Shanghai hospitals
This spring, the municipal government released a list of 1,649 medical professionals who had been sent by local hospitals to aid Hubei Province, heart of the coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic in China.
The courage and devotion shown by these doctors and nurses aroused my interest in medical work, especially as the virus swept its way around the world. Reading through the list, written in golden Chinese characters on red paper, I found that most hospitals which dispatched medical teams to Hubei have a long history tracing back to old Shanghai. With further research, I found the history of Western medicine in Shanghai started very soon after the city opened its port in 1843.
Founded in 1844 by British medical missionary William Lockhart, the first Western hospital in Shanghai still stands on its original 19th-century site and retains its old Chinese name, Renji Hospital. Around 300 Western hospitals were founded in the metropolis from 1844 to 1949. Many of these old Shanghai hospitals remained and developed into big modern places of health care.
Most original buildings inside these history-rich hospitals have been demolished and rebuilt to suit modern-day developments. But I was surprised to find that some heritage buildings, in a variety of architectural styles, still survive today and are in good health.
Compared with historical buildings for commercial use, these surviving hospital buildings look simple and modest. But they have withstood the test of time and witnessed a breathtaking history of Western medicine in Shanghai.
A galaxy of devoted medical missionaries, excellent doctors, far-sighted socialists and philanthropic billionaires, foreign and Chinese, have contributed to the city’s medical development since 1844. Their remarkable work provided a solid medical services’ foundation that benefitted the city’s residents. Some of the hospitals created by them, such as Renji Hospital, Ruijin Hospital, Huashan Hospital, Zhongshan Hospital and Shanghai General Hospital, all sent staff to Hubei Province to help curb the spread of COVID-19. Greatly touched by their work, I hastily changed a previous column plan, and decided to run a Shanghai hospital series.
In the following months, I will explore surviving heritage buildings, hidden inside modern hospitals sprinkled all around our city, and review the amazing history of Western medicine in Shanghai.