The Canton Hospital () or Ophthalmic Hospital in Canton, also known as the Canton Pok Tsai Hospital, was founded by Protestant medical missionary Peter Parker in Canton, China on November 4, 1835. Known as Sun Yet Sen Memorial Hospital and Second Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yet Sen University, it treated thousands of patients in need, became the center for the Medical Missionary Society in China, and still exists today as one of the most prestigious ophthalmic institutes in the world.
Background Information
Canton
Canton, now Guangzhou, was the center of foreign and international trade in China during the period of the late Qing dynasty. Canton was the only city in China where foreigners were allowed to set foot, thereby making it the only place where European and Chinese merchants could trade. Its location next to the Pearl River also made it ideal for international trade, as all ships used for trade were forced to travel along this river in order to arrive at the Port of Canton. Additionally, it was a major stop along the Silk Road, and is still a major port and city for transportation today. Canton was also surrounded by a major wall, which isolated it from the rest of the general population. Overall, because Canton was the only city in China that was open to foreign trade, medical mission work was made possible here and spread more easily.
Dr. Peter Parker
Peter Parker was an American Protestant medical missionary. Before travelling to China, he attended Yale University for postgraduate work in theology and medicine. However, his main goal in travelling to China was not to practice medicine; instead, it was to save the Chinese from idol-worshipping and introduce them to Protestantism and Christianity. He first began work in the hospital by treating diseases in the eye because he was told it would be the fastest way to gain the trust of the Chinese. Because many of the natives regarded all foreigners as barbarians, it was important for Parker to gain the natives' trust in order to perform medicine on them and introduce them to Christianity.
Eventually, Parker found so much joy in treating patients that he ultimately committed himself to becoming a full-time doctor, instead of a part-time evangelist and part-time doctor like he had originally planned. During his twenty years of work in China, Parker treated over 50,000 patients. In the later years of his life, he became a fervent promoter of medical missions and played an instrumental role in increasing their importance and popularity.
History of the Hospital
On November 4, 1835, Peter Parker opened the Canton Hospital, which was the first Western-style hospital in China. Parker, the first full-time Protestant medical missionary, opened the hospital in connection with the mission of the American Board after Dr. Thomas Richardson Colledge, a Christian surgeon of the East India Company, convinced existing Protestant mission societies of the need for a hospital in China. Colledge strongly believed that Christians were required to help the sick in China, and as a result, pushed Parker, his mentee, to open a hospital in Canton.
Under the support of the American Board and Canton businessmen, the hospital was the first and most famous charitable missionary hospital in South China at the time. When Parker opened the hospital, it was first only intended for the treatment of eye illnesses and was opened as an “Eye Infirmary.” This helped Parker gain trust with the Chinese, but it was also practical because of patients' needs at the time. In many areas, Chinese medicine was not extremely far behind western medicine, but because they were not as advanced in eye medicine, there was a high prevalence of eye diseases during this time. Throughout the first three months of the hospital being open, 1061 patients were treated, and 96.1% of those had ocular illnesses. The hospital quickly proved to be very successful, and after the first year, 2,910 patients were treated. Soon after the hospital opened, Parker was asked to treat ear illnesses in addition to eye illnesses. This led to him finding a number of patients with tumors, and he was forced to perform surgery on these patients, which were almost always successful. As soon as others heard of Parker’s success, patients with all different types of illnesses and diseases wanted to come to the hospital for treatment. As a result, Parker soon found it impractical for the hospital to only treat eye illnesses, and it then opened up to all different types of diseases.