Benjamin Hobson

Medical Training and Calling

Benjamin Hobson was born on 2 January 1816 in Welford, Northamptonshire, England. He was one of the first missionaries to introduce Western medicine systematically to China in modern times. As a boy he resolved to become a doctor and serve the world. He studied medicine at the University of London (University College), graduating M.B., and passed his examination as a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS), qualifying to practise medicine. Being also a devout Christian, he joined medicine and preaching together and gave himself to overseas mission.

Called to China

In 1839 Hobson was sent out by the London Missionary Society. He left England in July of that year and reached Macau in December. The following year he took charge of the missionary hospital in Macau, treating patients while preaching the gospel. In 1843 he moved to Hong Kong to take charge of a newly established hospital, and his reputation as a doctor grew. In 1847 he married the daughter of Robert Morrison, the first Protestant missionary to China, which tied him still more closely to the mission work in China.

Medicine and Writing

In February 1848 Hobson moved to Canton (Guangzhou), bought premises at Jinlibu (金利埠) in the west of the city, and founded the Huiai Hospital (惠爱医馆). The hospital gave treatment and medicine free of charge; patients came in an unending stream, and it became an important base for the spread of Western medicine in South China. Besides his medical work, he felt keenly that China lacked systematic books on Western medicine and science, so he devoted himself to writing in Chinese. In 1851 he published Quanti Xinlun (A New Treatise on Anatomy), which explained human anatomy and physiology in pictures and text. It was one of the earliest works in modern Chinese to introduce Western anatomy systematically, and its influence reached as far as Japan. After that he wrote Bowu Xinbian (A New Treatise on Natural Philosophy), introducing astronomy, physics, chemistry and other natural sciences, which pioneered modern popular science in China.

Moving to Shanghai Amid War

In 1856 the Second Opium War broke out, the Huiai Hospital was destroyed in the fighting, and Hobson was forced to leave Guangdong. In 1857 he moved to Shanghai, took over the missionary hospital there, and worked with others on translating Western learning. While in Shanghai he completed in turn Xiyi Lüelun (A Brief Treatise on Western Medicine), Fuying Xinshuo (A New Treatise on Women and Infants) and Neike Xinshuo (A New Treatise on Internal Medicine), which systematically introduced surgery, obstetrics and pediatrics, and the diagnosis and treatment of internal diseases respectively. Together with Quanti Xinlun and Bowu Xinbian, they formed a fairly complete body of Western medical writings in Chinese.

Return to England in Ill Health

Years of hard work wore down Hobson's health. In 1859 he returned to England because of illness, ending twenty years of service in China. In 1873 Hobson died in England at the age of fifty-seven.

Western Medicine Comes East

Throughout his life Hobson gave equal weight to medicine and preaching, bearing witness to his faith through the healing art. The Western medical works he compiled and translated into Chinese brought anatomy, physiology and modern scientific ideas systematically into the view of Chinese scholars for the first time, did much to advance the eastward spread of Western medicine, and his name remains in the history of modern Chinese medicine and of cultural exchange.