David Duncan Main
Dr David Duncan Main (1856-1934) was a British doctor, best known for his medical missionary work in Hangzhou, the capital of the south-eastern Chinese Province Zhejiang, during the late 1800s and early 1900s.
He was also involved in the formation of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in Hangzhou, which focused on preaching the Gospel to non-Christians.
[4] Main and his wife, Florence Nightingale Smith, opened over thirty medical buildings during their time in China, as well as a centre for industrial work training.
[4] While still in business in Glasgow, he began to associate himself with Pastor Findlay's work at the St. George's Tent Mission in early 1874.
[7] After attending one of Moody's speeches, Main was inspired to join the evangelistic revival movement, which in turn put him in touch with many medical missionaries.
It is through Dr. Morrison that Main was inspired to enter medical missionary work, having realised his potential to help those suffering from disease, hopelessness, and fear of death.
During his medical service training (1877—1881) Main and his fellow students worked in the slums of Edinburgh and held open air meetings to give sermons.
[4] It is during this time that Main and his friend Dr. Arthur Neve formed the Church Missionary Society (CMS) Medical Auxiliary, to interest their fellow students in foreign service missions.
Main and his wife sailed for China in September 1881, where they stayed for 46 years, returning home briefly in 1890, 1899, and 1910 for holidays.
Upon their arrival, Hangzhou was in a poverty and disease stricken state due to the aftermath of the Taiping Rebellion of 1861, which left the streets full of debris.
Upon Main's arrival, he was appointed as the superintendent of Hangzhou's Church Missionary Medical Mission and thus took charge of the hospital.
[8] The Hospital of Universal Benevolence, also known as Kwang-Chi (or Guangji in Pinyin),[9] was founded after increasing numbers of patients lined up at the dispensary each morning, and more in-patient space was needed.
To fund this expansion operation, Main saw private patients, who paid him small fees for his service.
Dr. and Mrs. Kember, a European doctor and his wife, oversaw all of the operations and provided help, especially during the Mains' holidays.
As the private practice grew, more fees poured into the hospital, which helped fund the working expenses of the institution.
[4] The college was renovated after the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) came together in Hangzhou in 1916, in which large meetings were held to teach about hygienic rules of life and conduct.
At the stone laying event, a casket was buried beneath the foundation containing a Bible, reports of the five years work of the YMCA, rules of the YMCA, badges, lists of subscribers and their subscriptions, a map of Hangzhou, a photograph of the building plan, calendars, and copies of the paper inviting people to the stone laying event.
The building also contained a library and was equipped with new apparatus, including two X-Ray machines, a UV light lamp, two high frequency systems for violet ray treatment, a pantostat, a carbonic acid snow generator, massage apparatus, a localizer for foreign objects in the body, fluoroscopic screens, and minor devices for galvanism, faradism, and ionization.
Main was elected Principal Emeritus of the college prior to his departure and continued to stimulate interest in the work during his retirement in Edinburgh.
Main had been on furlough in Europe during this time, however many lives were spared due to the friendly connections he had made with Chinese officials, and thus he was met with a parade upon his return to China.
[4] Main found many of China's problems to be rooted in conservatism, misconception of western civilization, and Soviet Russia.
"[4] The progression of health care in China was greatly hindered by the disruption caused by the civil unrest that ensued in 1911.
Native helpers had trouble controlling patients of higher social positions, despite having more general knowledge of nursing, cleanliness, and health.
Main attempted to dissuade this movement, however many Hangzhou students were filled with aiguo (Chinese nationalism) fervor and left.
[4] In conjunction with the Zejiang government officials, Main built the Lecture Hall, where famous people were invited to give talks about local affairs, education, finance, road building, mining, better living, and abolition of superstition.
Thus, a large influx of patients came into the opium refuge wards, and Main and his staff recognized that a reform was finally setting in.
At the end of autumn in this year, there was a civic function held on Hangzhou's peak, in which all opium pipes and paraphernalia were burned.
They survived and returned to Hangzhou to rest following this traumatic event and then began working to rebuild buildings affected by the earthquake.
In the beginning of 1926, the doctor and his wife prepared delegation of roles in order to ensure proper organization after their permanent departure.
The day that they left, a huge procession of students, patients, doctors, gentry, officials, friends, and admirers followed them to the train station as a showing of gratitude.
