Mao's Bestiary: Medicinal Animals and Modern China
by Liz P. Y. Chee
Duke University Press, 2021 Paper: 978-1-4780-1404-1 | Cloth: 978-1-4780-1190-3 | eISBN: 978-1-4780-2135-3 Library of Congress Classification RS162.C445 2021
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK Controversy over the medicinal uses of wild animals in China has erupted around the ethics and efficacy of animal-based drugs, the devastating effect of animal farming on wildlife conservation, and the propensity of these practices to foster zoonotic diseases. In Mao's Bestiary, Liz P. Y. Chee traces the history of the use of medicinal animals in modern China. While animal parts and tissue have been used in Chinese medicine for centuries, Chee demonstrates that the early Communist state expanded and systematized their production and use to compensate for drug shortages, generate foreign investment in high-end animal medicines, and facilitate an ideological shift toward legitimating folk medicines. Among other topics, Chee investigates the craze for chicken blood therapy during the Cultural Revolution, the origins of deer antler farming under Mao and bear bile farming under Deng, and the crucial influence of the Soviet Union and North Korea on Chinese zootherapies. In the process, Chee shows Chinese medicine to be a realm of change rather than a timeless tradition, a hopeful conclusion given current efforts to reform its use of animals.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY Liz P. Y. Chee is Research Fellow at the Asia Research Institute and Lecturer at Tembusu College, both at the National University of Singapore.
REVIEWS
“Mao's Bestiary is a brilliant revisionary cultural history, and a pioneering work on animals. Liz P. Y. Chee has written a book that is more than just a historical study; it contributes to current political debates within China as well as globally. This will be a wonderful book to teach, not only in classes on contemporary China, but also on ethnography, history, social theory, environment and sustainability, and science studies.”
-- Michael M. J. Fischer, author of Anthropology in the Meantime: Experimental Ethnography, Theory, and Method for the Twenty-First Cent
“What a daring endeavor indeed to tackle the question that many have asked with urgency even before Covid-19: Why do Chinese people use parts of wild animals for health benefits? Uncovering the little-known creation of an animal drug industry in Mao’s China, which involved surprising actors from around the globe, Liz P. Y. Chee’s groundbreaking book exemplifies how history at its best can address our deep concern about animals and the troubled world we share with them.”
-- Sean Hsiang-lin Lei, author of Neither Donkey nor Horse: Medicine in the Struggle over China’s Modernity
“Chee’s richly evidenced work enhances our understanding of the interrelationship between the state, the market and individual actors.... [Mao's Bestiary] will be a most valuable read for historians of medicine and, in particular, for those who are devoted to wildlife and biodiversity conservation and who have the propensity of fostering zoonotic diseases.”
-- Yun Hu Social History of Medicine
“Useful and timely. . . . While the tension between multispecies ethics, public health, and techno-scientific innovation is at the heart of this fascinating and accurate investigation, [Mao’s Bestiary] also raises ontological questions about the borders between humans and nonhumans.”
-- Frédéric Keck Journal of Asian Studies
“All students, scholars, and practitioners of Chinese medicine need to read this book. . . . Additionally, anyone interested in China, including a general audience, will gain insight into the ways that supposed traditional Chinese practices have often been reconstituted for purposes other than therapy.”
-- James Flowers Asian Ethnology
“Mao’s Bestiary is the first comprehensive inquiry into the historical position and significance of animal-based drugs in modern Chinese medicine. At a time when the field of modern Chinese history, PRC history in particular, is grappling with limited access to local archives and travel restrictions, this book is an exemplary work that shows how China scholars can produce inspirational work even under unfavourable conditions.”
-- Jongsik Christian Yi History
“Mao’s Bestiary is a timely contribution to the scholarly exploration of the human-animal relations in the People’s Republic of China. . . . The book is a valuable source of information for policy scholars, wildlife activists, teachers and students in disciplines such as East Asian politics and culture, animal studies and wildlife conservation.”
-- Peter J. Li Animal Studies Journal
“Shedding light on the pharmaceutical industry in Asia, [Mao’s Bestiary] contributes to an important historiographical transition in the history of medicine and is worth the attention of historians, anthropologists and sociologists interested in this field.”
-- Yang Li The China Quarterly
“Mistaking the pharmacological exploitation of animals for something intrinsic to Chinese culture reinforces anti-Chinese prejudice and impedes reform. . . . By correcting this impression, Mao’s Bestiary benefits us all: historians, practitioners, activists, policy-makers–and caged bears too.”
