Imperial Science and Politics in East Asia: The Debate about Pneumonic Plague and Anti-Plague Regulations during the Manchurian Plague (1910-1911)

This paper examines the spread of the Manchurian plague and the response of the Chinese government, Western powers, and Japan. Imperial medicine had served the Western management of colonies in East Asia. Western powers had used the new knowledge of medical science as a tool for imperial expansion and colonial control. However, this paper argues that Western powers did not agree with a new theory that the pneumonic plague was transmitted through respiratory infections, as discovered by Wu Liande (1879-1960), a Chinese plague fighter, and promoted by Kitasato Shibasaburo (1852-1931). Many officials still continued to believe the rat-flea theory, which held that the plague was transmitted through fleas from rodents, and they focused on reducing the rat population to prevent the spread of the plague. Wu Liande confirmed the infectious course of the pneumonic plague, inventing a new mask and using germ theory, a microscope, and autopsies as symbols of Western scientific study. The death of Gerald Mesny proved and strengthened Wu Liande`s argument, and the Chinese government could intercept Western powers` domination over Manchuria. In that sense, science in the age of imperialism was not only a tool of empire, but it also contributed to preventing imperialist expansion. Wu Liande wanted to execute powerful anti-plague measures in support of the Chinese government. However, the Chinese government`s legislative support was limited. The Chinese government`s prevention regulations imitated anti-bubonic plague rules enacted ten years previously in Japan. Prevention authorities preferred eclectic approaches due to the difficulty of establishing isolation hospitals and recruiting inspectors. It can be said that the prevention policy was an example of collaboration between science and politics. Ten years later, as the second pneumonic plague prevailed in Manchuria, preventive authorities could no longer justify rat catching activities.ope