Film and the Chinese Medical Humanities by Lo, Vivienne; Berry, Chris; Liping, Guo;

Short description:

Chinese Film and the Medical Humanities is the first book to reflect on the power of film in representing medical and health discourse in China in both the past and the present, as well as in shaping its future.

Long description:

Film and the Chinese Medical Humanities is the first book to reflect on the power of film in representing medical and health discourse in China in both the past and the present, as well as in shaping its future.

Drawing on both feature and documentary films from mainland China, the chapters each engage with the field of medicine through the visual arts. They cover themes such as the history of doctors and their concepts of disease and therapies, understanding the patient experience of illness and death, and establishing empathy and compassion in medical practice, as well as the HIV/AIDs epidemic during the 1980s and 90s and changing attitudes towards disability. Inherently interdisciplinary in nature, the contributors therefore provide different perspectives from the fields of history, psychiatry, film studies, anthropology, linguistics, public health and occupational therapy, as they relate to China and people who identify as Chinese. Their combined approaches are united by a passion for improving the cross-cultural understanding of the body and ultimately healthcare itself.

A key resource for educators in the Medical Humanities, this book will be useful to students and scholars of Chinese Studies and Film Studies as well as global health, medical anthropology and medical history.

"This collection of film studies brings together the creative work of China’s most talented filmmakers as they reflect on contemporary social problems, work out in narratives and images an original analysis of what’s wrong with us (as individuals, as a society, and in cultural settings), and as they propose paths to redemption."

Judith Farquhar, Max Palevsky Professor Emerita, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago

Table of Contents:

Introduction  Part 1: Cross Cultural Histories of the Body and its Care  1. Dead or Alive: Martial Arts and The Forensic Gaze  2. How to be a Good Maoist Doctor: Wuyingdeng xia song yinzhen 无影灯下颂银针 (An Ode to the Silver Needle Under a Shadowless Lamp, 1974)  3. Self-Care, Yangsheng and Mutual Aid in Zhang Yang’s Shower (Xizao 洗澡 (1999)  4. Sentiments like Water: Unsettling Pathologies of Homosexual and Sadomasochistic Desire  Part 2: Film and the Public Sphere  5. The Fever with No Name: Genre-blending Responses to the HIV-tainted Blood Scandal in 1990’s China  6. Fortune Teller: The Visible and Invisible  7. Longing for the Rain: Journeys into the Dislocated Female Body of Urban China  Part 3: Improving the Education and Training of Health Professionals  8. The Gigantic Black Citadel: Design of Death and Medical Humanities Pedagogy in China  9. Blind Massage: Sense and Sensuality  10. Cinemeducation and Disability: An Undergraduate Special Study Module for Medical Students in China  Part 4: Transforming Self-health Care in the Digital Age  11. Raising Awareness about Anti-microbial Resistance: a Nationwide Video and Arts Competition for Chinese University Students using Social Media  12. Queer Comrades: Digital Video Documentary and LGBTQ Health Activism in China  13. Recovering from Mental Illness and Suicidal Behaviour in a Culturally Diverse Context: The Use of Digital Storytelling in Cross-cultural Medical Humanities and Mental Health  14. Food-related Yangsheng Short Videos among the Retired Population in Shanghai