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Louise Fenny
First Year Seminar – Visualizing Medicine
6th September 2023
Forensic Medicine in Ancient China
Like any modern science, forensic medicine in ancient China was never stagnant. The
discipline of forensic science is largely at the cross-section of science and criminal justice.
Forensic scientists and legislators of the day continually found ways to improve and revise their
methodology, resulting in the constant evolution that marked the discipline. In Chapter 2 of
Catherine Despeux’s Imaging Chinese Medicine1, three distinct types of imagery within the field
of forensic science are highlighted. Specifically, we will be tracking the standardization of
forensic imagery as well as the eventual use of the skeleton in depicting the human body.
Forensic science truly began in the Southern Song period where forensic scientists would
draw up outlines of newly found corpses. These coroners would then annotate these outlines with
comments on injuries and diseased parts. Naturally, these outlines would differ given the variety
in body type and size of the corpses. Furthermore, there were differences in the annotations
across the documents. Because these images were used to inform active criminal cases, the
inconsistencies impacted the court’s ability to pass objective judgement. They did, however,
undergo revision by the Minister of Punishment who circulated these documents throughout the
legal circuits.
Following this, in the 14th century, a standard format2 for these documents was
established in the Compendium of Statutes and Sub-Statutes of the Yuan Dynasty. This format
Catherine Despeux, “Chapter 2, Picturing the Body in Chinese Medical and Daoist Texts from the Song to the Qing
Period (10th to 19th Centuries),” Imaging Chinese Medicine, edited by Vivienne Lo and Penelope Barrett (Leiden:
Brill, 2018), Pp. 56-57;61-62.
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2
Refer to Figure 2.5; Despeux, 56.
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sought to eliminate the biases resulting from coroners drawing and annotating corpses
subjectively. In addition, this format included a list of the main parts of the body that had to be
reported and examined, further reducing the margin of subjectivity in decerning an alleged
victim’s cause of death. The purpose of the images was not only to avoid the stylistic details that
would take up space and make printing more costly, but to serve as a template coroners would
use to mark up any injuries that might have been relevant in criminal proceedings.
At face value, the standard format figure depicts the human body in both a front view and
a back view, side by side. The front view shows the face and accompanying facial features as
well as an outline of the neck, torso, and limbs of the body. In an image this rudimentary, the
presence of lines such as those depicting the cheekbone and the heel, alongside the folds around
the neck, abdominal region, and navel seem slightly out of place. These, however, could serve as
a guide, helping the officials at each bureau decode the information with reference to set bodily
landmarks. In the back view, there is no neck. Certainly, incidences of severe neck trauma would
create tension around the entirety of the neck, resulting in ligature marks spanning both front and
back. With the neck being a relatively small part of the body, most information regarding injuries
could be detailed at the front view only. Although this new format solved many of the issues
regarding subjectivity, it left room for falsification. After receiving many reports of fraud and
negligence in post-mortem examinations, the government had no option but to intervene.
At the government’s behest, the skeleton was introduced as the standard template for
examination. Rather noteworthy is the fact that depictions of bones were scarce in actual medical
literature. Depictions that did exist served as a backbone to internal organs.3 The fact that
3
Refer to Figure 2.8; Despeux, 60.
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forensic drawings were the first public depiction of the entire skeleton highlights both its
necessity and the sheer magnitude of the issue with fraud.
The depictions were the results of multiple teams of forensic scientists researching and
ultimately arriving at separate conclusions on the skeletal frame. The bones are separated from
one another, potentially ruling out the method of live dissection. The skeletal depictions shown4
are more likely reassembled from bones scattered at a crime scene. For instance, at the
collarbone, the first drawing shows a singular bone while the second shows four separate bones.
Like in the assembly of a jigsaw puzzle, these discrepancies likely arose from differences in the
placement of found bones.
Both skeletons are entirely symmetrical and have small white circles on specific areas.
These could signify vital parts of the body which when harmed could cause significant injury but
not death. To illustrate, the white circles at the legs could mean that when damaged, paralysis
could occur. However, the red points could show areas which when damaged were more likely to
end in death. For instance, a traumatic injury to the head, neck and chest could prove fatal. In
addition, these locations could be annotated with accompanying trauma. The skeletal depiction
afforded greater detail and credibility to legal medical documentation.
The evolution of Ancient Chinese forensics, the first recorded evidence of the discipline,
showcases an important facet of human innovation. The only constant thing is change. The
question, however, is whether this change will be an improvement or a depreciation. With welleducated revisions, the use of imagery in Chinese forensic medicine improved significantly over
time, yielding results that were as timeless as they were necessary.
4
Refer to Figure 2.9; Despeux, 62.
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Bibliography
Despeux, Catherine, and Penelope Barrett. “Picturing the Body in Chinese Medical and Daoist
Texts from the Song to the Qing Period (10th to 19th Century).” Essay. In Imagining
Chinese Medicine, edited by Vivienne Lo, 56–62. Brill, 2018.