1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,279 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,800 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:17,720 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. Today's subject 4 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:22,160 Speaker 1: is Rulanda, who I first heard about on two other podcasts, 5 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:26,239 Speaker 1: which were saw Bones and Invisible. Both of those shows 6 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:29,600 Speaker 1: talked about him in episodes they did on medical masks 7 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:32,519 Speaker 1: that came out earlier on in the COVID nineteen pandemic. 8 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:36,680 Speaker 1: We're gonna touch on the medical mask also, but this 9 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:40,279 Speaker 1: episode is really more about who's public health work and 10 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:44,400 Speaker 1: the neumonic plague epidemic that he is most known for today. 11 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:47,360 Speaker 1: And just a little note about names before we start. 12 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:52,120 Speaker 1: Wulianda is a romanization of the doctor's name in Mandarin, 13 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:54,800 Speaker 1: and that's what he used during most of his career. 14 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:57,200 Speaker 1: Like if you look at things that were published during 15 00:00:57,200 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 1: his lifetime, that's usually the byline that's on there in 16 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:04,840 Speaker 1: English language publications, but you will also sometimes see romanizations 17 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:08,400 Speaker 1: that came from Cantonese. And when he was first enrolled 18 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 1: in a British school as a child and what's now Malaysia, 19 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:14,800 Speaker 1: a clerk for some reason recorded his name in sort 20 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:20,280 Speaker 1: of a weird hybrid of Cantonese and Hokeyn romanizations uh 21 00:01:20,319 --> 00:01:22,680 Speaker 1: and in medical school and then the first part of 22 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 1: his career as a doctor, he usually went by G. L. Tuck, 23 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:30,840 Speaker 1: which came from that weird hybrid romanization. So just for consistency, 24 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:35,959 Speaker 1: we will use the name Wu Lianda for the whole episode. Also, 25 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:40,200 Speaker 1: pretty much every place we are going to mention in 26 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:43,559 Speaker 1: today's episode was part of a different country or known 27 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:47,000 Speaker 1: by a different name, or romanized differently at the time. 28 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:49,720 Speaker 1: We're going to clarify those things as much as we can. 29 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:51,360 Speaker 1: And then when it's a matter of just like the 30 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:53,880 Speaker 1: same name but a different romanization, we're just going to 31 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:56,800 Speaker 1: try stick to the current one. Hopefully I caught all 32 00:01:56,840 --> 00:02:00,840 Speaker 1: of those. It was really a lot we Banda was 33 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:04,760 Speaker 1: born in Penang, Malaya, on March tenth, eighteen seventy nine. 34 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:07,840 Speaker 1: His father was a Cantonese goldsmith who had immigrated to 35 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:11,480 Speaker 1: Penang from China, and his mother was ethnically Chinese, but 36 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:14,760 Speaker 1: she was born in Penang. Wu was their fourth son, 37 00:02:14,919 --> 00:02:18,800 Speaker 1: an eighth child out of eleven. The goldsmith shop was 38 00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 1: a pretty prosperous one, and the family lived in a 39 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:25,000 Speaker 1: home above it. Today, Penang is in Malaysia, but at 40 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:27,440 Speaker 1: the time it was one of the Straight settlements, which 41 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:31,320 Speaker 1: were a collection of British territories along the Strait of Malacca. 42 00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 1: Whose early education took place at the Penang Free School, 43 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:38,080 Speaker 1: which was open to boys regardless of their religion or 44 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:42,280 Speaker 1: their nationality. Classes there were taught primarily in English, and 45 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:46,000 Speaker 1: when w was seventeen, he was awarded the Queen's Scholarship 46 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:49,440 Speaker 1: that allowed him to travel to England to study at 47 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:53,680 Speaker 1: Emmanuel College at Cambridge. This made him the second Chinese 48 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:57,400 Speaker 1: student to study at Cambridge and the first Chinese medical 49 00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:00,960 Speaker 1: student at Cambridge. After earning his m d there, he 50 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:04,560 Speaker 1: did a year of post graduate work in bacteriology at 51 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:07,520 Speaker 1: the School of Tropical Medicine in Liverpool, and then he 52 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:11,480 Speaker 1: did research at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. Wu returned 53 00:03:11,480 --> 00:03:14,680 Speaker 1: to Penang in nineteen o three. He had excelled in 54 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:17,640 Speaker 1: his studies and he earned multiple awards at Cambridge and 55 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:21,760 Speaker 1: he was a qualified doctor with additional experience in infectious 56 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:25,600 Speaker 1: diseases in microbiology, but he couldn't get a job with 57 00:03:25,639 --> 00:03:30,240 Speaker 1: the Colonial Medical Service because it was only hiring British physicians. 58 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:33,120 Speaker 1: So Wu spent a year working at the Institute for 59 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:37,400 Speaker 1: Medical Research in Kuala Lumpur, studying the B vitamin deficiency 60 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:40,960 Speaker 1: known as berry berry. He also spent some time in Singapore, 61 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 1: where he met his future wife, Ruth Huang Shu Chung. 62 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:47,839 Speaker 1: By nineteen o four, we was back in Penang, where 63 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:50,520 Speaker 1: he set up a private medical practice, and he also 64 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:54,040 Speaker 1: became one of the editors of the Straits Chinese magazine. 65 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:57,440 Speaker 1: This was a journal of arts, literature, and culture for 66 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:00,920 Speaker 1: the Chinese residents of the Straight settlements. We're really not 67 00:04:00,960 --> 00:04:03,120 Speaker 1: going to touch on this much at all in this episode, 68 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:06,160 Speaker 1: but we had just a deep and lifelong love for 69 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:09,840 Speaker 1: literature and art. In addition to his private practice, we 70 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:14,720 Speaker 1: also started an aggressive campaign against opium, including founding Penang's 71 00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:19,040 Speaker 1: Anti Opium Association and serving as its president and physician 72 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:21,960 Speaker 1: in chief, all when he was still just twenty four. 73 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:26,000 Speaker 1: He campaigned for other reforms as well, including education for 74 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:31,000 Speaker 1: girls and a prohibition on gambling. Wu's anti opium campaign 75 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:34,520 Speaker 1: ruffled the feathers of high powered people who were involved 76 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:38,120 Speaker 1: in the opium trade, and in nineteen o seven, possibly 77 00:04:38,279 --> 00:04:41,760 Speaker 1: in retaliation for this work, a search warrant was issued 78 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:44,960 Speaker 1: for his medical clinic, and authorities found an ounce of 79 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:49,159 Speaker 1: opium tincture and a cupboard. A couple of different explanations 80 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:51,640 Speaker 1: have been proposed for why he had it, and one 81 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:53,679 Speaker 1: was that he had bought it in case he needed 82 00:04:53,680 --> 00:04:56,960 Speaker 1: to treat opium patients, and another was that it had 83 00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:00,279 Speaker 1: been in there when he bought the practice. Regard us 84 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:03,240 Speaker 1: of exactly what had happened, doctors had to have a 85 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:06,640 Speaker 1: license to have opium tincture on hand, and who didn't 86 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:09,760 Speaker 1: have one? So he was convicted and charged to fine, 87 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:12,880 Speaker 1: and he found the whole incident to be just humiliating. 