The Manchurian (or Pneumonic) Plague, a fiasco in the history of public health in China, came at a time when the imperial court in Beijing was at its weakest and the Republican Revolution led by Sun Yat-sen hadn't occurred yet. With a mortality rate of almost 100%, its outbreak would claim the life of ca. 45,000 to 60,000 residents of Harbin and environs.
Not only did the outbreak occur at a crucial moment in Chinese history, it also took place in a geopolitically highly contested area: Russia, Japan and China all lay claim to controlling this particular region.
These rare photographs of China during Manchurian Plague (1910-1911) are glass lantern slides that taken from the papers of Dr. Richard Pearson Strong, on repository at Harvard University's Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, and can be accessed by using their VIA (Visual Information Access) Search Engine.
(via ralph repo)
Not only did the outbreak occur at a crucial moment in Chinese history, it also took place in a geopolitically highly contested area: Russia, Japan and China all lay claim to controlling this particular region.
These rare photographs of China during Manchurian Plague (1910-1911) are glass lantern slides that taken from the papers of Dr. Richard Pearson Strong, on repository at Harvard University's Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, and can be accessed by using their VIA (Visual Information Access) Search Engine.
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| Manchurian plague victims, circa 1910 |
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| Doctors' quarters and dispensary, plague hospital, Peking |
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| Doctors' quarters, Peking plague hospital |
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| Entrance to plague hospital, Peking |
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| Isolation huts of suspects, Peking |
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| Bringing coffins to cremation grounds, Changchun |
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| Collecting place for coffins outside city gate, Changchun |
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| Encoffining body, Changchun |
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| Hauling coffins to cremation, Changchun |
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| Taotai He superintending the first cremation, Changchun |
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| Bodies and coffins, first 'clean-up', Changchun |
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| Coffins, preparatory to stacking for cremation, Changchun |
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| Cremation of seventy-one bodies, Changchun |
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| First cremation, Changchun. 1400+ bodies. Taotai He and staff |
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| First large cremation, Changchun. Eleven stacks, 1400+ bodies |
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| Plague hospital for women and staff, Changchun |
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| Scattering kerosene on stack of coffins, preparatory to cremation, Changchun |
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| Stacking coffins, Changchun |
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| Stacking coffins, Changchun |
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| Stacks of coffins, showing arrangements of fuel, Changchun |
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| Stacks of unburned coffins and pile of ashes covered with lime, Changchun |
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| Taotai He superintending second cremation, Changchun |
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| Coffins outside 'old style' hospital, Changchun |
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| Home for homeless, Changchun |
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| Cartload of bodies on way to cremation grounds, Harbin |
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| Removal of bodies to cremation pit, Harbin |
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| Moving bodies to cremation pit, Harbin |
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| Burial coolies, cremation grounds, Fuchiatien |
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| Cremation pit, Fuchiatien |
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| First large cremation, Fuchiatien. 1400+ bodies burned |
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| Male inmates, home for the homeless, Fuchiatien |
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| Results of first attempt at cremation, Fuchiatien |
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| Staff inspecting crematory, Fuchiatien |
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| Dr. Aspland in Bacteriological Laboratory, Fuchiatin |
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| Dr. Ku and assistant in front of 'old style' Chinese plague hospital, Fuchiatien |
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| Dr. P. S. Huang, Director Anti-Plague Bureau, Changchun |
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| Dr. Wu Lien Te, Chinese Director of Anti-Plague Bureau, Fuchiatien |
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| Dr. Young in Vaccine Laboratory, Changchun |
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| Drs. Strong and Teague performing autopsy |
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| Drs. Young and Chai in Vaccine Laboratory, Changchun |
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| Right to left - Taotai Weng, Taotai Huang, Prefect He, Dr. Young |
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| Dr. Aspland receiving reports, Fuchiatien |
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| Dr. Wu receiving reports at Headquarters, Fuchiatien |
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| Chinese staff disinfecting at close of working hours. 1:3000 mercury bichloride |
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| Daily inspection of contacts at quarantine, Fuchiatien |
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| Disinfecting plague infected quarantine car, Fuchiatien |
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| Disinfection room and part of Russian staff, Harbin |
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| Disinfection squad, Changchun (trained by Japanese) |
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| Disinfection squad, Fuchiatien |
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| Disinfection station for officers, Fuchiatien |
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| Examining a suspect |
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| Inspection of contacts, quarantine, Fuchiatien |
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| Inspection squad starting on rounds |
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| Plague case 'rounded up' on inspection tour, Fuchiatien |
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| Plague suspected discovered on inspection tour |
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| Receiving contacts at quarantine, Fuchiatien |
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| Receiving contacts at quarantine, Fuchiatien |
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| Removal of plague patient from quarantine, Fuchiatien |
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| South Manchurian Railway quarantine sheds |
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| Taking blood smear from ear of suspect, Fuchiatien |
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| Taking temperature, quarantine, Fuchiatien |
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| Transports (left to right) for [already] sick, for suspects, for contacts, for dead |
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| Plague hospital for women, Changchun |
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| Plague hospital, Mukden |
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| Burning material and contents of infected houses |
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| Burning plague infected house, Fuchiatien |
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| Burning the first plague hospital, Fuchiatien |
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| Plague infected house, Japanese Concession, Changchun |
(via ralph repo)
