In the years before 1600, China was a large and influential nation in the East Asian mainland that was one of the first places where people started to contract a disease that caused “pox” all over their bodies. This was not called smallpox at the time but it is what we call smallpox today. Ancient Chinese medical journals recorded a disease that caused mass trauma and gross mortality all over the nation. The Chinese people believed that they contracted this infectious disease from infected Hun people around the time that they battled them in 250 B.C. China’s size and dense population contributed to the infection’s ability to spread easily all over the nation and cause many deaths. Ko Hung, an alchemist-pathologist in China during this period recorded his findings related to smallpox in his medical journal titled, “Chou-hou pei-tsi fang” or “Prescriptions for Emergencies”. He stated that, “Recently there have been persons suffering from epidemic scores which attack the head, face and trunk. In a short time these sores spread all over the body…If not treated early the patients usually die…The people say that it was introduced in the reign of Chien Wu when that king was fighting with the Huns at Nang Yang. The name of “Hun pox” has been given to it” (Chien Wu 104). Smallpox always started with pustules on the body, which became much worse over time and filled with pus, eventually taking over the whole body and causing severe scarring, it the person survived the disease. The Chinese population lost many people, especially children from this infection. They were unsure why it was attacking them and how to put an end to it.
The Chinese people believed that there was a possibility that the gods were angry with them, and that was why they sent the pox to them. Because of this, the goddess T’ou-Shen Niang-Niang became more of a primary goddess for the Chinese to worship. She was known to bring the pox and especially liked to bring them upon beautiful children. Red cloth or paper was hung by the beds of the ill and empty gourds were put near their beds so that she could “dump” the smallpox in them. Her image was hung in houses to allow worship at any time and also many Chinese temples were built to honor her. Even though the Chinese had already suffered from this epidemic, it was reintroduced, “this time from the south, and regarded as a new disease” (Hopkins 103). This second introduction of smallpox into China was also transmitted from an infected army to the Chinese army. This time the Chinese called the disease “captive’s pox” or “barbarian pox” because the Chinese army noticed that their prisoners were infected with these pox. Since China was one of the first countries to contract smallpox and traded extensively with the other countries in their region, the infection was able to easily spread and continue to kill throughout the region even after it became endemic in China.
The Chinese people believed that there was a possibility that the gods were angry with them, and that was why they sent the pox to them. Because of this, the goddess T’ou-Shen Niang-Niang became more of a primary goddess for the Chinese to worship. She was known to bring the pox and especially liked to bring them upon beautiful children. Red cloth or paper was hung by the beds of the ill and empty gourds were put near their beds so that she could “dump” the smallpox in them. Her image was hung in houses to allow worship at any time and also many Chinese temples were built to honor her. Even though the Chinese had already suffered from this epidemic, it was reintroduced, “this time from the south, and regarded as a new disease” (Hopkins 103). This second introduction of smallpox into China was also transmitted from an infected army to the Chinese army. This time the Chinese called the disease “captive’s pox” or “barbarian pox” because the Chinese army noticed that their prisoners were infected with these pox. Since China was one of the first countries to contract smallpox and traded extensively with the other countries in their region, the infection was able to easily spread and continue to kill throughout the region even after it became endemic in China.