Plague in China Flashcards
1
Q
Dates
A
Began in Yunan province in 1855
Hong Kong in 1894
2
Q
Why is it thought to have started?
A
- mongol warriors and marmot rations
- Chinese fur trade
3
Q
How did it spread so widely?
A
Hong Kong is a global trade hub. Spread to various cities like Glasgow, San Francisco, Mecca, Madagascar, Manchuria
4
Q
Who did it affect?
A
- poor: endemics were exclusive to slums
- in port towns it exclusively affected coolies
- industrialised countries were relatively immune
5
Q
Disaster of India (4)
A
- 1871-1921 (but deaths continued into 1940s)
- 20 million died (95% mortality)
- coincided with famine after the 1897-1899 monsoons failed
- affected poor mainly
6
Q
How did the Indian disaster play to racist diagnoses?
A
- it was always Indian people that died, innate inequality of races
- legitimised segregation
- slums were ‘where they belonged’
7
Q
Why were Indian slums perfect conditions for Y Pestis to spread?
A
- close contact
- lots of rats
8
Q
British Epidemic Diseases Act
A
1897
- gave gov power to segregate, inspect houses, detain
- imposition of western medicine (vaccinations actually caused many deaths due to infection and outbreaks of other diseases)
9
Q
What was the reaction to the British Epidemic Diseases Act?
A
hide dead, riot, assassination of chairman of Plague Committee (1897)