-- Hilary A. Smith Bulletin of the History of Medicine
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1. "Abandon Chinese Medicine, Retain Chinese Drugs": Creating a State Pharmaceutical Sector 27 2. "To Learn from the Soviet Union": Russian Influence on Chinese Pharmaceuticals 53 3. The Great Leap Forward and the Rise of Medicinal Animal Farming 71 4. The Quest for Innovation: Folk Remedies and Animal Therapies 99 5. "Economic Animals": Deng's Reforms and the Rise of Bear Farming 139 Conclusion 161 Notes 173 Glossary 225 Bibliography 229 Index 265
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
Mao's Bestiary: Medicinal Animals and Modern China
by Liz P. Y. Chee
Duke University Press, 2021 Paper: 978-1-4780-1404-1 Cloth: 978-1-4780-1190-3 eISBN: 978-1-4780-2135-3
Controversy over the medicinal uses of wild animals in China has erupted around the ethics and efficacy of animal-based drugs, the devastating effect of animal farming on wildlife conservation, and the propensity of these practices to foster zoonotic diseases. In Mao's Bestiary, Liz P. Y. Chee traces the history of the use of medicinal animals in modern China. While animal parts and tissue have been used in Chinese medicine for centuries, Chee demonstrates that the early Communist state expanded and systematized their production and use to compensate for drug shortages, generate foreign investment in high-end animal medicines, and facilitate an ideological shift toward legitimating folk medicines. Among other topics, Chee investigates the craze for chicken blood therapy during the Cultural Revolution, the origins of deer antler farming under Mao and bear bile farming under Deng, and the crucial influence of the Soviet Union and North Korea on Chinese zootherapies. In the process, Chee shows Chinese medicine to be a realm of change rather than a timeless tradition, a hopeful conclusion given current efforts to reform its use of animals.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY Liz P. Y. Chee is Research Fellow at the Asia Research Institute and Lecturer at Tembusu College, both at the National University of Singapore.
REVIEWS
“Mao's Bestiary is a brilliant revisionary cultural history, and a pioneering work on animals. Liz P. Y. Chee has written a book that is more than just a historical study; it contributes to current political debates within China as well as globally. This will be a wonderful book to teach, not only in classes on contemporary China, but also on ethnography, history, social theory, environment and sustainability, and science studies.”
-- Michael M. J. Fischer, author of Anthropology in the Meantime: Experimental Ethnography, Theory, and Method for the Twenty-First Cent
“What a daring endeavor indeed to tackle the question that many have asked with urgency even before Covid-19: Why do Chinese people use parts of wild animals for health benefits? Uncovering the little-known creation of an animal drug industry in Mao’s China, which involved surprising actors from around the globe, Liz P. Y. Chee’s groundbreaking book exemplifies how history at its best can address our deep concern about animals and the troubled world we share with them.”
-- Sean Hsiang-lin Lei, author of Neither Donkey nor Horse: Medicine in the Struggle over China’s Modernity
“Chee’s richly evidenced work enhances our understanding of the interrelationship between the state, the market and individual actors.... [Mao's Bestiary] will be a most valuable read for historians of medicine and, in particular, for those who are devoted to wildlife and biodiversity conservation and who have the propensity of fostering zoonotic diseases.”
-- Yun Hu Social History of Medicine
“Useful and timely. . . . While the tension between multispecies ethics, public health, and techno-scientific innovation is at the heart of this fascinating and accurate investigation, [Mao’s Bestiary] also raises ontological questions about the borders between humans and nonhumans.”
-- Frédéric Keck Journal of Asian Studies
“All students, scholars, and practitioners of Chinese medicine need to read this book. . . . Additionally, anyone interested in China, including a general audience, will gain insight into the ways that supposed traditional Chinese practices have often been reconstituted for purposes other than therapy.”
-- James Flowers Asian Ethnology
“Mao’s Bestiary is the first comprehensive inquiry into the historical position and significance of animal-based drugs in modern Chinese medicine. At a time when the field of modern Chinese history, PRC history in particular, is grappling with limited access to local archives and travel restrictions, this book is an exemplary work that shows how China scholars can produce inspirational work even under unfavourable conditions.”
-- Jongsik Christian Yi History
“Mao’s Bestiary is a timely contribution to the scholarly exploration of the human-animal relations in the People’s Republic of China. . . . The book is a valuable source of information for policy scholars, wildlife activists, teachers and students in disciplines such as East Asian politics and culture, animal studies and wildlife conservation.”
-- Peter J. Li Animal Studies Journal
“Shedding light on the pharmaceutical industry in Asia, [Mao’s Bestiary] contributes to an important historiographical transition in the history of medicine and is worth the attention of historians, anthropologists and sociologists interested in this field.”
-- Yang Li The China Quarterly
“Mistaking the pharmacological exploitation of animals for something intrinsic to Chinese culture reinforces anti-Chinese prejudice and impedes reform. . . . By correcting this impression, Mao’s Bestiary benefits us all: historians, practitioners, activists, policy-makers–and caged bears too.”
-- Hilary A. Smith Bulletin of the History of Medicine
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1. "Abandon Chinese Medicine, Retain Chinese Drugs": Creating a State Pharmaceutical Sector 27 2. "To Learn from the Soviet Union": Russian Influence on Chinese Pharmaceuticals 53 3. The Great Leap Forward and the Rise of Medicinal Animal Farming 71 4. The Quest for Innovation: Folk Remedies and Animal Therapies 99 5. "Economic Animals": Deng's Reforms and the Rise of Bear Farming 139 Conclusion 161 Notes 173 Glossary 225 Bibliography 229 Index 265
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE