1894년 홍콩 페스트의 유행과 동화의원의 공간변화

Abstract

East Asian countries have experienced tremendous changes in hospital space based on disease and medical conceptions in the introduction of Western medicine. In particular, from the 1880s to the early 1900s, the Western medical system experienced rapid change that proceeded from miasma theory to germ theory and experimental medicine. Hospital space responded sensitively to these changes. The new government hospital in the Saiyingpun area in 1878 was able to hold at least 100 beds with a three-story building. Although the new building was not intended to respond to bacteriological developments in Europe, it was optimized for infectious disease management and research, including ventilation and daylighting, the size of the room, and various spatial configurations. On the other hand, when comparing the floor plan of 1872 soon after the opening of the hospital and the floor plan of 1903 after reconstruction, Tungwah hospital, a traditional Chinese medical hospital for Chinese, did not show any difference in space composition or arrangement of the hospital despite 30 years of difference in time. From the establishment of Tungwah hospital to the renovation, there was a great deal of controversy and confrontation both inside and outside the colonial government. However, there was no influence of Western medicine on the floor plan such as operating room, vaccination room, or infectious disease room. Two reasons might explain why it is difficult to find the influence of germ theory and experimental medicine on spatial composition of Tungwah hospital. One might be related to hygiene conception of hygienic bureaucrats who led the 1894 Hong Kong anti-plague administration. They repeatedly insisted that Tungwah hospital should be closed based on the miasma theory. They did not show interest in how to reorganize hospital space from bacteriological standpoint. The other reason might be that the introduction of Western medicine to Tungwah hospital was not all-round but an eclectic one. On the floor plan, it is difficult to find characteristics of Western hospitals. Tungwah hospital originally had no operating room, laboratory, inoculation room, or infectious disease room. These are important in modern Western hospitals. Although there was no epidemic ward in Tungwah hospital, Receiving Ward, the preliminary quarantine ward, was operated to pay attention to infectious disease management. Preliminary quarantine ward means reserve quarantine. It is a system in which the resident surgeon classifies patients according to diseases through the first diagnosis and confirms the diseases through the second diagnosis by the inspecting medical officer. Although the preliminary quarantine ward system could not fundamentally recover laboratory or testing equipment needed for infectious disease management, it tried to reduce the likelihood of misdiagnosis due to two rounds of diagnosis. It is highly appreciated that it has maintained the epidemic management in Hong Kong. The introduction of western-style surgeries has led to widespread western medical management and western medicine. Furthermore, in the process of spatialization of modern medicine if we look at the aspect of resisting and cracking modern medicine from the viewpoint of hygienic hybridity, Tungwah hospital will become a case of realizing spatialization of modern medicine from this point of view.