Miasma Theory - Miasma in China

Miasma in China

In China, miasma (Chinese: 瘴氣; pinyin: Zhàngqì; alternate names 瘴毒, 瘴疠) is an old concept of illness, used extensively by ancient Chinese local chronicles and works of literature. Miasma has different names in Chinese culture. Most of the explanations of miasma refer to it as a kind of sickness, or poison gas.

The ancient Chinese thought that miasma was related to the environment of parts of Southern China. The miasma was thought to be caused by the heat, moisture and the dead air in the Southern Chinese mountains. They thought that insects’ waste polluted the air, the fog, water, and the virgin forest harboring a great environment for miasma to occur.

In the descriptions of ancient travelers, soldiers, or local officials (most of them are men of letters) of the phenomenon of miasma, fog, haze, dust, gas, or poison geological gassing were always mentioned. The miasma caused a lot of diseases such as the cold, influenza, heat strokes, malaria, or dysentery. In the medical history of China, malaria had been referred to by different names in different dynasty periods. Poisoning, psittacosis, and acclimatized were also called miasma in ancient China because they did not accurately understand the cause of the disease.

In Sui dynasty, doctor Tsao Yuan-fung mentioned miasma in his book On Pathogen and Syndromes (諸病源候論). He thought that miasma in Southern China is similar with typhoid fever in Northern China. However, in his opinion, miasma is different from malaria and dysentery. In his book, he discussed dysentery in another chapter, and malaria in a single chapter. And he also found that miasma caused different diseases, so he suggested that one should find apt and specific ways to resolve problems.

The knowing of the concept of miasma can be separated into several steps. First, before Western Jin Dynasty, the concept of miasma was gradually forming; at least, in Eastern Han Dynasty, there was no character of miasma. In Eastern Jin, large amounts of northern people moved toward south, miasma was recognized then in the group of men of letters or nobility. After Sui and Tang Dynasty, scholars-bureaucrats traveled and were sent to be the local officials recorded and investigated the miasma. As a result, the government became concerned about the severe cases and the causes of miasma by sending doctors to the area of epidemic to research the disease and heal the patients. In Ming and Qing Dynasty, the edition of the local chronicles record the different miasma in different places.

The northern boundary of the distribution of miasma were at first Qinling Mountains and Huaihe River in Han Dynasty, then, Daba Mountains and Yangtze River in Sui and Tang Dynasty, and Nanling Mountains in Ming and Qing Dynasty. Nowadays, in 20th century, miasma occurs only in inland mountains in China.

However, Southern China was highly developed in Ming, Qing Dynasty. The environment changed rapidly, and after 19th century, western science and medical knowledge were introduced into China, and people knew how to distinguish and deal with the disease. The concept of miasma therefore fading out of throughout history from the progression of the medicine in China.