Song Ci (1186–1249), “Father of World Legal Medicine”: History, Science, and Forensic Culture in Contemporary China
East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal
Song Ci (1186 - 1249), “Father of World Legal Medicine”: History, Science, and Forensic Culture in Contemporary China
Daniel Asen 0
Published by Duke University Press
0 D. Asen Department of History, Rutgers University- Newark , USA
Song Ci (1186 - 1249) was an official of the Southern Song Dynasty best known for authoring the Collected Writings on the Washing Away of Wrongs (Xiyuan jilu), a work often hailed as the world's first systematic treatise on forensic medicine. While biographical details about his life were known in local history writings during the late imperial period, Song had garnered relatively little attention among those who handled forensic examinations, despite the fact that his work had impacted Chinese forensic practices for centuries. In modern times, by contrast, Song has been praised by historians and forensic professionals and viewed as a founding figure of the modern forensic sciences in China and, in the boldest claims, across the globe. Song has also become the subject of historical novels, television shows, and other popular media. This article examines the ways in which the historical image and meanings of Song Ci have been negotiated in China over the Republican period (1912 - 49) and after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. It argues that a confluence of modern developments-new concepts of national and world history, the successful implementation of legal medicine in China, and the global popularity of forensicsthemed popular culture-has given new meaning and importance to this thirteenthcentury figure under the new conditions of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
forensic science; legal medicine; Song Ci; Xiyuan jilu popular science; Song Daren; forensic culture; historiography
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Acknowledgments I would like to thank the participants of the “Traditional Chinese Medicine and
Contemporary Society: Theory and Practice in the Global Age” conference, held at Rutgers University in New
Brunswick, 21 – 22 November 2013, for their helpful comments on this research. I would also like to thank
Wen-Hua Kuo as well as two anonymous EASTS reviewers for their insightful feedback and attention to the
manuscript.
For three days in the middle of December 1986, eighty experts and officials involved in
the Chinese forensic sciences convened in Jianyang County, Fujian, to commemorate
the eight hundredth anniversary of the birth of Song Ci 宋慈 (1186 – 1249; courtesy
name Huifu 惠父), an experienced judicial official of the Southern Song dynasty best
known for authoring the Collected Writings on the Washing Away of Wrongs (Xiyuan
jilu 洗冤集錄, 1247), a work often hailed as the world’s first systematic treatise on
forensic medicine.1 The proceedings were convened jointly by the Forensic Medicine
Association of China (FMAC; Zhongguo fayixue hui 中国法医学会), an organization
established in October 1985 to support the activities and scholarship of forensic
professionals in China,2 and the People’s Government of Jianyang County, the location of
Song’s grave. The activities included an academic conference dedicated to Song and
his text, the unveiling of a statue of Song, and a respectful visit to his grave. The
participants came from all across China and from the various state organs and medical
institutions that handled forensic investigation work and pursued research in this field.
Officials from China’s most powerful judicial organs, including the Supreme People’s
Procuratorate, Supreme People’s Court, and Ministry of Justice, as well as other
dignitaries submitted written speeches and calligraphic messages meant to celebrate
Song’s achievement and the continuing development of legal medicine in China.
The eight hundredth anniversary proceedings disseminated a particular narrative
about Song’s historical significance for the development of legal medicine in China
and the world. In an address given on the morning of the first day of the proceedings,
Guo Shanglong 郭上龙, head official of Jianyang, described Song’s contributions in
the following way:
Song Ci was born in the Tongyou area of Jianyang in 1186, and in 1247 he
authored the world’s first treatise on legal medicine, the Collected Writings on
the Washing Away of Wrongs, thereby opening up a new field within the history
of science and establishing with this unprecedented undertaking the foundations
for modern legal medicine. His book provides testimony for the unsurpassed
contributions that the Chinese nation (Zhonghua minzu 中华民族) has made to
world culture. (Jianyang wenshi ziliao 1987: 5 – 6)
A similar claim was made by Wang Hongjia 王宏甲, an acclaimed writer, social critic,
and native of Jianyang who served as one of the organizers of the eight hundredth
anniversary activities and also authored popularized treatments of Song’s life and
exploits. Wang began his own remarks with a strong statement about the global
significance of Song and his text, cla (...truncated)