殖民权力与医疗空间:香港东华三院中西医服务变迁(1894—1945)

Colonial Power and Medical Space:The Transformation of Chinese and Western Medical Services in Tung Wah Group of Hospitals,1894-1945

作为香港东华三院的前身,创建于1870年的东华医院最初是一家由当地华人领袖创办的以中医药为唯一治疗方法的中医医院。在殖民权力的干预下,香港东华三院经历了从传统中医空间向现代西医空间的转变过程;到第二次世界大战结束后不久,就其留医服务来说,东华三院更是成为以西医药为唯一治疗方法的西医医院。东华三院医疗空间性质的转变具有相当明显的象征意义,它不仅体现了西方医学的扩张性与殖民权力的强制性,而且还标志着西方医学科学性与优越性的话语论述及其实际治疗效果逐渐为香港华人社会所认可和接受。正是如此,以中医药为创院原则的东华三院却成为近代香港西方医学传播与实践的重要空间。这一转变背后体现了不同权力关系的消长。

The Tung Wah Hospital,originally founded by local Chinese leaders in 1870,was the predecessor of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals(TWGHs),which was a traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)hospital that exclusively provided Chinese medicine services.Because of the intervention of colonial power,the TWGHs experienced a transformation from TCM space to Western one.Shortly after the end of the Second World War,in terms of inpatient services,the TWGHs became a hospital offered Western medicine services only.The transformation of the nature of TWGHs as a medical space has a distinct symbolic significance.It not only reflects the expansion of Western medicine and the overwhelming colonial power,but also shows the view that Western medicine was superior to TCM and its curative effects were gradually recognized and accepted by the Hong Kong Chinese society.Therefore,the TWGHs with TCM as its original principle gradually changed into an important space for the spread and practice of Western medicine in modern Hong Kong.More importantly,this transformation represented the rise and fall of different power relations.