Imperfect conceptions

medical knowledge, birth defects, and eugenics in China

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Last edited by MARC Bot
July 15, 2024 | History

Imperfect conceptions

medical knowledge, birth defects, and eugenics in China

  • 1 Want to read

In 1995 the People's Republic of China passed a controversial Eugenics Law, which after a torrent of international criticism, was euphemistically renamed the Maternal and Infant Health Law.

Aimed at "the implementation of premarital medical checkups" to ensure that neither partner has any hereditary, venereal, reproductive, or mental disorders, the ordinance implies that those deemed "unsuitable for reproduction" should undergo sterilization or abortion or remain celibate in order to prevent "inferior births.".

Drawing on cultural, social, economic, and political approaches, Dikotter goes beyond a simple authoritarian model to provide a more complex view of eugenic policy, showing how a variety of voices including those of popular journalists, social reformers, medical writers, sex educators, university professors, and politicians all disseminate information that supports rather than questions the state's program.

Imperfect Conceptions reveals how Chinese cultural currents - fear and fascination with the deviant and the urge to draw clear boundaries between the normal and the abnormal - have combined with medical discourse to form a program of eugenics that is viewed with alarm by the rest of the world.

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
226

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Book Details


Edition Notes

Includes bibliographical references (p. 187-217) and index.

Published in
New York

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
616/.043/0951
Library of Congress
RG627.2.C5 D54 1998, RG627.2.C5D54 1998

The Physical Object

Pagination
ix, 226 p. :
Number of pages
226

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL355787M
ISBN 10
0231113706
LCCN
98015584
OCLC/WorldCat
38909337
Library Thing
4548261
Goodreads
1383066

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July 15, 2024 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
September 13, 2021 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
February 28, 2020 Edited by MARC Bot remove fake subjects
July 14, 2017 Edited by Mek adding subject: Internet Archive Wishlist
December 9, 2009 Created by WorkBot add works page