Yuqi Jin: The World of Stimulants in Modern China (1858-1950)

This study examines the history of stimulants in modern China, showing how different actors actively reshaped medical knowledge, practices, and stimulant culture across different medical and cultural contexts. As an imported term, “stimulants” was not a fixed medical category in nineteenth-century China.

Between 1858 and 1950, the category was constructed through encounters among Chinese, Western, and Japanese medical traditions. It was built on two overlapping therapeutic theories: tonifying and invigorating. As modern life changed, stimulants helped reshape ideas and practices of time efficiency and became embedded in urban spaces such as cafés, while also raising mental and sexual anxieties.