Reconstructing Vaccination Tools in Yingjili-Guo Xinchu Zhongtou Qishu
by Sarah Kong
Project Description:
This image depicts the vaccination techniques of Edward Jenner, who created the world’s first vaccine for smallpox. The image shows the arm, where a small puncture would be made for inoculation, as well as accompanying tools: an ivory pick and a small blade. Alexander Pearson is credited in this book as the original author. Pearson was a surgeon to the East India Company, who introduced Jenner’s vaccination techniques to China through Macao and Guangzhou (“Vaccination Knife”). Pearson also trained several Chinese employees of the East India Company, one of which was Xi Qiu. Pearson’s original pamphlet was then translated into Chinese by Staunton.
George Staunton was a writer for the same company, who printed 200 copies. Staunton was a non-native speaker and his translations were difficult to understand for locals. The image I am reproducing is one of Staunton’s copies and was later re-bound in the Western style with a hardcover. The image is on a piece of paper which is in the Chinese style of booklet. Many of Staunton’s original copies were lost in a fire, but this booklet survived. Xi Qiu, who studied under Pearson, later rewrote Staunton’s manual, which became very influential through China (“Vaccination Knife”).
Although this image is in Chinese, the content is depicting entirely Western medicine. The image is a product of British imperialism and the political and social environment of that time. Staunton’s translations and this image was intended to introduce vaccination techniques to China.
The image was originally created through woodcut printing, a Chinese process, where wooden blocks are made for each character (in reverse) (“The Development of Printing in China”). Ink is spread on these wooden blocks and then pressed upon paper. The typical black border in the image is an indication of this type of printing. The tools necessary for woodblock printing include pear wood (extremely hard so the wood did not splinter), carving tools, ink, paper, and more. These tools are mostly inaccessible to me so I will be reproducing this image manually, with Chinese calligraphy brushes, mo (Chinese ink), and xuanzhi (Chinese calligraphy paper). Although calligraphy and woodblock printing are very different methods, the use of calligraphy best emulates the look and strokes of Chinese characters in comparison to pens or markers. The final product will be a sheet of xuanzhi paper with the same black ink, text, and illustrations traced on. I will be reproducing the image the same scale of around 25 centimeters long.
With the advance of social media and online platforms, this image is much more accessible with no more geographical limitations. I originally found this image on Instagram, which cut out the full page, leaving out the other sections of the page, which are important for understanding the full context. As the image is presented in very brief manner without full introduction of the image’s history, it is easier to make inaccurate interpretations and assumptions. For example, I had thought this text was created by a Chinese person but came to realize Staunton was the image’s creator after extensive research.
Field Notes
Link to video of the reconstruction: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d1Yarf3SGMx55NKjZyxe3j55pncFavKe/view?usp=sharing
FIELD NOTE 1 OF 5: Gathering materials
Date: 2/22/2021
People Involved: Just me
Location: Desk in my family’s house
Reconstruction conditions: Daytime, indoors, near a window
Time and duration of reconstruction: 2:43 PM, around 15 minutes were spent gathering all of the materials
Subjective factors, e.g., how things smelled/looked/felt: I just ate lunch and am energized. The calligraphy brushes felt dry; some of the brushes were clumpy with dried up black mo. There was also a cup with some leftover, dried mo in it. I pulled a sheet of xuanzhi paper from the large scroll. On one side of the xuanzhi paper, it feels very smooth. The other side is textured. I am excited to start this process!
Prior knowledge that you have: I have briefly played around with calligraphy before, practicing writing my name. In writing Chinese characters, stroke order is very important. I barely had formal Chinese education, so my stroke order might be a little off during my reproduction. However, I do know the strokes usually go top to bottom, left to right (for each individual character), and enclosure strokes are always last. As for the illustrations, I don’t have any experience with drawing or art. However, since I am tracing the illustrations, hopefully, the reproduction should come out okay.
