For most pre‐modern civilizations with a certain degree of cultural sophistication, medical ethics were strikingly similar: hard work and concern for the poor and needy. A good doctor not only excelled in his medical skills, but also cared for the sick and poor. Material benefits should not be his major pursuit. In the West, such tenets naturally conformed to Christian morality; in China, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism mostly contributed to the formulation of such ethics.
Despite the universality of these basic ethical requirements, there were specific features in the historical development of Chinese medical ethics which can be said to have gone through several stages of formation: the mythical period of Antiquity (ca. 771 BCE–AD 265); the period of Buddhist and Daoist influences of the early medieval era (265–960); the period of medical professional maturity of the late medieval era (960–1368); and lastly the late imperial period of Confucian influence (1368–1911).
In the period...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
He, Zhaoxiong. Zhongguo Yide Shi (A History of Chinese Medical Ethics). Shanghai: Shanghai Yike Daxue Chubanshe, 1988.
Hymes, Robert. Not Quite Gentlemen? Doctors in Sung and Yuan. Chinese Science 8 (1987): 33.
Li, T'ao. Medical Ethics in Ancient China. Bulletin of the History of Medicine 13.3 (1943): 268–77.
Unschuld, Paul U. Medical Ethics in Imperial China. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979.
Zhou, Yimou, ed. Lidai Mingyi Lun Yide (Medical Ethics Discussed by Doctors Throughout the Ages). Changsha: Hunan kexue jishu chubanshe, 1983.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York
About this entry
Cite this entry
Leung, A.K.C. (2008). Medical Ethics in China. In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4425-0_8753
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4425-0_8753
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-4559-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-4425-0
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law