The Formation of Shanghai Customs Quarantine System based on Medical Inspection: Acceptance and Transformation between England-Shanghai-Joseon from 1872 to 1894
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the process of establishing a quarantine system based on medical inspection by Shanghai Customs. England was the first to introduce a quarantine system based on medical inspection during the nineteenth century; with the majority of the Shanghai Customs adminis...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Korean Society for the History of Medicine
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Uisahak |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.medhist.or.kr/upload/pdf/kjmh-31-1-129.pdf |
| _version_ | 1828365686378856448 |
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| author | Qing JIN |
| author_facet | Qing JIN |
| author_sort | Qing JIN |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The purpose of this paper is to analyze the process of establishing a quarantine system based on medical inspection by Shanghai Customs. England was the first to introduce a quarantine system based on medical inspection during the nineteenth century; with the majority of the Shanghai Customs administration being English, this system was able to be adopted with ease, and it was later transformed and accepted in Joseon. This paper further investigates the details of the actual medical inspection conducted by the Customs Medical Officer (CMO) who worked at the forefront of the actual quarantine as a medical inspector. In the nineteenth century, International Sanitary Conferences were held in Paris, Vienna, and Constantinople to discuss the process of quarantine and public health. Furthermore, the Public Health Act was passed in England in 1872. This Act established port sanitary authorities in each of England’s ports to carry out medical inspections. This medical inspection enabled healthy and infected people to be separated from each other instead of conventional isolation. The duties of the CMO would consist of boarding any incoming ship to check for any infected people. Any infected persons would then be sent to a non-quarantine hospital, and the ship was sanitized. This concept of quarantine based on medical inspection was borrowed by Shanghai Customs. The unique political situation in Shanghai, which consisted of multiple imperial concessions, necessitated the adaptation of England’s medical quarantine concept to suit the special environment in which the Shanghai Customs was located, and by 1875, the Shanghai Customs quarantine medical inspection system was established. In this system, patients found in the Customs quarantine medical inspection were sent to a non-quarantine hospital in the settlement. Due to the extraterritoriality, the extent of the authority of the Customs Medical Officer was dependent on agreements with the possibility to be granted a one-time or temporary position after conferring with the Shanghai local government and consuls in each country. The Treaty Ports of Joseon were similar to Shanghai with regards to the presence of the Customs system alongside different settlements. The Joseon ports went through another transformation when the Commissioner of Shanghai Customs, H. F. Merrill, who also served as the Chief Commissioner of Seoul, accepted the Shanghai Customs’ modified concept of medical inspection in 1887. The process of acceptance and transformation of the medical quarantine concept leading to the ‘England-Shanghai-Joseon’ connection shows that the concept of medical quarantine in the nineteenth century spread from England to Joseon through Shanghai Customs as a medium. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-14T05:34:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f798207fa36444078cdf9292f48ed84b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1225-505X 2093-5609 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T05:34:18Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | Korean Society for the History of Medicine |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Uisahak |
| spelling | doaj.art-f798207fa36444078cdf9292f48ed84b2022-12-22T02:09:42ZengKorean Society for the History of MedicineUisahak1225-505X2093-56092022-04-0131112918010.13081/kjmh.2022.31.1292413The Formation of Shanghai Customs Quarantine System based on Medical Inspection: Acceptance and Transformation between England-Shanghai-Joseon from 1872 to 1894Qing JIN0Post-doctoral fellow, Department of History, Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the process of establishing a quarantine system based on medical inspection by Shanghai Customs. England was the first to introduce a quarantine system based on medical inspection during the nineteenth century; with the majority of the Shanghai Customs administration being English, this system was able to be adopted with ease, and it was later transformed and accepted in Joseon. This paper further investigates the details of the actual medical inspection conducted by the Customs Medical Officer (CMO) who worked at the forefront of the actual quarantine as a medical inspector. In the nineteenth century, International Sanitary Conferences were held in Paris, Vienna, and Constantinople to discuss the process of quarantine and public health. Furthermore, the Public Health Act was passed in England in 1872. This Act established port sanitary authorities in each of England’s ports to carry out medical inspections. This medical inspection enabled healthy and infected people to be separated from each other instead of conventional isolation. The duties of the CMO would consist of boarding any incoming ship to check for any infected people. Any infected persons would then be sent to a non-quarantine hospital, and the ship was sanitized. This concept of quarantine based on medical inspection was borrowed by Shanghai Customs. The unique political situation in Shanghai, which consisted of multiple imperial concessions, necessitated the adaptation of England’s medical quarantine concept to suit the special environment in which the Shanghai Customs was located, and by 1875, the Shanghai Customs quarantine medical inspection system was established. In this system, patients found in the Customs quarantine medical inspection were sent to a non-quarantine hospital in the settlement. Due to the extraterritoriality, the extent of the authority of the Customs Medical Officer was dependent on agreements with the possibility to be granted a one-time or temporary position after conferring with the Shanghai local government and consuls in each country. The Treaty Ports of Joseon were similar to Shanghai with regards to the presence of the Customs system alongside different settlements. The Joseon ports went through another transformation when the Commissioner of Shanghai Customs, H. F. Merrill, who also served as the Chief Commissioner of Seoul, accepted the Shanghai Customs’ modified concept of medical inspection in 1887. The process of acceptance and transformation of the medical quarantine concept leading to the ‘England-Shanghai-Joseon’ connection shows that the concept of medical quarantine in the nineteenth century spread from England to Joseon through Shanghai Customs as a medium.http://www.medhist.or.kr/upload/pdf/kjmh-31-1-129.pdfcustoms medical officerquarantinemedical inspectioninfectious diseaseepidemicsanitaryshanghaijoseonlondoncholera |
| spellingShingle | Qing JIN The Formation of Shanghai Customs Quarantine System based on Medical Inspection: Acceptance and Transformation between England-Shanghai-Joseon from 1872 to 1894 Uisahak customs medical officer quarantine medical inspection infectious disease epidemic sanitary shanghai joseon london cholera |
| title | The Formation of Shanghai Customs Quarantine System based on Medical Inspection: Acceptance and Transformation between England-Shanghai-Joseon from 1872 to 1894 |
| title_full | The Formation of Shanghai Customs Quarantine System based on Medical Inspection: Acceptance and Transformation between England-Shanghai-Joseon from 1872 to 1894 |
| title_fullStr | The Formation of Shanghai Customs Quarantine System based on Medical Inspection: Acceptance and Transformation between England-Shanghai-Joseon from 1872 to 1894 |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Formation of Shanghai Customs Quarantine System based on Medical Inspection: Acceptance and Transformation between England-Shanghai-Joseon from 1872 to 1894 |
| title_short | The Formation of Shanghai Customs Quarantine System based on Medical Inspection: Acceptance and Transformation between England-Shanghai-Joseon from 1872 to 1894 |
| title_sort | formation of shanghai customs quarantine system based on medical inspection acceptance and transformation between england shanghai joseon from 1872 to 1894 |
| topic | customs medical officer quarantine medical inspection infectious disease epidemic sanitary shanghai joseon london cholera |
| url | http://www.medhist.or.kr/upload/pdf/kjmh-31-1-129.pdf |
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