Reflection on your practice: I am choosing to reproduce the original image, a woodcut illustration, with calligraphy brushes. Although the methods are not the same, my justification is that calligraphy brushes will best emulate the shape and look of the Chinese characters in comparison to pencils or pens. There are quite a lot of calligraphy brushes to choose from. These brushes weren’t actually originally used for calligraphy but rather for Chinese watercolors. My mom had bought this set of brushes for a Chinese watercolor painting she took in her 20s in Beijing. I also find it interesting how the mo/ink is in liquid form. I had thought my family’s mo were actually mo ink sticks, which are used with an inkstone for ink. My Chinese handwriting is really bad but I am excited to try out and incorporate these tools in a project for class! As I am thinking about the method of reproduction, I realize that the woodcut/woodblock printing (original method of production) would be much faster than my manual reproduction. However, woodblock printing can be extremely costly as block for each character needs to be produced (“The Development of Printing in China”). This indicates this booklet is important enough to have individual blocks etched out especially for this book, and wood blocks for the images.
Photos/video documenting process:
Questions that arise: This indicates this booklet is important enough to have individual blocks etched out especially for this book, and woodprint blocks for the images.
- Did someone commission for this book to be printed and who would pay for this?
This booklet is a product of British imperialism and the Great Britain’s involvement in China, one indication of a ‘global’ mixing of medicine.
- Did Staunton hope to introduce these vaccination techniques out of the wish for social good?
- Did Staunton and Alexander Pearson (the original author of this text, a surgeon for the British East India company) have savior complexes? And what were their attitudes towards the Chinese and local traditions of medicine?
- Pearson trained several Chinese employees of the company’s factories, one of which was Xi Qiu, who re-translated Staunton’s work. What was Pearson’s attitude towards the local Chinese? And did the Chinese think of him as a savior?
FIELD NOTE 2 OF 5: Printing out original image
Date: 2/26/2021
People Involved: Me
Location: Desk in my family’s house
Reconstruction conditions: Night time, indoors
Time and duration of reconstruction: 2/26/2021, starting at 8:11 pm – around 9 pm
Equipment and tools used: I used a selfie stick and stool to setup my phone for a video recording of my reproduction. I printed out a copy of the original image using a printer and printer paper.
Subjective factors, e.g., how things smelled/looked/felt: As I printed out my original image, the smoothness of the white printer paper contrasted with the thin, tan-colored xuanzhi paper which had a rougher texture. When, I put the printer paper in between two sheets of thin xuanzhi, the text and illustrations showed through, which will allow me to properly trace in my reproduction. I had just eaten dinner and had lots of energy.
Prior knowledge that you have:
I mostly just printed in this step; I am very familiar with contemporary printing. I altered the printing settings so that the printed image would be at the original scale.
Reflection on your practice:
At this step, I focused on the scale of my reproduction. The original page/book leaflet is measured to be 25 cm. Thus, I printed out the original image at 25 cm to aim for a reproduction at the same scale.
The actual illustrations and text (encapsulated by the black border) is quite small, which would be considerably hard to create blocks for woodcut printing, since a high level of details for complex Chinese characters is required in a small block.
Photos/video documenting process:
Questions that arise:
- The booklet was around 25 cm in length. This places the booklet larger than a small notebook but not extremely large. Was this intended to be a textbook to be taught in schools?
- Or was this meant to be carried around by individual practitioners of medicine to a place where people would be treated with these techniques?
- Who had access to these copies? Were they sold for money and who would have enough to buy these books?
- Would these vaccination techniques be first practiced upon marginalized communities since the Chinese were unfamiliar with the foreign techniques?
- Were these vaccination techniques popularized directly from Staunton’s work or Xi Qiu’s translation later on?
FIELD NOTE 3 OF 5: Selecting & practicing with calligraphy brushes
Date: 2/26/2021
People Involved: Me
Location: Desk in my family’s house (the same desk as before)
Reconstruction conditions: Night time, indoors
Time and duration of reconstruction: 9 pm – 9:30 pm, around 30 minutes
Equipment and tools used: I went through the sets of calligraphy brushes and tested 3 of them. I found that I liked one of the brushes, which had an extremely narrow tip. After practicing a few words, I found that I could get a really fine line with that brush.
Subjective factors, e.g., how things smelled/looked/felt:
While mixing in a jar, I smelled the ink, which has a distinct smell, that I would describe at best to be ‘earthy’. However, while practicing with the calligraphy brush, the smell of mo was not very strong; it was only pungent when smelling over the jar.