88 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 1: Not long after the opium incident, Wu was offered a 89 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:19,440 Speaker 1: job as the vice director of the Imperial Army Medical 90 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:23,479 Speaker 1: College in Tianjin, China. He accepted this position and he 91 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:27,760 Speaker 1: traveled to London in Berlin for additional training in military hygiene. 92 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:30,719 Speaker 1: And it was after taking this position and moving to 93 00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:33,680 Speaker 1: China in nineteen eight that he started using the Mandarin 94 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:36,880 Speaker 1: version of his name. So we're almost to the epidemic 95 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:40,279 Speaker 1: that was really a defining moment in Wu's career. But 96 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:43,000 Speaker 1: before we get to that, China had been through just 97 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:47,480 Speaker 1: a colossal amount of upheaval during Woo's lifetime, and some 98 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:51,520 Speaker 1: of that upheaval directly affected northeastern China, which was known 99 00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:54,560 Speaker 1: at the time as Manchuria, and that's where this epidemic 100 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 1: took place. So briefly, China lost the First Sino Japanese War, 101 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:03,640 Speaker 1: which ended in eight One of the outcomes of that 102 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:06,560 Speaker 1: war was that China had to seed some of Manchuria 103 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:10,640 Speaker 1: to Japan. China also had to pay reparations to Japan 104 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:13,400 Speaker 1: that it simply could not afford, so it had to 105 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:17,720 Speaker 1: seek out loans from other countries, including Russia. In eighteen 106 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:21,400 Speaker 1: ninety six, China signed a secret and unequal treaty with Russia. 107 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:25,200 Speaker 1: Russia gave China the money it needed to pay the reparations, 108 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:30,360 Speaker 1: and China gave Russia access to land in Manchuria. In theory, 109 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:34,280 Speaker 1: this treaty was also supposed to ensure mutual defense against Japan, 110 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:38,080 Speaker 1: but in reality it allowed Russia to establish a foothold 111 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:41,159 Speaker 1: in Manchuria and set the stage for it to claim 112 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:47,360 Speaker 1: additional Chinese territory. This is often pointed to as one 113 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:50,160 Speaker 1: of the as part of the context for the Boxer rebellion, 114 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:52,840 Speaker 1: like it was part of what was fueling a lot 115 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:56,760 Speaker 1: of anti foreigner sentiment in China that in nineteen o four, 116 00:06:56,839 --> 00:06:59,840 Speaker 1: Russia went to war against Japan, with a lot of 117 00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:04,000 Speaker 1: the fighting happening in Manchuria. As many as twenty thousand 118 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:06,880 Speaker 1: Chinese civilians were killed as a result of the fighting. 119 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:10,520 Speaker 1: This war ended with the Treaty of Portsmouth in nineteen 120 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:14,560 Speaker 1: o five. Theodore Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 121 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:18,640 Speaker 1: for his peace negotiations, including the negotiation of this treaty 122 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:22,440 Speaker 1: in nineteen o six. This treaty as another sort of 123 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:26,320 Speaker 1: in theory aspect to it, though in theory both Russia 124 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:30,920 Speaker 1: and Japan recognized Chinese sovereignty in Manchuria under the Treaty 125 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:35,200 Speaker 1: of Portsmouths, but in reality, both Russia and Japan still 126 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:38,960 Speaker 1: had substantial interests there, including railroads that each of them 127 00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:43,200 Speaker 1: had built. The railroads were incorporated into the treaty, with 128 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:46,680 Speaker 1: each nation allowed to keep troops in Manchuria based on 129 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:50,400 Speaker 1: the length of their railroad line, purportedly for protection from 130 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:53,920 Speaker 1: bandits and other defense. Because of all this, by the 131 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:58,000 Speaker 1: early twentieth century, Manchuria had become kind of a patchwork 132 00:07:58,120 --> 00:08:02,800 Speaker 1: of Japanese, Russian, and Chinese influence, with ethnic diversity within 133 00:08:02,840 --> 00:08:07,640 Speaker 1: the Chinese population as well. Russia controlled the Eastern Chinese 134 00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:11,240 Speaker 1: Railway as part of the Trans Siberian Railway and that 135 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:15,800 Speaker 1: ended at the Russian port of Vladivostok. Japan controlled the 136 00:08:15,840 --> 00:08:20,480 Speaker 1: South Manchariat Railway, and along their respective rail lines, Russia 137 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:24,200 Speaker 1: and Japan each controlled cities and towns that had large 138 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:27,840 Speaker 1: numbers of Russian and Japanese nationals, as well as people 139 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:31,520 Speaker 1: from other countries living there. Russia and Japan also had 140 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:34,920 Speaker 1: trading rights along their railway routes, and then China also 141 00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:37,480 Speaker 1: controlled a portion of the railroad as well, which was 142 00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:41,160 Speaker 1: the Imperial Chinese Railway. All of these railroads were a 143 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:44,440 Speaker 1: big part of the spread of plague through Manchuria starting 144 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:46,680 Speaker 1: in nineteen ten, and we're going to get into that 145 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:56,840 Speaker 1: after we first paused for a sponsor break. One of 146 00:08:56,880 --> 00:09:00,520 Speaker 1: the primary industries in Manchuria in the early twenty century 147 00:09:00,679 --> 00:09:06,080 Speaker 1: was the fur trade, specifically the tarbagant marmot. This marmot 148 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:10,800 Speaker 1: can carry plague, and Manchuria went through regular, almost seasonal 149 00:09:10,920 --> 00:09:15,360 Speaker 1: outbreaks of plague that generally followed the hunting season. These 150 00:09:15,360 --> 00:09:18,520 Speaker 1: outbreaks were usually the bubonic form of the plague, which 151 00:09:18,559 --> 00:09:23,080 Speaker 1: is characterized by fever, weakness, and painfully swollen lymph nodes, 152 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:26,920 Speaker 1: which are called bubos, and these outbreaks tended to be 153 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:31,200 Speaker 1: localized and they would last for a few months, and Russian, Japanese, 154 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:35,040 Speaker 1: and Chinese officials in Manchuria all had their own procedures 155 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:38,920 Speaker 1: for dealing with them. So when trappers and fur traders 156 00:09:38,920 --> 00:09:42,120 Speaker 1: in Manjoli started getting sick in mid October of n 157 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:46,600 Speaker 1: at first people didn't realize that that was actually something different. 158 00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:50,480 Speaker 1: Mentally was right on the border with Russia. It was 159 00:09:50,520 --> 00:09:53,559 Speaker 1: one of the major centers in the fur trade in Manchuria. 160 00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:57,640 Speaker 1: Large numbers of seasonal hunters and trappers would come to 161 00:09:57,679 --> 00:10:00,559 Speaker 1: the area and they would stay in these crowded, poorly 162 00:10:00,679 --> 00:10:05,240 Speaker 1: ventilated huts and ends. Some of these were literally underground, 163 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:09,160 Speaker 1: so they were in these confined quarters with very bad ventilation. 