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While reading a bunch of stuff on the history of the use of masks in China yesterday, I discovered a few old pictures I had never seen before. They may be super familiar to people specializing in that field, but as I am not, I thought I'd share some of them here for pleasure :
Let's start with the Manchurian Plague (1910). Wu Lien-teh, Penang-born and Cambridge-educated doctor was sent to Manchuria by Chinese MOFA. Contrary to his Japanese rivals, he thought the virus could be transmitted in an airborne manner and so invented his own "anti-plague mask"
According to C. Lynteris (2018), it "resembled recently established surgical face-worn protective devices but involved more protective layers & a more complex tying process, designed 2 keep the mask in place while operating in the adverse conditions of winter-time Manchuria"
Sources for above picture: University of Hong Kong Libraries and Needham Research Institute, quoted in https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01459740.2017.1423072 ; The Paper: https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_6013286.
I particularly like this picture of the Mukden Plague Hospital, used on the cover of Christos Lynteris' book, "Ethnographic Plague" ( https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781137596840)
Wu Lien-teh presided the International Plague Conference of Mukden (1911), where he "presented international delegates with a photographic album titled Views of Harbin (Fuchiatien) Taken During the Plague Epidemic". Picture source https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/281985
A few years later (1929), as a meningitis outbreak hit Shanghai and spread in the country, masks started to be heavily figured in comic strips where workers r particularly associated with the disease. Here, coolies are encouraged to wear masks by Health Department.
"Miss! Bring me a mask, quickly! A worker with lung disease wants to speak to me [on the phone]!" (sources for the comic strips here : https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_6404548)
!["Miss! Bring me a mask, quickly! A worker with lung disease wants to speak to me [on the phone]!" (sources for the comic strips here : https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_6404548)](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EUfhjJuUUAAcBrI.png "\"Miss! Bring me a mask, quickly! A worker with lung disease wants to speak to me [on the phone]!\" (sources for the comic strips here : https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_6404548)")
Of course, it wouldnt be fun if there wasn't a bit of sexism as well. "Woman: Dear, why are you wearing a mask today? Is it to protect yourself from diseases?
Man: No, I'm afraid of you kissing me too often"
Man: No, I'm afraid of you kissing me too often"
Journals and magazines also featured articles explaining the proper way to wear a mask.
In 1937, w/ the war against Japan, the War Dept. of the Nationalist Governement issued a document explaining how to make one's own mask to protect against war chemicals. The document was sent in multiple provinces. https://k.sina.com.cn/article_2773976700_a557867c04000m9x1.html?from=news&subch=onews
In Yunnan, dozens of factories engaged in the production of masks. The 云南电气制铜厂 even invented an even more sophisticated mask for soldiers : about 1000 of them could be produced every day.
According to SixthTone, "Magazines such as the Red Cross Society of China Newsletter, Air Defense Monthly, and Student Magazine began publishing articles on how to improve face masks by dousing gauze in chemicals like urotropin, sodium carbonate, and ammonium thioate"
Sources (and photos) on the use of masks are more scarce as far as the Mao era is concerned. However, here are a few I found interesting even though they lack context.
Here, a famous 1957 picture by Marc Riboud of a young woman dancing social dances at a Ansan Steelworks. According to Chinese commentaries on the net, covering one's face could have been a way to avoid being easily recognized when engaging in such sensual practices.
Here is Liu Shaoqi coming for a visit of the Changjiang Bridge building site around 1953. According to commentaries ( http://wh.cnhubei.com/gygs/201404/t2887832.shtml), he came unexpected and wished to remain unrecognized during his visit, and therefore wore a mask the entire time.
And here is a picture of a cotton mask envelope apparently from the 1950s, made in Fujian, and described as "preventing from dust and germs". I particularly like the slogans on the left side : "continue production, support the liberation of Taiwan" ( https://image.baidu.com/search/redirect?tn=redirect&word=j&juid=F5C2DE&sign=ckwkziiwwk&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.997788.com%2F7949%2Fpr2_auction_40_1803733.html&objurl=https%3A%2F%2Ftimgsa.baidu.com%2Ftimg%3Fimage%26quality%3D80%26size%3Db9999_10000%26sec%3D1585654963404%26di%3D1eef179c032ad882442c63a757e83a07%26imgtype%3D0%26src%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fpic13.997788.com%252Fpic_auction%252F00%252F01%252F80%252F37%252Fau1803733.jpg)
While looking for masks info, I also unexpectendly ended up disovering the existence of the website "Masks Fans' Club" 口罩爱好者俱乐部. So apparently, "masks fans" are a thing!
Also, on a totally different note, here are women sanitary pads from the 1970s.
