From self-segregation to integration: the vicissitudes of Victoria's Chinese hospital.

Abstract

The Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA) was responsible for the establishment and administration of the Chinese Imperial School (now the Chinese Public School), the Chinese Cemetery and the Chinese Hospital in the city of Victoria. The creation of the school and the cemetery was due to racial segregation, but this was not the case in the establishment of the hospital. On the contrary, the Chinese Hospital was a product of self-segregation. In the old days, the Chinese people preferred using Chinese herbs to taking Western medicine and consulting Chinese herbalists to seeing Western doctors. In a Western hospital, Chinese patients might be prohibited from taking any Oriental medicine other than that prescribed by a qualified doctor. In China, it was and still is customary to bring one's own food to a hospital because certain foods are believed to help a patient recover more quickly. For example, Shengyu broth is commonly fed to a patient after an operation because Shengyu, a species of fresh-water fish, is believed to hasten muscle growth; duck stew with Chinese cordyceps (a herb) strengthens weak kidneys and generally helps restore health; pig's heart stew with black beans and lingusticum (a herb) alleviates heart palpitation; and cow's tendon stew with pepper root mitigates rheumatic pains and aching of limbs. This type of food, prepared at home, might not be allowed by a Western doctor. Furthermore, in the old days, many Chinese people feared entering a Western hospital, partly because they could not communicate with the doctors and nurses in English and partly because they did not like seeing nurses dressed in white uniforms; to them, white and blue were symbols of death. Such features as these led the CCBA to build its own hospital.