CHINESE MEDICINE" IN KWONG WAI SHIU HOSPITAL

Abstract

This thesis is an examination of the category "Chinese medicine". What "Chinese medicine" is, is itself a problem. Entry into this problem is possible via academic definitions, and alternatively, via people's everyday life categories. In Singapore, "Chinese medicine" is a term whose meanings have been affected by its colonial history and the subsequent development of Singapore into a "modern" nation, based on a multiracial CMIO model. Yet "Chinese medicine" in Singapore is located in many spaces: one example is Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital (KWSH), which is also still referred to as a "Cantonese" hospital. Hence, this study about "Chinese medicine" is located in KWSH. Given that KWSH is not a clear, demarcated space, "Chinese medicine" in KWSH is understood with reference to the larger socio-political context constituted by Singapore.