Mongol Familiarisation with European Medical Practices in the Nineteenth–Twentieth Centuries

Batsaikhan Norov,Batchimeg Usukhbayar,Binderiya Batsaikhan

doi:10.1163/22105018-12340152

Abstract

Abstract It was primarily Russian activities in Mongolia between 1860 and 1921, reflecting its geopolitical interests, that introduced European medical practices to the Mongols. Competing alongside other European powers, the Russian Government capitalised on conditions within Mongolia to increase Mongolia’s dependency on Russia. Thus, the Russian government’s motives for medical intervention, like that of other European groups, were mainly political, economic and cultural. In the context of Buddhist dogmatism and the expansive territorial distances between the Mongols (a term this paper uses to encompass all people of Mongol ethnicity in northern and central Asia), the reluctance of Russian doctors to disseminate European medical knowledge prevented its spread into Mongolia. Medical intervention was primarily a method of colonisation justified through healthcare support. Ultimately the familiarisation of European medicine in Mongolia was the first crucial step towards the amalgamation of traditional Mongolian and European medical practices after the Mongolian People’s Revolution.

Highlights

The Russian government’s attempts to increase influence in Inner Asia between 1860 and 1921 were the most successful, in comparison with other European groups, in familiarising Mongols with European medicine
Though Mongolia’s connections to Russia in the north facilitated the use of European medicine in those regions, the greater dominance of the Qing inhibited its dissemination as an indirect consequence of their endeavour to undermine Russian imperial efforts
It is important to recognise the indirect role of the Qing in increasing medical support from some European missionaries, who had to pass through Mongolia to reach the Qing capital—though this was not that frequent, since Western Europeans mainly travelled by sea to China

Summary

Introduction

The Russian government’s attempts to increase influence in Inner Asia between 1860 and 1921 were the most successful, in comparison with other European groups, in familiarising Mongols with European medicine. The scientific methodological basis of European medicine made it more efficient in situations of urgent care, surgical practices and infectious diseases, and more attractive over time, in comparison to the more holistic traditional Mongolian medicine Due to their geographical proximity to Mongolia as well as their political interests in Inner Asia, Russian authorities used medical support as a tool in increasing rapport between the two nations and extending their political influence. Mongolian trust in the Russian advocacy of European medicine was strong enough to cause the Mongolians actively and enthusiastically to seek their services, increasing European medical influence in their healthcare This was noted in Dr V.P. Ovsyannikov’s records in 1906 as previously mentioned, since an overwhelming majority of the patients at the Russian consulate in Urga were Mongolians (Maslova 2009: 139). This initiated the subordinate period of traditional Mongolian medicine, which fell under the shadow of European practices until the 1990s

Jambalchoijidanzanperenlei 2007

Findings

Conclusion