164 00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:14,199 Speaker 1: Demand for marmot for had also skyrocketed after the discovery 165 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:17,440 Speaker 1: that it could be dyed to look like sable. Some 166 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:21,160 Speaker 1: hunters had resorted to digging sick animals out of their 167 00:10:21,160 --> 00:10:25,320 Speaker 1: burrows to get their pelts, although unlike with healthy marmots, 168 00:10:25,360 --> 00:10:28,760 Speaker 1: these sick animals were not generally also used as food. 169 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:33,880 Speaker 1: The first deaths were reported in Manjoli in late October 170 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:38,040 Speaker 1: of nineteen ten, with the first victims being Chinese fur trappers. 171 00:10:38,559 --> 00:10:42,160 Speaker 1: Russia and Japan both had medical facilities in their respective 172 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:46,800 Speaker 1: railroad towns. In Manjuli, Russia's medical centers were staffed with 173 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:51,080 Speaker 1: nine doctors, more than seventy nurses, and twenty six assistants. 174 00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:56,480 Speaker 1: As more cases came in, they diagnosed the disease asneumonic plague, 175 00:10:56,720 --> 00:11:00,760 Speaker 1: caused by the same organism as bubonic plague, but characterized 176 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:04,760 Speaker 1: by shortness of breath, chest pain, and coughing up blood, 177 00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:08,319 Speaker 1: followed quickly by death if there was no treatment. Today, 178 00:11:08,640 --> 00:11:11,880 Speaker 1: plague is treatable with antibiotics, which didn't exist yet in 179 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:15,920 Speaker 1: nine so the fatality rate for pneumonic plague was close 180 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:21,880 Speaker 1: to Authorities in Manjali informed international authorities in the towns 181 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:25,359 Speaker 1: along the railroad lines of what was happening. The Japanese 182 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:28,440 Speaker 1: controlled cities in particular started taking a lot of steps 183 00:11:28,440 --> 00:11:32,640 Speaker 1: to try to prevent the introduction of infection into those cities, 184 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:38,800 Speaker 1: including screening all incoming travelers and quarantining their Chinese population 185 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:42,600 Speaker 1: on mass but it still was not immediately obvious just 186 00:11:42,679 --> 00:11:47,040 Speaker 1: how serious this situation was, since the clearest symptom of 187 00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:50,800 Speaker 1: pneumonic plague was coughing up blood, and since death typically 188 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:54,800 Speaker 1: followed within forty eight hours of that symptom, isolating people 189 00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:58,920 Speaker 1: who were potentially exposed before they showed symptoms was really 190 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:00,960 Speaker 1: the only way to try to control the spread of 191 00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:05,120 Speaker 1: the disease. Contact tracing was difficult since so many of 192 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:08,760 Speaker 1: the victims were migrant fur trappers and laborers who didn't 193 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:11,800 Speaker 1: know anyone and couldn't provide details about who they had 194 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:16,840 Speaker 1: had contact with. So Russian authorities in Manjolie essentially treated 195 00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:21,920 Speaker 1: the entire Chinese population, especially the poorest Chinese people, as 196 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:26,360 Speaker 1: potentially infected. They detained Chinese people in groups of twenty 197 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:29,880 Speaker 1: five and if nobody experienced any symptoms in five days, 198 00:12:30,559 --> 00:12:33,320 Speaker 1: at which point if they had been infected it would 199 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:36,200 Speaker 1: be obvious, then they were all free to go. But 200 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:39,520 Speaker 1: if anybody in the group did experience symptoms, that meant 201 00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:42,720 Speaker 1: that anyone else who had been isolated with them was 202 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:48,160 Speaker 1: now potentially infected and their five day weight started over. Soon, though, 203 00:12:48,320 --> 00:12:52,760 Speaker 1: isolation facilities and Manjolie were totally overwhelmed, and authorities had 204 00:12:52,760 --> 00:12:56,720 Speaker 1: to start quarantining people in empty rail cars. This mass 205 00:12:56,760 --> 00:13:01,600 Speaker 1: isolation was obviously difficult, people didn't understand why they were 206 00:13:01,640 --> 00:13:05,160 Speaker 1: being detained, so they would often break or try to 207 00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:08,800 Speaker 1: evade quarantine, and they tried to hide any symptoms of illness. 208 00:13:09,600 --> 00:13:13,040 Speaker 1: Beyond the mass quarantine, authorities were also taking steps that 209 00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:16,600 Speaker 1: were not effective at containing the disease, like focusing on 210 00:13:16,679 --> 00:13:20,040 Speaker 1: exterminating rats, which were not spreading the neemonic form of 211 00:13:20,040 --> 00:13:24,160 Speaker 1: the plague. Yeah, if this were a ubonic plague outbreak, 212 00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:27,280 Speaker 1: then rats and their fleas would have been part of 213 00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:31,120 Speaker 1: the problem. In fact, right on November eight, plague was 214 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:34,920 Speaker 1: first detected in Harbon, which is another Russian town farther 215 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:38,280 Speaker 1: southeast on the railroad line and that also had a 216 00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:43,160 Speaker 1: Chinese quarter known as Fuchatien. The first death in Harbon 217 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:46,960 Speaker 1: was reported on November nine. Russian authorities in Harbon started 218 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:50,079 Speaker 1: taking similar measures to what had been done in Manjoli, 219 00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:54,240 Speaker 1: while also trying to coordinate with Chinese authority in Fuchatien, 220 00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:57,960 Speaker 1: but it became increasingly clear that the epidemic could not 221 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:01,520 Speaker 1: be contained through this patchwork of effort by Chinese, Russian, 222 00:14:01,559 --> 00:14:04,920 Speaker 1: and Japanese authorities, all of which were operating in different 223 00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:08,520 Speaker 1: towns and districts. As November war on, both Russia and 224 00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:11,880 Speaker 1: Japan started threatening to send in their own health ministers 225 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:15,160 Speaker 1: to take over if China did not take stronger action. 226 00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:19,960 Speaker 1: China also realized that Russia, Japan, or some other country 227 00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:23,640 Speaker 1: entirely could use this epidemic as a pretext for a 228 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:27,320 Speaker 1: full on invasion of Manchuria, which was highly attractive to 229 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:31,880 Speaker 1: multiple nations thanks to its geography and its natural resources. 230 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:35,760 Speaker 1: So China's counselor of Foreign Affairs tasked Wu Leenda with 231 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:39,880 Speaker 1: traveling to Harbin to try to contain this epidemic. In 232 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:42,720 Speaker 1: a lot of ways, Wu was really the logical choice 233 00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:47,080 Speaker 1: for this. He was a respected doctor with experience in microbiology. 234 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:50,480 Speaker 1: He was ethnically Chinese, which might make local Chinese people 235 00:14:50,560 --> 00:14:53,560 Speaker 1: more receptive to his direction than they were to Russian 236 00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:58,640 Speaker 1: or Japanese officials. Sending Wu also demonstrated that China did 237 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:02,000 Speaker 1: have its own medical experts who had trained at prestigious 238 00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:06,160 Speaker 1: universities and institutes. But Wu was also an English speaking 239 00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:08,960 Speaker 1: doctor who had grown up in British territory and had 240 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:12,280 Speaker 1: trained in the West, and he wore Western clothes and 241 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:16,760 Speaker 1: thought traditional Chinese medicine had value only as a historical 242 00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:19,920 Speaker 1: and cultural artifact. And all of this made him the 243 00:15:19,960 --> 00:15:24,000 Speaker 1: target of suspicion from many Chinese people. He also didn't 244 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:27,120 Speaker 1: speak Mandarins, so a senior medical student had to serve 245 00:15:27,160 --> 00:15:30,280 Speaker 1: as an interpreter, and since Wu was only thirty one, 246 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:34,640 Speaker 1: authorities and medical experts from other countries questioned his medical 247 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:38,240 Speaker 1: knowledge because of both his race and his age. We 248 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:41,000 Speaker 1: got the order to go to Harbon on December nineteenth, 249 00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:43,520 Speaker 1: and he got there five days later. And at this 250 00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:47,960 Speaker 1: point medical authorities and local people in Harbon and elsewhere 251 00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:52,479 Speaker 1: really had suspected a number of possible sources of disease transmission. 