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Abstract

Yinao – healthcare disturbance or "medical ruckus," refers to violent incidents directed against healthcare practitioners – especially large hospital's doctors and nursing staff – and facilities for financial benefit in China. Yinao social phenomenon has been widespread and increasing, and is a typical product of commercialization of healthcare since the implementation of economic reform policy in 1979-80. China's national CCTV reported that in 2010 alone there were 17,243 medical disputes, an increase of almost 7000 cases from 2005, while major disturbances involving physical aggression doubled from 9831 in 2006 to 17,243 in 2010. Since 2012, on average over 12,000 health professionals have been attacked every year, and over 25% of China's nursing staff has been reporting having experienced Yinao per year. Yinao, sannong wenti, liudong renkou etc. are some of the social ills – typically an outcome of several decades of China's reform policy – which in spite of mass protests and public anger continue to be ignored by the authorities. Politically speaking, though the frustration and helplessness of thousands and millions of suffering Chinese people do not get manifested for the absence of "colour revolution," "occupy street," "pink protest" movements, it is nonetheless true that widespread resentment which keeps surfacing on social media and in the form of "silent support" – as witnessed in the case of shockingly high rate of public approval of Yinao phenomenon, particularly under authoritarian rule, speaks volumes about ill-governance and anti-people nature of the current party regime in China. No wonder, the Yinao phenomenon has been described by Chinese scholars as the "weapon of the weak."

About the Speakers

Maitrayee Chaudhuri has been teaching at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, (CSSS) Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) since 1990. She has written widely on feminism, media, academia and pedagogy. Her key publications include The Women's Movement in India: Reform and Revival, 1993; Reprinted 2015. The Practice of Sociology 2003 (ed.); Feminism in India 2004 (ed) 5 th edition 2018; and Sociology in India: Intellectual and Institutional Trends 2010 (ed). Her most recent books are Refashioning India: Gender, Media and Public Discourse; (2017) and Doing Theory (co-ed) (2018). She was the first Professor India Chair, McGill University 2015, a DAAD Visiting Professor at Albert Ludwig University, Freiburg in Germany (2003), and a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University (1995-1996) and the University of Massachusetts (1995-1996) (USA). Her recent works have looked at the making of public discourse in a contemporary India shaped by neo-liberalism, majoritarianism and populism.

Madhurima Nundy is Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS), Delhi, India. She completed her PhD in Public Health from the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her areas of interest include health service systems, health policies, comparative health systems and inequalities in health. She has several publications and has been a regular contributor to policy analysis in the area of public health in China and India. Her most recent publication by Routledge (with Rama V. Baru) is titled Commercialisation of Medical Care in China: Changing Landscapes (2020).

About the Chair

Hemant Adlakha is Associate Professor of Chinese, JNU and an Honorary Fellow with the ICS. He frequently writes on social, cultural and political happenings in China. He edits ICS TRANSLATIONS, a blog which publishes Chinese media commentaries into English on diverse and varying themes.