This cardboard box has fifteen small instruments sewn into the velvet lining which have individual hand written Chinese labels on red gourd shaped stickers. The name in English has been typed out and placed underneath each instrument which includes cutting tools of various shapes, small retractors, lances, and scrapping tools. They are thought to be early 20th century Chinese manufactured instruments for minor surgical procedures, influenced by the contemporary Western instruments and nickel plated for disinfection or sterilization through boiling.

In traditional China the prohibitive influence of Confucius, with emphasis on the sacredness of the body and objection to dissection, hindered the development of internal surgery and anatomy. Certain traditional healers specialised as 'externalists' who performed various procedures on the external body such as bloodletting, and the lancing of skin lumps and infections. They also scrapped away dead tissue to clean and debride ulcers and wounds and applied herbal pastes and powders. These types of healers largely inherited their profession with experience and knowledge passed on through the family lineage and they utilized small locally made metal instruments as working tools.

These surgical instruments demonstrate the growing interest in Western medicine in a period of modernisation in China, pointing to cultural and political influences acting on the development of medicine. Following the collapse of imperial China in the first half of the 20th century the Nationalist government embraced Western science and enthusiastically promoted biomedicine while sidelining traditional Chinese medical practice in their plans for medical development. Minor surgery was increasingly taken over by Western trained doctors in China after the integration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Western biomedicine under the Communist government from the mid-20th century.

The Wellcome Historical Medical Museum and Library, F.N.L. Poynter, ed, 'Chinese Medicine:An Exhibition Illustrating the Traditional System of Medicine of the Chinese People,' London, 1996, p6

Unschuld, Paul U, 'Medicine in China: A History of Ideas, California', 1985, p235-249

Presumed to have been made in China

This box of fifteen scraping instruments was contained in a Chinese medicine chest held at the Asian Studies Department of the University of Sydney since the late 1950's, and later donated to the Powerhouse Museum in 1994. Little is known about the manufacture of these types of instruments despite extensive research, indicating they were not in common use and may have been collected separately and stored in the medicine chest at a later date. They are part of a small collection of Chinese artefacts associated with traditional cultural practices thought to have been collected in China in the first half of the 20th century by an Australian protestant missionary J. Whitsed Dovey (1887-1956).

The instruments were part of a display and study collection used to educate missionaries about local medical practices. The design of these objects appears influenced by Western surgical practices and the nickel plating and packaging demonstrate modernisation in China at that time. Following the collapse of Imperial China the missionaries had found increasing interest in their medical activities from a Nationalist government embracing Western science and enthusiastically promoting biomedicine while sidelining traditional Chinese medical practice in their plans for medical development. Minor surgery was increasingly taken over by Western trained doctors in China after the integration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Western biomedicine under the Communist government from the mid-20th century.

Unschuld, Paul U, 'Medicine in China: A History of Ideas, California', 1985, p235-249

Box containing medical instruments, lid and base, from Chinese medicine chest, cardboard/paper/metal/glass/velvet, maker unknown, China, c 1925.
Square cardboard box; covered in paper. Lid has clear glass cover; with sides covered in green paper. Inset in base is blue velvet padding; sewn onto the velvet are 15x scraping instruments; each has labels attached in Chinese describing their function; base underside is covered in green floral paper with red sides.
(-1) Lid
(-2) Base with medical instruments

Made: China; 1920 - 1930

Owned: Asian Studies Department of the University of Sydney; Sydney

96/253/1-24

1920 - 1930

25 mm

150 mm