252 00:15:52,680 --> 00:15:57,200 Speaker 1: One was again rats and their fleas, with widespread efforts 253 00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:00,960 Speaker 1: to control the rat population and bounties placed on rats 254 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:05,960 Speaker 1: and some affected cities. Another was money. Authorities in Harbon 255 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:10,560 Speaker 1: were sterilizing paper money with steam and sterilizing coins with 256 00:16:10,680 --> 00:16:14,600 Speaker 1: mercuric chloride. There are also people who blamed the disease 257 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:19,600 Speaker 1: on contaminants and inferior quality opium, suggesting that the reason 258 00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:22,360 Speaker 1: that poor people seemed to be the most affected was 259 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:25,840 Speaker 1: that they could only afford the cheapest opium sold on 260 00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:30,200 Speaker 1: the black market. Shortly after arriving in Harbon, Wu conducted 261 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:33,160 Speaker 1: a post mortem examination on a Japanese woman who had 262 00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:36,520 Speaker 1: died of the disease. This is sometimes noted as the 263 00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:41,520 Speaker 1: first autopsy conducted in China. Autopsies were highly taboo among 264 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:43,760 Speaker 1: Chinese people, and that is why we sought out the 265 00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:47,880 Speaker 1: body of a non Chinese patient for examination. Wu was 266 00:16:47,920 --> 00:16:51,960 Speaker 1: able to culture plague bacteria from that woman's tissue samples, 267 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:56,400 Speaker 1: confirming that the disease at work wasneumonic plague. Who also 268 00:16:56,880 --> 00:17:00,200 Speaker 1: concluded that this numonic plague was spreading from per sen 269 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:03,680 Speaker 1: to person through things like coughing, and so in addition 270 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:06,760 Speaker 1: to the isolation efforts and the sanitary cordons around the 271 00:17:06,760 --> 00:17:10,280 Speaker 1: affected cities that were already in place, we recommended the 272 00:17:10,359 --> 00:17:14,120 Speaker 1: use of masks to protect healthcare workers from the disease. 273 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:18,120 Speaker 1: He was not the first person ever to recommend masks 274 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:23,240 Speaker 1: as a protection against plague. The beaks plague doctor masks 275 00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:27,400 Speaker 1: that I think most people could imagine. They date back 276 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:31,119 Speaker 1: to the seventeenth century, and that pointed nose portion of 277 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:33,880 Speaker 1: the mask was stuff with garlic or herbs or other 278 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:37,879 Speaker 1: fragrant materials to protect against miasmas, which were believed to 279 00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:42,480 Speaker 1: cause illness. The Manchurion plague happened during the Third Plague 280 00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:45,480 Speaker 1: pandemic which started in eighteen fifty five, and in the 281 00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:49,600 Speaker 1: late nineteenth century. After that pandemic had started, medical authorities 282 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:53,480 Speaker 1: in both Germany and Japan had recommended using cloth or 283 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:56,880 Speaker 1: sponges to cover the noses and mouths of patients who 284 00:17:56,880 --> 00:18:01,240 Speaker 1: had respiratory symptoms, as well as their attendants. Wooze mask 285 00:18:01,359 --> 00:18:04,800 Speaker 1: design was one of several in the nineteen epidemic, but 286 00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:07,120 Speaker 1: it is also recognized as the one that was most 287 00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:10,680 Speaker 1: effective and the most widely used. It was the simplest 288 00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:12,760 Speaker 1: to put on and where, and it could be made 289 00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:17,520 Speaker 1: quickly with inexpensive materials. We described the mask this way 290 00:18:17,560 --> 00:18:20,600 Speaker 1: and the treatise that he wrote on demonic plague quote. 291 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:24,359 Speaker 1: This consists of two layers of gauze enclosing a flat, 292 00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:28,360 Speaker 1: oblong piece of absorbent cotton six inches by four inches. 293 00:18:28,840 --> 00:18:31,680 Speaker 1: It can be easily made by cutting the usual surgical 294 00:18:31,720 --> 00:18:35,600 Speaker 1: gauze nine inches wide, as supplied from the shops, into strips, 295 00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:38,600 Speaker 1: each measuring three feet in length. Each strip is then 296 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:41,800 Speaker 1: doubled lengthwise so as to contain the middle flat piece 297 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:45,360 Speaker 1: of cotton wool measuring four inches by six inches at 298 00:18:45,400 --> 00:18:49,080 Speaker 1: either end of the gauze. Two cuts each measuring fifteen 299 00:18:49,119 --> 00:18:52,520 Speaker 1: inches are made, thus turning the pad into a three 300 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:55,800 Speaker 1: tail gauze bandage with a central piece of wool for 301 00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:59,960 Speaker 1: covering the respiratory entrance. The upper tail of one side 302 00:19:00,040 --> 00:19:01,919 Speaker 1: should be passed around the side of the head above 303 00:19:01,960 --> 00:19:05,080 Speaker 1: the ear and tied to the other corresponding tail. The 304 00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:08,919 Speaker 1: lowermost tail should, in similar manner, be passed under the 305 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:11,040 Speaker 1: ear and tied to the one on the other side, 306 00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:14,159 Speaker 1: while the middle tail should be passed over the crown 307 00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:16,560 Speaker 1: of the head so as to fix the pad and 308 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:19,679 Speaker 1: prevent it from slipping down the neck um. This was 309 00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:23,840 Speaker 1: a way thicker mask than like the cloth masks that 310 00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:28,159 Speaker 1: people are wearing today. It reminds me of like not 311 00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:32,399 Speaker 1: a current modern fancy cloth diaper that's colorful and hazard 312 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:35,640 Speaker 1: removable inserts, but like the cloth diaper from when I 313 00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:38,840 Speaker 1: was a kid uh in the seventies, like it was 314 00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:42,960 Speaker 1: thick and heavy. So, as Tracy mentioned, the resulting mask 315 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:45,760 Speaker 1: was really really thick. And there was sort of a 316 00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:49,880 Speaker 1: double benefit here because in addition to offering protection from disease, 317 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:53,800 Speaker 1: it also helped protect the wearer's face during the Manchurian winter, 318 00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:58,680 Speaker 1: and we recommended that this mask be worn by doctors, nurses, pharmacists, 319 00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:01,360 Speaker 1: and other medical staff, as well as patients and their 320 00:20:01,359 --> 00:20:05,880 Speaker 1: family members and caregivers. Also anyone who had contact with 321 00:20:05,920 --> 00:20:09,080 Speaker 1: any of these people, people who were doing contact tracing 322 00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:12,200 Speaker 1: or house to house searches for sick people, and people 323 00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:18,639 Speaker 1: cremating victims bodies, and ideally everyone. And the monograph that 324 00:20:18,680 --> 00:20:20,600 Speaker 1: I read from a moment ago, which he went on 325 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:24,639 Speaker 1: to publish about the plague fifteen years later, we described 326 00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:28,560 Speaker 1: masks as the most important method of personal prophylaxis. But 327 00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:32,199 Speaker 1: he also really stressed that preventing pneumonic plague required a 328 00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:37,840 Speaker 1: combination approach masks, gloves, goggles and gowns, handwashing and other 329 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:43,480 Speaker 1: hygiene measures, disinfecting of surfaces and instruments, quarantines, and the 330 00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:47,280 Speaker 1: use of vaccines and anti plague serums. He also noted 331 00:20:47,359 --> 00:20:50,680 Speaker 1: that people wearing masks needed to be vigilant against allowing 332 00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:53,520 Speaker 1: their masks to give them a false sense of security 333 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:56,160 Speaker 1: so that they like slacked off on all of those 334 00:20:56,160 --> 00:21:00,320 Speaker 1: other measures. More recently, doctor Wos masks have become part 335 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:04,000 Speaker 1: of a sort of cautionary tale involving French physician doctor 336 00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:09,320 Speaker 1: Gerard Maynie, who was head professor at pay Young Medical College. 