Taking a Moderate Path: Tang Erhe, Colonial Korea, and the Formation of a Dual Medical System in 1910s China

In 1922, the Chinese Government took a moderate path in regulating medical doctors by issuing parallel decrees to separately legalise traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine. This became the starting point of China’s dual medical system that exists to this day. By tracing the formation of this important policy, this essay shows the central role played by a Japanese-trained Chinese physician named Tang Erhe in persuading the Chinese authorities to learn from colonial Korea’s medical model.