Prior knowledge that you have:
As I practiced my first calligraphy strokes in years, I started out with my Chinese name and the beginning character of the text.
I don’t have any formal training with calligraphy. However, to reproduce the differing thicknesses and shapes of each stroke, I know there are precise methods. In the past, I have observed my sister and dad practicing different kinds of strokes and I will try to replicate them. For example, some of the horizontal strokes require extra pressure at the end to make it thicker there.
Reflection on your practice:
I planned out my course of action for the reproduction.
As I practiced with the calligraphy brushes, I also reconsidered other brushes I could possibly use.
Although I could get very narrow lines with the calligraphy brush I selected, I also considered possibly using a nail art brush in the future. I also tried using my eyebrow pen/marker to write strokes on the xuanzhi paper but decided the strokes were too light without the mo. I settled on using the one calligraphy brush I selected.
Photos/video documenting process:
Questions that arise:
- This image seems to be an ultimate intersection of Western and Chinese medicine, as Western techniques are introduced into China. But there is a lack of Chinese medicine. In Xi Qiu’s later translations, would he portray these techniques in the context of Chinese medicine?
- I researched Xi Qiu’s translation. Xi Qiu later became a wealthy vaccinator after publishing his own translation, where he described Pearson’s methods using acupuncture, part of Chinese medicine. He also violated the rules of traditional Chinese medicine by introducing a foreign substance into the body. However, his introduction of vaccination in terms of Chinese medicine allowed vaccination to become accepted in southern China (“Vaccination Knife”).
- What was the social strata for Xi Qiu or other practitioners of medicine?
- Lei mentioned that many practitioners of medicine were those who failed to become government bureaucrats (Lei 320).
- What was the role of the upper class in spreading medicine? Did they have their own private family doctors? Did they sponsor them?
- Were there academies of medicine? We learned that medicine was much more decentralized in the past (Shireen Hamza’s lecture).
FIELD NOTE 4 OF 5: Tracing borders & drawing illustrations
Date: 2/26/2021
People Involved: Me
Location: The same desk in my family’s house
Reconstruction conditions: The same night, indoors, but at a later time.
Time and duration of reconstruction: 9:30 pm – 9:50 pm, around 20 minutes
Equipment and tools used: I used both a thicker calligraphy brush and the finer brush I selected in Field Note 3 to draw the borders. Then, for the illustrations, I solely used the finer brush (from Field Note 3). I added more lamps around me for better lighting.
Subjective factors, e.g., how things smelled/looked/felt:
I still felt energized and more excited to finally start drawing the illustrations. I found that my hand was very shaky but tried to stabilize it with my other hand. I was nervous at first but become more confident in my writing. The ink smoothly absorbed into the xuanzhi paper without staining unintended areas.
Prior knowledge that you have:
I don’t have prior knowledge with sketching or drawing objects. However, these illustrations are relatively simple and I have prior experience with tracing.
Reflection on your practice:
I first recreated the borders of the woodprint, which required thicker lines. I then started writing the calligraphy from right to left as is read.
I really liked using the calligraphy brush! I was so nervous at first and my hand kept shaking, which messed up my direction or the thickness of the line. However, as I got more confident, my hand became steadier. Over time, I found using the calligraphy brush very satisfying. It is possibly to have a variety of results (super fine line or a thicker band) all with the same utensil, depending on the pressure of your hand. Using the calligraphy brush reminds me of using liquid eyeliner, which is also my preferred type of eyeliner for all the same reasons. Also, unlike using a ballpoint pen, the ink did not smear at all on the xuanzhi paper, which surprised me.
Photos/video documenting process:
Questions that arise:
Although this image is in Chinese, it depicts entirely Western medicine. The arm is quite muscular and shows an anatomical view of the arm, typical of Western medicine. The ivory pick and blades were also used in Jenner’s techniques (“Edward Jenner’s Ivory Vaccination Points, England, 1821 | Science Museum Group Collection”).
- In Xi Qiu’s later translation, would he have incorporated this Western anatomical viewpoint of medicine in his work?