337 00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:12,439 Speaker 1: In Wo's account, Maynie was both dismissive of the idea 338 00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:14,840 Speaker 1: that the plague was being spread from person to person 339 00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:19,800 Speaker 1: through respiratory droplets and dismissive of Wo's medical expertise because 340 00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:23,479 Speaker 1: he was Chinese. Many did his rounds at a plague 341 00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:27,000 Speaker 1: hospital without wearing a mask and then contracted the disease 342 00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:30,159 Speaker 1: and died. The basics of all of this are true. 343 00:21:30,359 --> 00:21:33,960 Speaker 1: Manie did die of pneumonic plague during this epidemic after 344 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:37,920 Speaker 1: treating patients without a mask, and apart from Wu's own 345 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:41,720 Speaker 1: account of how Many treated him, the entire international response 346 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:46,919 Speaker 1: this epidemic was rife with racism. Non Chinese people dismissed 347 00:21:46,920 --> 00:21:50,840 Speaker 1: the work of Chinese doctors and medical staff. International efforts 348 00:21:50,840 --> 00:21:53,359 Speaker 1: are based on the idea that Chinese people were dirty, 349 00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:57,600 Speaker 1: backward disease vectors. Wu himself also contributed to some of this, 350 00:21:57,840 --> 00:22:01,600 Speaker 1: characterizing the migratory trappers who come to Manchuria seeking work 351 00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:05,520 Speaker 1: as ignorance spreaders of disease. But an important addition to 352 00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:07,880 Speaker 1: all of this is that there was also a vaccine 353 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:12,160 Speaker 1: for plague in It had been developed by a Jewish 354 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:16,680 Speaker 1: doctor from Russia, Valdemar Mordecai Hofkina in eighteen ninety six, 355 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:19,600 Speaker 1: just two years after the plague by Silis had first 356 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:23,880 Speaker 1: been identified. Maynee had been vaccinated against the plague, as 357 00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:27,719 Speaker 1: had a number of Russian medical staff who also contracted 358 00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:31,320 Speaker 1: the plague in this epidemic and died. When we wrote 359 00:22:31,320 --> 00:22:35,480 Speaker 1: about this in his autobiography, it's sort of an illustrative 360 00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:40,399 Speaker 1: tail in which MAYNEI easily becomes the villain and then 361 00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:44,680 Speaker 1: in in sort of viral posts about masks that have 362 00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:46,679 Speaker 1: been floating around the internet more recently, and like that 363 00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:49,480 Speaker 1: sort of amplified even more. But Maynie did not just 364 00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:52,879 Speaker 1: disregard WOOS precautions and go into a plague where with 365 00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:55,760 Speaker 1: no protection at all. He thought that he was protected 366 00:22:55,880 --> 00:22:58,840 Speaker 1: because he had received a vaccine. It was only later 367 00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:01,800 Speaker 1: that it became clear or that the vaccine dosage that 368 00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:05,520 Speaker 1: conferred immunity and bubotic plague was not enough to protect 369 00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:09,080 Speaker 1: someone who was exposed to plague through their respiratory system. 370 00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:13,680 Speaker 1: UH and mucus membranes. That monograph on plague that we've 371 00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:16,879 Speaker 1: referenced a couple of times has these charts where it 372 00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:20,080 Speaker 1: was like it took multiple doses and this other plague 373 00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:25,200 Speaker 1: serum to like maybe offer some protection from pneumonic plague 374 00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:28,600 Speaker 1: in a way that was way more simple and straightforward, 375 00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:32,160 Speaker 1: in like one dose for a bubonic league. The international 376 00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:35,840 Speaker 1: community had already recognized the Manchurian plague is having the 377 00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:39,920 Speaker 1: dangerous potential to spread along railroad and shipping roots, but 378 00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:43,520 Speaker 1: Mani's death seems to have spurred more aggressive action. It 379 00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:47,480 Speaker 1: was no longer primarily poor Chinese trappers and laborers who 380 00:23:47,480 --> 00:23:51,800 Speaker 1: were dying. It was also respected Western doctors. So we'll 381 00:23:51,800 --> 00:24:01,840 Speaker 1: have more on all this. After a break in January 382 00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:04,560 Speaker 1: of nineteen eleven, not long after the death of doctor 383 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:09,280 Speaker 1: Gerard Mini, the Chinese government deployed twelve hundred troops to 384 00:24:09,320 --> 00:24:12,800 Speaker 1: Manchuria to assist with quarantine enforcement, as well as six 385 00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:15,679 Speaker 1: hundred police officers who were dispatched to conduct house to 386 00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:19,399 Speaker 1: house searches. A new plague hospital was built in Harbon, 387 00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:22,119 Speaker 1: with the old one being burned completely to the ground. 388 00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:26,119 Speaker 1: Dr Willie and Da coordinated with the Japanese, Russian, and 389 00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:30,000 Speaker 1: Chinese authorities to shut down each of their respective sections 390 00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:34,080 Speaker 1: of the railroad. He also focused on cleanliness and hygiene 391 00:24:34,280 --> 00:24:36,760 Speaker 1: the masks we talked about earlier, and on trying to 392 00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:39,960 Speaker 1: find strategies for controlling the disease that would be accepted 393 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:43,480 Speaker 1: by the local people who really didn't trust Western doctors, 394 00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:46,200 Speaker 1: like Western medicine was a really new introduction in China 395 00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:49,720 Speaker 1: at this point. Has included recommending that people in Harbon 396 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:53,320 Speaker 1: set off their Chinese New Year firecrackers inside their homes, 397 00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:57,320 Speaker 1: hoping that the sulfur fumes from those firecractors would act 398 00:24:57,359 --> 00:25:00,840 Speaker 1: as sort of an airborne disinfectant. Heaven forbid such an 399 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:04,040 Speaker 1: idea take hold here. At the moment um, Wu had 400 00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:07,359 Speaker 1: also arranged for a mass cremation of plague victims in Harbin. 