現代臺灣漢醫的開端：日治初期鼠疫防治與臺人醫院

The Inception of Modern Taiwanese Han Medicine: Plague Control and Taiwanese Hospitals in the Early Japanese Colonial Era

日治初期，日人將辮髮與纏足視為臺灣社會不文明的陋習，漢醫黃玉階首先倡議放足斷髮。何以一名傳統醫者追求改革而非持守傳統？從黃玉階的案例出發，本文試圖回答以下問題：被認為是傳統醫療的臺灣漢醫如何走入現代？本文發現，日本殖民政府的鼠疫治理過程帶動臺灣漢醫的現代化。疫情初始，染疫日人多於臺人，殖民政府認為有許多臺人的隱藏案例，為減少隱匿並安撫民眾，殖民政府同意成立有漢西醫共同駐診的醫療空間—「臺灣人黑死病治療所」。此空間開展了臺灣漢醫的現代化進程，漢醫不僅能在此發揮所長，更進一步成立研究會，研討漢醫學並同時學習現代醫學知識。1901 年考試領證後的漢醫師正式加入現代衛生體系，漢醫的執業行為雖受規範但也成為公醫疫苗接種的助力。藉由本文，除了描繪過去不曾看見的「現代臺灣漢醫」樣貌，也重新思考現代醫療如何可能與看似水火不容的傳統醫療共存。

In the early Japanese colonial era (1895-1945), the Japanese regarded the customs of queue and foot-binding in Taiwan as uncivilized. In response to this perception, Huang Yujie, a doctor of Han medicine, departed from traditional medical practice to advocate that women release their feet from binding and men cut their braids. Why did a traditional healer pursue reform instead of clinging to tradition? By examining this conventional practitioner’s career, this article seeks to answer the question: How did Taiwanese traditional medicine modernize? This article finds that the colonial government’s plague control policies facilitated the modernization of Taiwan’s Han medicine. At the onset of the epidemic, there were more Japanese than Taiwanese patients, so the colonial government believed there were many hidden Taiwanese plague cases. To expose these cases, the government set up an official medical space— the Taiwanese Plague Clinic—and encouraged Taiwanese people to seek treatment. In this space, Han medical practitioners could battle the plague and exchange both Han and Western medical knowledge. Beginning in 1901, Han medicine physicians were allowed to take an examination and receive certificates as legitimate members of the modern healthcare system. Although their practice became regulated, their legitimacy was enhanced by facilitating public doctors in vaccination work. This article delineates the formerly unseen “modern Taiwanese Han medicine” and how modern and traditional medical practices—far from being mutually exclusive— were more compatible than previously understood.