Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.7, 2013

 

Grievance Redressing and Bone Inspection in the Judicial Inspection System of the Qing Dynasty

(Abstract)

 

Mao Wei

 

In order to improve its inspection system, the Qing government promulgated an official bone inspection diagram on the basis of specialized bone inspection methods adopted in traditional grievance redressing inspections. The diagram not only continued the misconceptions that had persisted since the publication of The Record of Washed Grievances, but also included some misunderstandings of later generations. However, largely motivated from within the inspection system, the Qing people undertook some research and explorations in this regard and redressed the mistakes of their predecessors, which gave birth to a skeletal diagram in the modern sense. The explorations represented the Qing people’s own efforts, and had little to do with either traditional Chinese medicine or Western learning introduced to China. This is not only significant in the inspection history and anatomy history, but also highlights the necessity of broadening the historical view of the knowledge-producing Chinese and Western propositions on modernity.