401 00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:10,520 Speaker 1: He had discovered that there were more than two thousand 402 00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:13,640 Speaker 1: bodies that had not been buried because the ground was frozen, 403 00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:16,399 Speaker 1: and some of the bodies were lying on the ground 404 00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:19,800 Speaker 1: because the city had run out of coffins. Wu was 405 00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:22,960 Speaker 1: concerned that animals might feed on those corpses and become 406 00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:26,320 Speaker 1: a new reservoir for the disease. The idea of a 407 00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:30,920 Speaker 1: mass cremation like this was anathema in Chinese society, who 408 00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:34,040 Speaker 1: had to secure an imperial edict for the cremation, which 409 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:37,399 Speaker 1: was the first of its kind in China. This cremation 410 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:40,160 Speaker 1: took place in the last day of January nineteen eleven, 411 00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:43,760 Speaker 1: with Chinese New Year having been on. Even with that 412 00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:47,280 Speaker 1: imperial edict that granted formal permission, though, this was still 413 00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:50,560 Speaker 1: a deeply traumatic event for a lot of local Chinese people. 414 00:25:51,280 --> 00:25:54,760 Speaker 1: In addition to the cultural and religious taboos that were involved, 415 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:57,440 Speaker 1: a lot of people who had died were too young 416 00:25:57,560 --> 00:26:01,080 Speaker 1: to have descendants who could perform their funeral rights. A 417 00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:04,000 Speaker 1: lot of others were migrants or immigrants who didn't have 418 00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:06,840 Speaker 1: a local family at all, and whose bodies were being 419 00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:11,960 Speaker 1: burned far away from their ancestral homes. Simultaneously, Wou marked 420 00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:14,399 Speaker 1: this is an important moment in controlling the spread of 421 00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:16,840 Speaker 1: the disease and a turning point in the progression of 422 00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:20,000 Speaker 1: the epidemic. By this point, the epidemic had been brought 423 00:26:20,119 --> 00:26:23,800 Speaker 1: under control in Manjoli, where the first cases had been reported. 424 00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:27,600 Speaker 1: The last people held for quarantine and Manjoli were released 425 00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:32,240 Speaker 1: on December twenty two, but the disease had also spread 426 00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:35,399 Speaker 1: further along the railroad, including to the Chinese town of 427 00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:38,880 Speaker 1: Mukden now known as Shenyang, where a sick traveler from 428 00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:43,199 Speaker 1: Harbon arrived on January second. In all of the cities 429 00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:47,000 Speaker 1: and towns where the disease was still spreading. Authorities conducted 430 00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:50,800 Speaker 1: house to house searches looking for sick people, detained people 431 00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:53,680 Speaker 1: until it was clear they were not ill, and quarantined 432 00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:57,280 Speaker 1: people who showed symptoms or had had contact with people 433 00:26:57,320 --> 00:27:00,880 Speaker 1: who had This whole effort still suffered from a lack 434 00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:04,679 Speaker 1: of coordination and oversight, though the city of Mukden hadn't 435 00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:07,600 Speaker 1: really prepared for the epidemic, even though it was clear 436 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:09,879 Speaker 1: that it was moving towards them down the rail lines. 437 00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:13,240 Speaker 1: The Chamber of Commerce there tried to set up its 438 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:17,560 Speaker 1: own isolation hospital, catering to the Chinese merchant class, but 439 00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:21,960 Speaker 1: the infection control procedures at that hospital were not particularly rigorous, 440 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:26,200 Speaker 1: including many of the doctors working without masks. The illness 441 00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:30,080 Speaker 1: spread through the hospital itself, killing two hundred fifty patients 442 00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:34,280 Speaker 1: and both of the doctors. At that point, authorities ordered 443 00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:37,560 Speaker 1: that hospital to be closed. The Chamber of Commerce and 444 00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:41,760 Speaker 1: McDon also had organized the Sanitary Brigade to help conduct 445 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:44,119 Speaker 1: house to house inspections and searches in the city. That 446 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:48,080 Speaker 1: effort apparently went better. As all of this was going on, 447 00:27:48,520 --> 00:27:52,119 Speaker 1: China asked for other nations to send medical experts to Manchuria, 448 00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:55,560 Speaker 1: both to help control the outbreak and to study the disease. 449 00:27:56,560 --> 00:27:59,879 Speaker 1: Two American doctors, Richard P. Strong and Oscar Tigue, were 450 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:02,520 Speaker 1: in the Philippines and they were among the ones who 451 00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:06,280 Speaker 1: arrived in Manchuria. Their focus was more on study than 452 00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:10,399 Speaker 1: on control, since autopsies were so taboo, They focused their 453 00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:15,200 Speaker 1: work on unclaimed unidentified bodies, conducting twenty five autopsies that 454 00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:20,440 Speaker 1: contributed enormously to the understanding of mnemonic plague. Researchers also 455 00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:24,240 Speaker 1: tried to confirm whether the Tarbagan marmot really had played 456 00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:26,720 Speaker 1: a part in this epidemic, but their research at that 457 00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:29,840 Speaker 1: point was hampered by the fact that these animals hibernate 458 00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:32,960 Speaker 1: in the winter. Like they could go try to find 459 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:35,359 Speaker 1: some that were hibernating, but that still wasn't going to 460 00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:39,160 Speaker 1: really help them determine whether whether like that was not 461 00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:41,800 Speaker 1: a real world scenario to what it had been like 462 00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:46,760 Speaker 1: back in November. Studies conducted later on, though, did confirm 463 00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:50,120 Speaker 1: that these marmots can contract neumonic plague and they can 464 00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:53,640 Speaker 1: spread it from one to another, so it seems likely 465 00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:57,040 Speaker 1: that the first case of plague in this epidemic was 466 00:28:57,160 --> 00:29:01,760 Speaker 1: contracted from a sick marmot, but that's not likely something 467 00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:05,000 Speaker 1: that will ever be proved for certain. The last new 468 00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:08,560 Speaker 1: case of pneumonic plague in Harbon was reported on March first, 469 00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:12,600 Speaker 1: nineteen eleven, with scattered cases elsewhere being reported over the 470 00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:17,920 Speaker 1: following weeks. In April of nineteen eleven, China outlawed tarbigan hunting. 471 00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:21,640 Speaker 1: As the plague was winding down, the first International Plague 472 00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:25,000 Speaker 1: Conference was convened in Mukden from April third to twenty, 473 00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:28,600 Speaker 1: and this was the first international conference of its kind 474 00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:31,840 Speaker 1: to be held in China. This conference involved a whole 475 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:37,000 Speaker 1: lot of like in fighting and international drama. Russia's delegation 476 00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:40,560 Speaker 1: was primarily made up of military people, which China took 477 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:43,720 Speaker 1: as an implied threat to try to take over more territory. 