Unexpected healers: Chinese medicine in the age of global migration (Lima and California, 1850-1930)

Abstract The massive waves of Chinese migrants arriving in California and Lima in the second half of the nineteenth century played a crucial role in expanding Chinese medicine in both settings. From the late 1860s on, herbalists expanded their healing system beyond their ethnic community, transforming Chinese medicine into one of the healing practices most widely adopted by the local population. This article uses a comparative approach to examine the diverging trajectories of Chinese healers in Peru and the USA, as well as the social and political factors that determined how this foreign medical knowledge adapted to its new environments.摘要：19世纪下半叶抵达加利福尼亚与利马的大规模华人移民，为两地中医（Chinese medicine）的发展起到了至关重要的推动作用。自19世纪60年代末起，中医师将其诊疗体系拓展至本族群社区之外，使中医成为当地民众最广泛采纳的疗愈手段之一。本文采用比较研究方法，考察秘鲁与美国中医师的分化发展轨迹，以及决定这一外来医学知识如何适配其所处新环境的社会与政治因素。