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The Epidemic of Pneumonic Plague in Manchuria 1910-1911 Author(S): Mark Gamsa Source: Past & Present, No

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The Epidemic of Pneumonic Plague in Manchuria 1910-1911 Author(S): Mark Gamsa Source: Past & Present, No The Past and Present Society The Epidemic of Pneumonic Plague in Manchuria 1910-1911 Author(s): Mark Gamsa Source: Past & Present, No. 190 (Feb., 2006), pp. 147-183 Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of The Past and Present Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3600890 . Accessed: 16/03/2014 17:11 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Oxford University Press and The Past and Present Society are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Past &Present. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 129.133.6.95 on Sun, 16 Mar 2014 17:11:44 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE EPIDEMIC OF PNEUMONIC PLAGUE IN MANCHURIA 1910-1911 Of the threeforms of plague knownto affectman, the most common bubonic variety(taking its name fromthe swollen 'buboes' thatdevelop on the patient'sbody) is carriedby fleas fromrodents to humans,but does not otherwise pass from person to person;before these facts were established by bacteriological scienceand beforethe emergence of antibiotics, this plague, most famouslyassociated with the fourteenth-centuryBlack Death, provedlethal for about 60 percent of its victims. Swift to spread throughan infectedorganism, and potentiallyfatal even with modem medical intervention,septicaemic plague (in which bacteriapenetrate the blood system)would countas the most dangerousform were it to constitutean epidemicin itself,rather than a complicationliable to accompanythe bubonic or the pneumonickind. That last,an extremetype of lung infection, highlycontagious and stillimpossible to cure unlessidentified withinthe first twenty-four hours, is therarest as wellas thedead- liestform of a plagueepidemic. The Manchurianoutbreak in the autumnof 1910 was theworst such epidemic in recordedhistory. The firstmanifestation ofthe plague was in Chineseterritory in thevicinity of Manzhouli (now Inner Mongolia; then Heilongjiang province),a stationof the ChineseEastern Railway bordering on the RussianTransbaikal District. Begun in 1898 and fully operatingsince 1903, the CER was laid out by Russia as the last leg of the Trans-Siberian.Trains bound fromChita to Vladivostokentered China in Manzhouliand leftit in Suifenhe (now Heilongjiangprovince); at a spot roughlytwo-thirds of theroute due east,on the siteof a smallvillage in theterritory of the thenJilin province, the cityof Harbin was foundedin 1898 as headquartersof the CER and was governedby a Russian administrationuntil after the October Revolution. The firstpart of thisarticle describes the course and after- mathof the epidemic. The second suggestsan interpretationof theevents that differs from previous studies, which have mostly been interestedin theplague as a catalystfor the introduction of Westernmedicine into China. The thirdthen examines the Pastand Present, no. 190 (Feb. 2006) C The Past and PresentSociety, Oxford, 2006 doi:10.1093/pastj/gtj001 This content downloaded from 129.133.6.95 on Sun, 16 Mar 2014 17:11:44 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 148 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 190 earlierscholarship on the plague in Englishand the current literaturein Russianand Chinese.Finally, the last part analyses contemporaryresearch on epidemicsin late colonialAsia from a historiographicalperspective; after considering the merits and disadvantagesof the relativistapproach now prevailingin the field,it arguesfor a humanistalternative. I PLAGUE Fromplague-infested Manzhouli, the sick escaped south with all thespeed that railway travel could provide. Deaths soon began to occurin Fujiadian,the Chinese town which owed itsdispropor- tionategrowth to the promisethat employment in the foreign- dominatedcity held forthousands of migrantworkers from the villagesof North China. It was,however, the discovery of a first plague case on a Harbinstreet, on 27 October,that stung the Russianauthorities into action.An improvisedplague hospital was made readyin recordtime, and an observationpoint for plaguesuspects was establishedin theso-called Moscow barracks outsideHarbin. Fujiadian was the seat of Binjiangprefecture; underthe jurisdiction of the Jilin governor, and ultimatelysubor- dinateto theviceroy (governor-general) ofManchuria, it did not belongto the CER zone, the Russianconcession that by 1911 measured257 squaremiles in all,on bothsides of the railway line fromManzhouli to Suifenheand southwardsfrom Harbin to Changchun.The Russiandemand to take