Paper short abstract:

Grounded in recent literature on gender and science as well as science diplomacy in the Cold War period, this paper aims to situate Lu Gwei-djen (1904-1991), the closest collaborator with Joseph Needham and later his wife, with the revival of Chinese medicine in the Cold War context.

Paper long abstract:

Grounded in recent scholarly attention on gender and science as well as science diplomacy in the Cold War period, this paper aims to situate Lu Gwei-djen (1904-1991), the closest collaborator in the Science and Civilisation in China (SCC) project with Joseph Needham and later his wife. Born in China and holding a PhD degree in biochemistry, Lu has been considered one among the early SCC collaborators whose contribution is hard to identity. Departing of an impression that portrays Lu merely an assistant to Needham's enterprise, this paper will situate Lu by clarifying her role as a biomedical graduate, a Chinese scientist who chose to stay overseas during the Civil War, and, last but not least, a female intellectual who had affinity to Chinese medicine. Based on primary sources in the Needham Research Institute (NRI) and materials related to Celestial Lancets (1980), the only book Lu authored with Needham, I argue that Lu’s interest in medicine should be considered together with a wider one in Post-war Europe of seeking the scientific foundation of non-biomedical alternatives. Although Lu seldom addressed herself in public, via the SCC project she was able to tackle Chinese medicine through the history of science in China and benefited from this peculiar approach. When China was about to open to the world, Lu played a more active role in facilitating Needham’s visits to Chinese communities, which were in a sense the continuation of their diplomatic work and to some extent helped the NRI and an expanding SCC project.