478 00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:47,280 Speaker 1: At first, Japan announced that it was going to boycott 479 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:50,400 Speaker 1: the conference altogether, apparently because it felt like it was 480 00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:55,760 Speaker 1: being upstaged by China. Japan did ultimately send five delegates, 481 00:29:55,760 --> 00:29:58,720 Speaker 1: though in the end, the delegates at the conference past 482 00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:02,600 Speaker 1: forty five resolution as recommendations for the Chinese government on 483 00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:05,959 Speaker 1: public health and plague prevention. And another thing to come 484 00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:08,520 Speaker 1: out of this conference was the establishment of the North 485 00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:11,840 Speaker 1: Manchurian Plague Prevention Service, which we will talk about more 486 00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:15,320 Speaker 1: in a moment. By the time the International Plague Conference 487 00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:18,800 Speaker 1: came to a close, the pneumonic plague epidemic in Manchuria 488 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:24,240 Speaker 1: was essentially over official records document forty three thousand, nine 489 00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:28,600 Speaker 1: hundred seventy two cases of pneumonic plague and one survivor, 490 00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:32,280 Speaker 1: although because migrant laborers and trappers may not have been 491 00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:35,760 Speaker 1: listed on official tallies, some estimates are as high as 492 00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:40,240 Speaker 1: sixty thousand deaths. Since cases were clustered in railroad towns, 493 00:30:40,320 --> 00:30:44,320 Speaker 1: the death tolls in those communities were tremendous. Yeah, if 494 00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:47,600 Speaker 1: you look at the like the percentage of deaths like 495 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:51,400 Speaker 1: deaths as a percentage of the whole population um like, 496 00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:54,360 Speaker 1: that number seems small, but that's because it's spread out 497 00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:57,280 Speaker 1: of the whole population of Manchuria and not just those 498 00:30:57,400 --> 00:31:01,400 Speaker 1: railroad towns. Uh. It is really not clear whether this 499 00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:05,200 Speaker 1: outbreak was brought under control through medical intervention or whether 500 00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:08,840 Speaker 1: it wound down through other factors. The way bubonic plague 501 00:31:08,840 --> 00:31:13,040 Speaker 1: outbreaks in Manchuria seemed to be cyclical and temporary, but 502 00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:15,880 Speaker 1: it is clear that efforts to stop traffic along the 503 00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:20,320 Speaker 1: railroads and established sanitary quardrons around cities and generally keep 504 00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:24,000 Speaker 1: people from traveling. That kept the disease from spreading much 505 00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:28,480 Speaker 1: beyond Manchuria. The creation of the North Manchurian Plague Prevention 506 00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:31,240 Speaker 1: Service was one of the last formal acts of the 507 00:31:31,320 --> 00:31:35,080 Speaker 1: Ching Dynasty before the Chinese Revolution of nineteen eleven, which 508 00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:38,680 Speaker 1: overthrew the Imperial dynasty and established a Republic of China. 509 00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:42,440 Speaker 1: The Plague Service started its work on October first, nineteen 510 00:31:42,480 --> 00:31:46,600 Speaker 1: twelve under the new Republican government. Sometimes, the North Manchurian 511 00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:51,120 Speaker 1: Plague Prevention Service as described as China's first public health agency, 512 00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:54,320 Speaker 1: but that's not entirely true. When we have talked about 513 00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:57,320 Speaker 1: public health reform on the show before, we've generally been 514 00:31:57,360 --> 00:32:01,720 Speaker 1: talking about the US or the UK, where typically philanthropists 515 00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:05,480 Speaker 1: or medical professionals are sometimes just really enthusiastic lay people 516 00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:10,160 Speaker 1: have done everything from creating new programs themselves to advocating 517 00:32:10,160 --> 00:32:13,840 Speaker 1: for change at the government level. But Chinese public health 518 00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:16,960 Speaker 1: followed a precedent that had been set in Germany and Japan, 519 00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:20,200 Speaker 1: where the first public health efforts were part of the police. 520 00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:24,240 Speaker 1: China had established a police based public health service in 521 00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:27,760 Speaker 1: nineteen o two, and the Ministry of Police established in 522 00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:32,720 Speaker 1: nineteen o five included a sanitary department. These officers carried 523 00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:38,120 Speaker 1: out health and sanitation directives, quarantine enforcement, and infection control procedures. 524 00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:42,440 Speaker 1: China was still implementing police sanitary departments in its cities 525 00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:45,480 Speaker 1: by the time the epidemics started, and there wasn't one 526 00:32:45,560 --> 00:32:48,800 Speaker 1: in Manchuria yet. So it is true that the North 527 00:32:48,840 --> 00:32:52,320 Speaker 1: Manchurian Plague Prevention Service was the first public health service 528 00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:55,800 Speaker 1: in northeastern China, and many of its efforts were still 529 00:32:55,840 --> 00:32:59,960 Speaker 1: connected to policing. The quarantine hospitals it established were mode 530 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:03,680 Speaker 1: old after prisons, with patients being described using the same 531 00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:08,240 Speaker 1: general language as would be used for prisoners. Conversely, it 532 00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:12,000 Speaker 1: is absolutely true that this plague outbreak and the North 533 00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:15,320 Speaker 1: Mancharian Plague Prevention Service had a huge role in the 534 00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:19,960 Speaker 1: development of medicine and public health in China. The Chinese 535 00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:24,000 Speaker 1: government quickly recognized the role of Western medicine and treating 536 00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:27,920 Speaker 1: and preventing contagious diseases. During all this, it also started 537 00:33:27,960 --> 00:33:31,080 Speaker 1: to adopt the general idea that the government had a 538 00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:35,960 Speaker 1: responsibility to protect public health. Willianda was a major part 539 00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:39,720 Speaker 1: of this process. He helped found the National Medical Association 540 00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:43,360 Speaker 1: in China in nineteen fifteen. He served as secretary that 541 00:33:43,440 --> 00:33:47,120 Speaker 1: year and then as president from nineteen sixteen to nineteen twenty. 542 00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:51,800 Speaker 1: He helped establish hospitals, including six isolation hospitals that operated 543 00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:55,120 Speaker 1: under the Plague Prevention Service. He also helped found the 544 00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:58,320 Speaker 1: National Medical Journal of China and became the first Chinese 545 00:33:58,400 --> 00:34:01,840 Speaker 1: person to publish an article in the lancet Is Published 546 00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:05,080 Speaker 1: work in the field of medicine included co authoring a 547 00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:08,800 Speaker 1: massive history of Chinese medicine and publishing that treatise on 548 00:34:09,120 --> 00:34:11,560 Speaker 1: pneumonic plague that we've been talking about that happened in 549 00:34:11,680 --> 00:34:16,120 Speaker 1: nine and that treatise was the standard reference on numonic 550 00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:19,720 Speaker 1: plague for the next three decades. He also published ninety 551 00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:22,600 Speaker 1: two papers over the course of his career, thirty one 552 00:34:22,640 --> 00:34:24,920 Speaker 1: of them on the subject of plague, and he was 553 00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:28,360 Speaker 1: involved in a series of other epidemics in China, including 554 00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:32,319 Speaker 1: multiple other plague outbreaks and two outbreaks of cholera. Wu 555 00:34:32,520 --> 00:34:35,760 Speaker 1: was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Medicine for work 556 00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:38,680 Speaker 1: on numonic plague and especially the discovery of the role 557 00:34:38,719 --> 00:34:43,480 Speaker 1: played by the Tarbagan in its transmission in This made 558 00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:45,960 Speaker 1: him the first Chinese person to be nominated for a 559 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:49,680 Speaker 1: Nobel Prize in medicine. Over his career, he was also 560 00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:54,440 Speaker 1: awarded honorary doctorates from Picking University, Hong Kong University, and 561 00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:59,560 Speaker 1: Tokyo University. Outside of his medical work, Who helped establish libraries, 562 00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:02,279 Speaker 1: and he amassed a collection of two thousand books that 563 00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:06,360 Speaker 1: he donated to Nanyang University as the Wu Lianda Collection. 