The Epidemic Of Cholera And Construction Of Public Health In The City Of Qing Dao In 1930s'

Cholera is an infectious disease which caused by the vibrio-cholera. Just like the plague, it has a very important role in the history of public health in western society. The outbreak and epidemic of cholera also has a close relationship with the environmental condition. The bad and filthy sanitary condition always becomes the hotbed of the epidemic pathogen, such as the cholera.In the middle of 19 century, Britain suffered the epidemic of cholera. So, the government began to build the cleanly sanitary system in some big city. After the implement of the"public health act", the environmental condition became better and better, the menace of infectious disease to the whole British society also declined. So some people say that"Cholera is a great reformer of environmental sanitation". For there is not any other outbreak of infectious disease in the history of Qingdao city , the epidemic of cholera has a very important meaning in promoting the improvement of city environment and the construction of public health.Under the rein of Bei-Yang authorities, the officials had made a plan to rebuild the gutter of the city. But the plan intermitted for an alternation of regime. And it had not been implemented until the new mayor came to Qingdao in the beginning of 1930s'. The new mayor's plan which called"the system of building house for poor civilian"really improved the environmental condition and the public health condition of the gutter. The new system was really active to the construction of public health in Qingdao. In 1932, the cholera broke out in many cities in China. Though the Qingdao city also suffered this epidemic situation, the cholera had been controlled very successfully. And the loss caused by this epidemic situation was really less than 6 years ago. The system which supplied the clean house to the poor civilians made a very important role in improving the environment of public health and resisting the epidemic of infectious disease.In 1939, the Qingdao city which had been occupied by the Japanese army suffered the epidemic of cholera again. This time, the epidemic of cholera had some special meanings for the intervention of army. For maintaining the stability of war situation and ensuring that the battle effectiveness would not be weakened by the epidemic of such strong infectious diseases, the Japanese navy and land forces united together. They established a department to prevent the epidemic of cholera. Before long they also took over the domination of the whole affairs about epidemic prevention from the Qingdao authorities. The measures which the Japanese authorities and armies had done in epidemic prevention revealed their colonial essentiality adequately. After this epidemic situation, the Japanese authorities began to attach more importance to the construction of public health. And the sanitary idea of common people was also improved during the epidemic situation.In the third decade of 20 century, for the special position of seaport, the unique binary structure of the city, two different kinds of social circumstance (peaceful time and war), Qingdao presented a particular visual angle in the fields of the history of diseases to us. The twice epidemic of cholera in Qingdao had made some active contribution to improve the construction of public health in this city. The construction of public health in Qingdao really got quite great progress in that decade. Although some active measures intermitted by the Japanese aggressive war, the recurrence of cholera made them understand the significance of public health. For the frequent break-out of cholera, the environment of public health had been improved gradually.