up the anti-plague workthere was turneddown by Fujiadian's influential Chamber of Commerce(established 1907), as were,up to late December 1910, subsequentRussian proposals (conveyedthrough the mediationof the circuitintendant of North-WestJilin) to allow Russiandoctors to inspectthe plague situation in Fujiadian,or failingthis to guaranteethat the Chinese town would embark on itsown upon the course of Western preventive measures. Situated just beyond the railway,within walking distance fromcentral Harbin, Fujiadian was also known as Daowai ('outsidethe track'),which is stillthe name of thispart of the Harbinmetropolis today. Its strictly Chinese inhabitants consisted ofa nucleusof merchants and entrepreneursand an exclusively malemajority of seasonal labourers, who used it as theirbase for This content downloaded from 129.133.6.95 on Sun, 16 Mar 2014 17:11:44 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions S --- Provincialborders Russia . RussiaU SSH- Railways AmurHarbnAmRRver Harbin " 1 Provincialcapital anz ouli o OOkm Fujiadia NewTowni r Qiqihar , - -BordersoftheCER concessio A Russia Hulan* ' o Horb uungari River f \ a uifenhe Hn ' N Hrbin"/ Mongolia Russia Kuabchengzi Mukdt (Shenyang)n Mukd-_n(Shenyang) MANCHURIA AND HARBIN IN 1910 This content downloaded from 129.133.6.95 on Sun, 16 Mar 2014 17:11:44 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 150 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 190 dailycommuting to the city.Harbin itself had a largeChinese population,chiefly in the commercialquarter of townlocated directlyto the west of Fujiadian and flankedby the Sungari (Songhua)river on thenorth. It was calledPristan' ('the wharf') by the Russians,and Daoli ('withinthe track') by the Chinese. The sanitaryconditions in whichmost of the Chineselived in Daoli fellfar below the living standards of RussianHarbin, but dirt,poverty and malnutritionwere even worse in Fujiadian. Fromearly on it becameclear that for those who had already contractedthe disease no cure was available:mortality in the previouslyunfamiliar pneumonic plague proved to be one hundredper cent.Everyone known or suspectedto have been in contactwith a sick personwas to be takeninto a five-day quarantine,long enough for the plague symptomsto be revealed,for death usuallycame on the second or thirdday followingthe infection.With the exponentialgrowth of the populationto whomsuch treatmenthad to be applied,rows of railwaywagons were pulled togetherand thousandsof plague suspects and 'contacts', almost withoutexception Chinese, werelocked in. Thus, in houseswhere a patientor a corpsehad been discovered,all inhabitantsthat could be detainedby the Russianpolice were taken in, and theirapartments sealed.1 The Russian demand for an active role in the campaign against the plague in Fujiadian had only been met to the extentthat a single Russian doctorwas permittedto begin workin the Fujiadian hospitaland serveas an adviserto his Chinese colleagues,as well as provideliaison with the Harbin administration.2The doctorwas RogerBudberg-Boenninghausen 1 An insider'sperspective on theformation of a strategyto confrontthe epidemic is providedby the diaryof Roman A. von Arnold (1871-1930), the Harbin Chiefof Police from1907 to 1917 and memberof the town's Chief Sanitary Committee. Von Arnoldconceded that expediency, rather than quality, was thehallmark of the plague hospital,which together with the attachedrailway wagons could accommodateup to fivethousand persons. 'A plague hospitalis a three-or four-daytransportation point to a betterworld. Why then bother with comfort? ... The main thingto keep in mind is thatthe sick and the suspectsconsist exclusively of the Chinese poor, forwhom even the most modest barracks and wagons are luxuryin comparison to their usual lodgings'. Diary of 1910-11 (unpaginated;my translation from the Russian), AntoninaR. von ArnoldPapers, Hoover InstitutionArchives, Stanford. 2The Harbin Yuandongbao reportedon 20 November 1910 that Doctor Bu (Bu daifu) had made his firstinspection tour of Fujiadian on the previous day, accompanied by head of the CER departmentof Chinese affairs,Evgenii Daniel. (cont.on p. 151) This content downloaded from 129.133.6.95 on Sun, 16 Mar 2014 17:11:44 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions PNEUMONIC PLAGUE IN MANCHURIA 151 (1867-1926), a BalticGerman baron and self-taughtSinologist, the onlyRussian national in Harbinto marrya Chinesewoman and to immersehimself in Chinesesociety. His long-forgotten memoirof Harbin's plague years, Bilder aus derZeit der Lungenpest- Epidemienin derMandschurei, 1910/11 und 1921, undoubtedly the most importantbook to emergefrom the Russian-Chinese encounterin Manchuria,is introducedin
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