The Study Of Public Hygiene Education In Tsingtao(1898-1949)

The public hygiene education aims at developing the hygienic habitsand concepts to the masses. It is one of the most economical, elementaryand everlasting works. In fact, the process of education is always in theway of propagandizing. In German and Japanese colonial times from1898to1922, as the Tsingtao’s city creators, German and Japanesecolonist punished Chinese residents according to the stringent hygienemanagement regulations in most cases. Under the Beijing nationalgovernment rule from1923to1928, the Tsingtao local authorities startedthe hygienic and antiepidemic management by means ofpropagandization. The scientific idea of public hygiene had been evolvingfrom merely the sanitary inspection in Tsingtao’s colonial times tomobilizing the whole society. Under the first time of Nanjing nationalgovernment rule from1929to1937, with the development of socialeducation, local authorities organized the vocational hygiene training andthe hygiene campaigns were rich and varied. Under the second time ofJapanese occupation from1939to1945, around the cholera outbreak inautumn of1939, the Tsingtao local puppet authorities organized severalhygienic and antiepidemic campaigns. Most of these campaigns weretight at first but afterward loose. Under the second time of Nanjingnational government from1945to1949, the Tsingtao local authoritiespromoted the public hygiene campaigns vigorously and strengthened thehygiene education in primary schools. The normal colleges and schoolsalso started the instruction of curriculum of hygiene educationsystematically.Throughout the half of century in Tsingtao, overall, the publichygiene education assumed a developmental tendency periodically. In respect of popularizing the outlook on hygiene, raising the hygienicawareness and accelerating the urban modernization, these campaignsand instruction had made significant achievements. However, there werealso several problems in these officially dominated campaigns. Throughthe study of Tsingtao public hygiene education from1898to1949, wecould find the inner laws of public hygiene education, which may providea reference and inspiration for today.