564 00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:09,960 Speaker 1: He also donated six works of art to the Art 565 00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:13,560 Speaker 1: Museum of the University of Malaya. In nineteen thirty one, 566 00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:17,880 Speaker 1: Japan invaded Manchuria and Wu and his family fled to Shanghai. 567 00:35:18,680 --> 00:35:22,319 Speaker 1: Then in nineteen thirty seven, when Japan invaded Shanghai, he 568 00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:25,920 Speaker 1: and his family moved to Malaya. That same year, whose 569 00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:29,480 Speaker 1: wife died of tuberculosis. Two of their children had died 570 00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:31,960 Speaker 1: as well, one at the age of sixteen and the 571 00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:36,239 Speaker 1: other in infancy. Wu eventually remarried to a woman named 572 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:39,919 Speaker 1: Le Shu Chin and had five more children, whose life 573 00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:43,400 Speaker 1: beyond this point is not as extensively documented in English 574 00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:46,640 Speaker 1: as his earlier career and his work in that epidemic. 575 00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:50,440 Speaker 1: He did publish an autobiography in nineteen fifty six, but 576 00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:53,200 Speaker 1: it is out of print and it was not accessible 577 00:35:53,719 --> 00:35:56,480 Speaker 1: as the research for this episode. It's also six hundred 578 00:35:56,480 --> 00:35:59,920 Speaker 1: and sixty two pages long. I've read some reviews of 579 00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:01,400 Speaker 1: it to try to get a sense of what it 580 00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:05,080 Speaker 1: was like, and and they were mixed. Um One specifically 581 00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:09,799 Speaker 1: said the book is too long, and the other talked 582 00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:12,799 Speaker 1: about it being pretty fascinating. It it does seem to, 583 00:36:12,960 --> 00:36:15,680 Speaker 1: like a lot of people's autobiographies, Dude, like it presents 584 00:36:15,719 --> 00:36:19,160 Speaker 1: him in a very good light. He obviously did astounding 585 00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:21,759 Speaker 1: and important work, but like even better light than might 586 00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:26,200 Speaker 1: be just rooted in that. Uh. We do know though, 587 00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:28,000 Speaker 1: that he spent the rest of his life working in 588 00:36:28,040 --> 00:36:31,920 Speaker 1: medicine and public health before dying on January sixty at 589 00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:34,319 Speaker 1: the age of eighty one, and the words of his 590 00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:37,680 Speaker 1: obituary in The Times of London quote by his death, 591 00:36:37,719 --> 00:36:40,200 Speaker 1: the world of medicine has lost a heroic and almost 592 00:36:40,360 --> 00:36:43,640 Speaker 1: legendary figure, and the world at large one of whom 593 00:36:43,680 --> 00:36:47,640 Speaker 1: it is far more indebted to than it knows. On 594 00:36:47,719 --> 00:36:52,759 Speaker 1: December nineteen fifteen, the Willanda Institute opened at Harvard University, 595 00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:58,319 Speaker 1: focusing on conducting research into infectious diseases. In ten, the 596 00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:03,280 Speaker 1: Lancet established the weakly jilliand prize for essays written in Chinese. 597 00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:08,160 Speaker 1: The theme for the contest is Chinese health workers experiences 598 00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:12,360 Speaker 1: during the COVID nineteen pandemic. I actually have a listener 599 00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:16,600 Speaker 1: mail that is a little related to what we've been doing. 600 00:37:17,080 --> 00:37:20,839 Speaker 1: Have at it. Uh. This is from Haley. I hope 601 00:37:20,880 --> 00:37:22,560 Speaker 1: I am saying your name right. Haley wrote in to 602 00:37:22,640 --> 00:37:24,920 Speaker 1: say hello. I've been searching for a good resource on 603 00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:28,400 Speaker 1: the history of fabric masks. I would appreciate any suggestions, 604 00:37:28,719 --> 00:37:30,760 Speaker 1: but thought I would throw it out as an episode 605 00:37:30,800 --> 00:37:32,839 Speaker 1: idea as well. Of course, I know you get many 606 00:37:32,880 --> 00:37:35,400 Speaker 1: emails and show suggestions, so no worries if you're not 607 00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:38,080 Speaker 1: able to answer. I know fabric masks were used in 608 00:37:38,600 --> 00:37:43,040 Speaker 1: eighteen though public interpretation of mask mandates diminished their usefulness. 609 00:37:43,440 --> 00:37:46,280 Speaker 1: I feel like they caught on in several East Asian 610 00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:49,000 Speaker 1: countries around the time of Stars, and their reception there 611 00:37:49,080 --> 00:37:51,680 Speaker 1: is very different, maybe because of that. They're not an 612 00:37:51,719 --> 00:37:55,560 Speaker 1: uncommon part of Japanese straight fashion. However, they've been a 613 00:37:55,560 --> 00:37:59,040 Speaker 1: staple and rave cyber goth and other fashion subgroups with 614 00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:03,600 Speaker 1: leanings towards a post apocalyptic aesthetic for years now. For example, 615 00:38:03,600 --> 00:38:06,319 Speaker 1: photos of burning man show lots of masks. I think 616 00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:08,120 Speaker 1: it must be an interesting history and I would love 617 00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:09,920 Speaker 1: to hear more on this topics. I'm passing it along 618 00:38:09,960 --> 00:38:13,760 Speaker 1: best Haley. So number one, thank you Haley for writing 619 00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:15,840 Speaker 1: this email. Number two, I thought it would be a 620 00:38:15,880 --> 00:38:19,480 Speaker 1: good time to provide some more information on the podcasts 621 00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:23,279 Speaker 1: I referenced at the top of this episode. UM. One 622 00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:25,680 Speaker 1: of the weird things that has come about because of 623 00:38:25,719 --> 00:38:28,799 Speaker 1: this pandemic is sometimes feeling like all the podcasts I 624 00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:32,359 Speaker 1: listened to or talking about the same topics. So uh. 625 00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:37,000 Speaker 1: The podcast Saw Bones from Sydney and Justin McElroy. On 626 00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:42,280 Speaker 1: March twenty they did an episode called Masks The History 627 00:38:42,280 --> 00:38:44,960 Speaker 1: of Medical Masks that includes a little bit about what 628 00:38:44,960 --> 00:38:51,279 Speaker 1: we talked about today, and then Invisible on April did 629 00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:55,600 Speaker 1: the podcast episode Masking for a Friend UM, which is 630 00:38:56,200 --> 00:38:59,759 Speaker 1: also about the history and design of masks UM. And 631 00:38:59,760 --> 00:39:01,440 Speaker 1: then the one of these three that I haven't actually 632 00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:04,360 Speaker 1: listened to all the way through is NPRS through Line, 633 00:39:04,520 --> 00:39:08,879 Speaker 1: which came out on May with an episode titled The 634 00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:13,680 Speaker 1: mask UM. All three of these episodes focused primarily on 635 00:39:13,719 --> 00:39:16,520 Speaker 1: like the medical use of masks and not like the 636 00:39:16,560 --> 00:39:21,120 Speaker 1: cultural or religious or theatrical use of masks, which, wow, 637 00:39:21,239 --> 00:39:28,440 Speaker 1: would be such a gigantic topic. Uh. I don't know 638 00:39:28,480 --> 00:39:31,040 Speaker 1: if that would be coverable in one episode, but there's 639 00:39:31,040 --> 00:39:32,560 Speaker 1: a lot of stuff that has come out in the 640 00:39:32,680 --> 00:39:35,960 Speaker 1: last couple of months about masks. Um If you'd like 641 00:39:36,040 --> 00:39:38,160 Speaker 1: to write to us about this or any other podcast 642 00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:41,760 Speaker 1: or a history podcast at i heart radio dot com. 643 00:39:41,840 --> 00:39:44,080 Speaker 1: We're also all over social media at miss and History. 644 00:39:44,080 --> 00:39:46,520 Speaker 1: That's where you will find our Facebook and Twitter and 645 00:39:46,560 --> 00:39:50,080 Speaker 1: pictures and Instagram, and you can subscribe to our show 646 00:39:50,120 --> 00:39:53,120 Speaker 1: on Apple, podcast, the I heart radio app, and anywhere 647 00:39:53,160 --> 00:40:00,360 Speaker 1: you like to get your podcasts. Stuff you Missed in 648 00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:03,200 Speaker 1: History Class is a production of I heart Radio. For 649 00:40:03,239 --> 00:40:05,960 Speaker 1: more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the I heart 650 00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:09,120 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 651 00:40:09,120 --> 00:40:10,759 Speaker 1: favorite shows. H