PUBLIC HEALTH IN CHINA.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Collection of Imperial Maritime Customs Medical Reports. A lengthy run of this valuable specialist compendium. Each issue had a circulation of around 500 copies only, the majority sent to customs stations and libraries, as well as diplomats and naval officers, and copies are therefore rare in commerce.The Chinese Maritime Customs Service was founded in 1854 by Britain and other foreign powers to collect taxes on maritime trade for the Chinese government, but its remit quickly expanded to include domestic customs administration, the postal service, waterway and harbour management, and scientific research. In 1870, Inspector-General Sir Robert Hart instituted this series, information to be provided by the medical officers assigned to customs stations. Issues were issued on a yearly or half-yearly basis, sometimes in double numbers. "This network of epidemic monitoring and ecological investigation, which was gradually built up by the medical officers and medical missionaries, extended throughout East Asia and created a huge medical database" (Gao, p. 54).

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