Modern Midwifery and Maternal Mortality in Urban China, 1920s–1940s

Abstract

This article investigates the history of midwifery from the 1920s to 1940s in China through looking at the linkage between modern midwifery and maternal mortality in urban areas. It first shows that people’s perceptions of maternal mortality and its causes changed from the nineteenth to the twentieth century, and that a modern form of midwifery service took shape in the Republican era (1912–49) in order for reducing maternal mortality rate and building a strong nation. Evidence from urban areas of Beijing and Sichuan between the 1920s and the 1940s demonstrates that the practice of modern midwifery varied with medical infrastructure and personnel in different places, and that modern midwives in small towns may practise against the rules, taking the initiative to use forceps and perform surgery to save mothers’ lives. The relationship between modern midwifery and maternal mortality in the researched period was more complex than medical experts’ anticipation.