Flohr C
Balliol College, Oxford, UK.
Ann Sci. 1996 Jul;53(4):361-80. doi: 10.1080/00033799608560822.
At the end of 1910, when the Qing dynasty was on the verge of collapse and the whole Chinese empire in a process of transformation, North Manchuria was devastated by a large pneumonic plague epidemic. The Russian and Japanese governments wanted to use the outbreak of the disease as a pretext to invade north-east China, making plague an issue of international politics. At this dramatic moment the empire relied on the skills of the young Chinese doctor Wu Lien-teh, the first Chinese medical graduate from Cambridge. Wu investigated the disease on the spot, chaired an international plague conference in Shenyang (Manchuria) in April 1911, and, later on, became the figurehead of fundamental public health reforms in Republican China. Highly ambitious, striving for personal fame and international renown for China, supported by an excellent network of personal connections, and equipped with a medical training considered the best in the world at the time, he launched on a startling career as one of China's key medical reformers and international representatives. His history is an example of the inseparable links between personal fate and historical events, and between the interests of scientists, medical men, politicians, and businessmen on the national and international stages.
1910年末，清朝濒临覆灭，整个中华帝国处于变革进程中，东北满洲里遭受了一场大规模肺鼠疫疫情的重创。俄罗斯和日本政府企图以疫情爆发为借口入侵中国东北，使鼠疫成为一个国际政治问题。在这一关键时刻，帝国仰仗年轻的中国医生伍连德的医术，他是首位毕业于剑桥大学的中国医学博士。伍连德实地调查疫情，于1911年4月在沈阳（满洲里）主持召开了一次国际鼠疫会议，后来成为中华民国基本公共卫生改革的名义领袖。他雄心勃勃，为中国追求个人声誉和国际名望，凭借出色的人脉网络，加之接受过当时被认为是世界上最好的医学培训，他开启了一段惊人的职业生涯，成为中国关键的医学改革者和国际代表之一。他的经历体现了个人命运与历史事件之间，以及科学家、医学人士、政治家和商人在国内和国际舞台上的利益之间密不可分的联系。
