian
Like Tang, Zhang was also born in the same year in 1897. He graduated in 1921, and thereafter studied for a year at John Hopkins, and thereafter at Stanford. In 1934, Zhang was back in China, and lived through Japanese occupation in China. After the war, Zheng became a professor at Peking University, and a founding academician of Academia Sinica in 1948. Later he was a founder member at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1955. His interest was in Gastroenterology, and he engaged himself with clinical work.
While Zhang was also vocal during the Hundred Flowers Campaign in 1956, he escaped persecution. Mao spared Zhang, a fellow Hunanese, calling him a “simple-minded person who has been manipulated by others. His colleagues however perished, after being banished to a camp. With a change in regime in 1966, Zhang served a nine month prison term. He lived on till 1987.
Lin Qiaozhi
Born in 1901, Lin Qiaozhi graduated medicine in 1929. She later continued her education from London, Vienna and Chicago. She chose Obstetrics and Gynecology as her career. In 1941, she was the only female doctor from China who was heading a department. She later established the modern department, pre-natal clinics and counselling services.
During the Mao era, while many others were persecuted, Lin was appointed vice president of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. However, the regime changed in 1966, and China entered a political phase of Cultural Revolution. During this time, she was demoted to a care worker, cleaning toilets, and washing spittoons. Surprisingly, Lin still felt grateful for her job because she was able to continue working in the hospital. She was working again as a Gynecologist, in late 1970s. She died in 1983, and was working till the last day of her life. She was a christian by faith, and fondly remembered as a ‘living Budha’.
Three personalities, who lived through the changing times
The three personalities in this blog, lived through the changing times. It is a pity, when those delivering healthcare get persecuted, due to changing politics. While, they are remembered today by their country, and the world through postage stamps, their life is a story of science, politics and persecution.
A very informative article on great persons who served humanity irrespective of the problems faced by them