Lei’s work shows us that Chinese doctors implemented Western anatomical views into Chinese medicine and that Chinese medicine was influenced with Western inspiration (351). Was traditional Chinese medicine altered in any way by the introduction of Jenner’s vaccination techniques?
Chinese people incorporated using steam as a source of power after the Qing dynasty’s failure during the Opium war. They observed British steamboats and learned how to use steam as a source of power from the boats (Lei 323).
- Did the Chinese also incorporate these vaccination techniques stemming from domestic ‘failure’? What were the previous techniques for vaccination/remedies against smallpox?
FIELD NOTE 5 OF 5: Finishing all the text
Date: 2/26/2021
People Involved: Me (although I think my dad came over to look some time)
Location: The same desk in my family’s house
Reconstruction conditions: Nighttime, indoors, my parents were watching TV nearby
Time and duration of reconstruction: 9:50 – 11 pm, around an hour long
Equipment and tools used: I used the finer calligraphy brush I selected in field note #3 to finish all the text. I also added more mo to make the ink blacker.
Subjective factors, e.g., how things smelled/looked/felt:
I felt very motivated to finish writing the text but wrote with a faster pace as the night went on.
As I wrote more, some of my fingers became stained with mo, which just feels like water, except it is black.
Prior knowledge that you have:
Again, I am relatively unfamiliar with art and the many types of mediums/methods. So, I couldn’t tell what the red dot in the original image was from. It looks different from the black ink of the woodblock printing.
Reflection on your practice:
I notice that the 此 (first character in each paragraph) gets better as I get more confident. I wrote paragraphs from top to bottom, right to left, in the same manner of how the text would be read.
Although the quality of my calligraphy is limited due to the very small size of the characters, I find that the wooden blocks for the woodcut printing was as well. For the more complicated characters (簪子), the character is a blot of ink that is hard to make out the precise strokes. Some strokes are also missing part of its ink (such as in the first 痘) which make the character technically incorrect. I took the liberty to write the proper strokes for the character (also 象 in the second paragraph), which is a blur in the original picture. I find my words to be really ugly but each stroke of each character to be really satisfying! I have gained a deeper appreciation for those with the skill for calligraphy, which must have taken many hours of practice and training.
However, as I look at the finished product, some of the strokes of the characters still seem too thick. If I could reproduce this again, I would try using a thinner brush, perhaps a brush used for nail art.
Photos/video documenting process:
Questions that arise:
- The woodprint process was very laborious and costly so the knowledge in these books must have been so precious or extremely expensive. What kinds of knowledge are worthy of being reproduced in books?
- I believe that emperors in the past often tasked people to find dan yao, or medicine to become immortal. Was the emperor affiliated with medicine in any way? Did they limit practitioners of medicine in any way?
- Given the distrust, xenophobia, and isolative attitude during the later Ming dynasty, did these foreign techniques come to have stigma later on? Did the government later limit the introduction of Western medicine techniques?
Works Cited
“Edward Jenner’s Ivory Vaccination Points, England, 1821 | Science Museum Group Collection.” Science Museum Group, collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co148487/edward-jenners-ivory-vaccination-points-england-1821-vaccination-point. Accessed 1 Mar. 2021.
Lei, Sean Hsiang-lin. “Qi-Transformation and the Steam Engine The Incorporation of Western Anatomy and Re-Conceptualisation of the Body in Nineteenth-Century Chinese Medicine.” Asian Medicine, vol. 7, no. 2, 2012, pp. 319–57. Crossref, doi:10.1163/15734218-12341256.
“The Development of Printing in China.” YouTube, uploaded by BON Cloud – China Video, 10 Mar. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHevDzS5TiY.
“Vaccination Knife.” HKMJ, 18 Sept. 2018, www.hkmj.org/abstracts/v23n6/670.htm.
“Yingjili-Guo Xinchu Zhongtou Qishu : [A Strange Book on Vaccinations Recently Come out of England / by Alexander Pearson ; Translated into Chinese by Sir George Thomas Staunton]. : Pearson, Alexander. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming :” Internet Archive, archive.org/details/4106501/page/n23/mode/2up. Accessed 1 Mar. 2021.