Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T17:29:54.254Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Changing Nature of Ideology in the Life Sciences in Mainland China: Case-studies of Human Cloning and Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research (hESR) in Medical Textbooks (1996–2005)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2008

Margaret Sleeboom-Faulkner
Margaret Sleeboom-Faulkner
Affiliation:
ARTS C209, Department of Anthropology, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9SN, UK E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

In China ideology has played an important role in the research and teaching of the biological sciences since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). After the 1978 reforms, it was recognized that the discontinuation of political interference with the sciences was essential for their survival and development. However, not much later, when the fields of genetics and molecular biology became redefined as life sciences, internationally, bioethical regulation became an essential element of research regulation. The evolution of medical textbooks in the PRC reflects this. Using the cases of human cloning and human embryonic stem cell research, this article shows how science regulation incorporates cultural and political ideologies. These, on the one hand, form a continuation of modes of state propaganda and, on the other hand, embody newly formulated notions of Chinese society. This article provides a historical background of the role of ideology during the first decades of the PRC, after which it discusses the evolution of bioethical discussion of human cloning and human embryonic stem cell research in 17 medical textbooks over nine years (1996–2005). It concludes with a discussion on the changing role of ideology in bioethical policy-making for the life sciences.

Keywords

Chinahuman cloningideologylife sciencesmedical textbooksstem cell research
Type
Articles
Information
BioSocieties , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , March 2008 , pp. 21 - 36
Copyright
Copyright © London School of Economics and Political Science 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bonnicksen, A.L. (2002). Crafting a cloning policy: From Dolly to stem cells. Washington, DC:Georgetown UP.Google Scholar
Crow, J.F. (1988). Genetics in postwar China. In Bowers, J.Z., William Hess, J., & Sivin, N. (Eds),Science and medicine in twentieth-century China: Research and education,155–169. Ann Arbor: Centre for Chinese Studies, U Michigan.Google Scholar
Doering, O. (2003). Chinese researchers promote biomedical regulations: What are the motives of the biopolitical dawn in China and where are they heading? Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, 14,39–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franklin, S. (2004). What we know and what we don’t about cloning and society. In Glasner, P. (Ed.), Reconfiguring nature: Issues and debates in the new genetics, 247–258. Aldershot:Ashgate.Google Scholar
Holland, S., Lebacqz, K., & Zoloth, L. (2004). The human Embryonic Stem Cell debate. Cambridge, MA and London:MIT Press.Google Scholar
Joravsky, D. (1970). The Lysenko affair. Chicago:U Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Munro, D.J. (1971). The malleability of man in Chinese Marxism, China Quarterly, Oct./Dec. 609–640.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munro, D.J. (1977). The concept of man in contemporary China. Ann Arbor: Michigan UP.Google Scholar
Nie, J.B. (2005). Behind the silence: Chinese voices on abortion. Lanham, MD and Oxford:Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Schneider, L.A. (1989). Learning from Russia: Lysenkoism and the fate of genetics in China, 1950–1986. In Simon, D.F. and Goldman, S. (Eds), Science and technology in post-Mao China, 45–65. Cambridge, MA:Harvard UP.Google Scholar
Sleeboom, M. (2004). Genomics in Asia: Cultural values and bioethical practices. London:Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Sleeboom-Faulkner, M. (2007). The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS): Shaping the reforms, academia and China (1977–2003). Leiden and Boston:Brill Academic Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tan, Jiazhen & Zhao, Gongmin (Eds.) (2002). Zhonguo Yichuanxue Lishi (The history of genetics in China). Shanghai: Shanghai Keji Jiaoyu Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Zhang Guidi & Chun Tao (2006). Zhongguo nongmin shengsi baogao (A report on the life and death of Chinese peasants). Xinjiang Renmin Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Li Benfu , Li Zhuanjun & Cong Yali (1996). Yixue Lunlixue. Beijing: Beijing Yike Daxue Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Lu Qihua (main Ed.) (1999). Yiue Lunlixue. Huazhong Keji Daxue Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Yang Fang , Zhang Chen et al. (2000). Yiue Lunlixue. Shanghai:Di Er Jun Yi Daxue Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Zhang Xiuyun (2000). Yiue Lunlixue. Beijing: Guofang Keji Daxue Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Qiu Xiangxing (main Ed.) (2001). Yiue Lunlixue. Beijing: Renmin Weisheng Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Chen Yaxin , Wang Dajian , Feng Zhaoxiang & Lu Wei (2002). Dangdai Yiue Lunlixue. Beijing:Google Scholar
Du Jinxiang & Wang Xiaoyan (main eds) (2002). Yiue Lunlixue Jiaocheng. Beijing: Kexue Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Bu Ping (main Ed.) (2003). Yiue Lunlixue. Beijing:Gaodeng Jiaoyu Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Qiu Xiangxing (Main Ed.) (2003). Yiue Lunlixue. Beijing:Renmin Weisheng Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Li Runhua & Liu Yaoguang (Eds) (2003). Yiue Lunlixue. Changsha: Zhongnan Daxue Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Lu Qihua , Ruan Liping & Zou Congqing (main Eds) (1999). Yiue Lunlixue. Huazhong Keji Daxue Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Guo Zhaojiang (main Ed.) (2004). Yiue Lunlixue. Xian: Di Si Jun Yi Daxue Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Cao Kaibin , Qiu Shichang & Fan Minsheng (2004). Yixue lunlixue. Shanghai: Fudan Daxue Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Sun Muyi (main Ed.) (2004). Yiue Lunlixue. Beijing: Gaodeng Jiaoyu Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Li Yongsheng (2004). Yixue Lunlixue. Zengzhou: Zengzhou Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Che Longhao (2005). Yixue Lunlixue. Beijing: Gaodeng Jiaoyu Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Wu Suxiang (2005). Yixue Lunlixue. Guangzhou: Guangdong Chubanshe.Google Scholar