From The Body To The Nation

Western medicine,as one of the important carriers of western civilization,occupies a striking position in the travel writings about Europe by the intellectuals in late Qing Dynasty.The conflict between the bloody medical scene of western medical surgery and the modern/western medical narrative that transforms the human body and gives new life to it has made it an important part of the overseas stories written by the intellectuals in late Qing Dynasty.At the same time,western medicine became a mirror of self-cognition of intellectuals in Europe in late Qing dynasty because of its relatively quick curative effect and modern scientific concept.On the basis of collecting,sorting out and analyzing relevant literature and materials,this paper takes the western medicine in the travel writings about Europe by the intellectuals in late Qing Dynasty as the research object,and in the cross-cultural context,discusses various modern experiences brought by western medicine to the people in the late Qing dynasty,as well as their confusion and thinking about the body and nation of modern China.Whether the intellectuals in late Qing Dynasty rejected or supported western medicine,it reflected their expectations of themselves in the comparative vision formed when they traveled in Europe.