Marmots, Microbes and Mandarins: Geopolitical Uses of the Manchurian Plague of 19101911 William C. S

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Marmots, Microbes and MandarinsGeopolitical
Uses of the Manchurian Plague of
1910-1911William C. SummersYale University
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Epidemics and the Historian

• Disease, especially epidemic disease, can be
  viewed as a perturbing agent which can be used by
  the historian to better understand a particular
  time period, culture, or social structure.
• One can better understand different cultures by
  the ways they respond to, and deal with, epidemic
  diseases.

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Uses of Plague in Manchuria

• Westernization of State Medicine in China
• The uses to which medical science put the plague
• The role of the plague in the geopolitics of the
  period.

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Dalny 1905
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Russo-Japanese War 1905
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Tale of Three Cities

• Manchouli Frontier Station (Russia/China)
• Harbin Russian city in China
• Mukden Ancient capital city of Manchus

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• Typical Chinese Town in Manchuria 1915

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Russian Harbin 1910
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Mukden 1915
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Chronology of Epidemic

• Nov 1910 Spread along RR to Harbin and Mukden
  Russian/Japanese/Chinese attempts at Quarrantine
• Jan 1911 Wu Lien-teh takes charge in Harbin.
  Russia and Japan attempt to send troops
• Feb 1911 China invites advisors not troops
• April 1911 International Plague Conference in
  Mukden
• Oct 1910 Index case in Manchouli (Itinerant
  Marmot Hunter)

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• Spread of Plague along railway routes in Manchuria

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• Russian cartoon showing Modern sanitary measures
• (disinfectant formaldehyde) vanquishing the
  plague.
• Note medical-military images

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Wu Family of Penang 1903
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Wu Lien-teh 1911
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Plague Map Harbin
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Plague in Harbin Nov 1910
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Winter in Harbin
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Quarantine in Harbin
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Carrying a corpse
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Too many corpses
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Landscape of coffins
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Preparing Cremations
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The inferno
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• Marmot-trimmed Coat
• advertised on e-bay

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Marmota sibirica
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Modern Marmot Hunting
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Plague Conference April 1911

• First International Scientific Conf. in China
• Wu Lien-teh elected Chair (Kitasato upset)
• All participants were scientists (China, Japan,
  Russia, US, France, Germany, Spain)
• US-China research overshadowed others
• No political statements
• Definitive research on pneumonic plague

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International Plague ConferenceMukden, April 1911
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• Danilo Zabolotny
• Russian Plague Expert

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• Richard P. Strong
• International Epidemiologist for U.S. Government
• Later, Professor at Harvard

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SMR Company Hospital Lab in Dairen 1915
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Uses of Disease

• Pretexts for geopolitical interventions
• Opportunities for scientific investigations
• Career-building opportunities
• Influencing public and government opinion
• .