This paper examines the process by which Psycho-Prophylactic Method for Painless Delivery(PPMD) was adopted and medically practiced within the political and social context of early 1950s China. It particularly explores how ‘labor pain’ was symbolically politicized and utilized in state governance and mass mobilization. The Chinese Communist Party(CCP) portrayed itself as a ‘savior’ that, through the interplay of science and state power, alleviated even the physiological pain of women that had been deemed unsolvable for thousands of years. Furthermore, PPMD was based on the premise that ‘childbirth is inherently painless,’ leading to the perception of women’s painful ‘expressions’ and ‘groans’ in the delivery room as abnormal. In a sense, the CCP may have sought to establish a ‘painless’ society by eliminating the ‘pain’, ‘suffering’ of the people. Ultimately, the ‘painless’ society that the CCP aimed to create can be seen as a socialist utopia that they endeavored to build through medical and hygienic measures, with PPMD serving as a political experiment by the CCP to realize this vision. This study reveals how the practices of science and medicine are intertwined with the construction of political power and highlights the conditions that women’s or citizens’ bodies are subjected to within this interaction.
On June 17, 1952, the CCP issued a directive to promote the PPMD, expanding its implementation as part of a broader political campaign. By 1953, PPMD had become a central focus in obstetric care, with the majority of women delivering in public hospitals subjected to this method. However, as PPMD was politically mandated in the context of China’s underdeveloped medical infrastructure in 1952, its limitations soon became apparent. Medical professionals, under pressure to conform to the CCP’s ideological reform initiatives, were required to demonstrate their ‘socialist’ and ‘materialist’ ideological alignment through the successful implementation of PPMD. Consequently, they became excessively focused on reporting high ‘success rates’ rather than conducting objective assessments of the method’s medical efficacy. In this environment, women were discouraged from expressing labor pain and were expected to display gratitude towards the CCP for providing advanced socialist healthcare, while simultaneously cooperating fully with medical staff. Thus, in many ways, PPMD became an ‘ideal’ rooted in the political narrative of ‘painless childbirth,’ and the disconnect between this ideal and the on-the-ground realities highlighted the inherent limitations of the method’s sustained implementation.
PPMD emerged as a potent symbol of how advanced socialist science claimed to liberate women from the physiological pain that had remained unresolved for millennia. It exemplified the triumph of science over nature, serving as a demonstration of the socialist system’s superiority. In this context, the concept of ‘painlessness’ became a pivotal instrument for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to materialize the ideological notion of ‘liberation’ for women and the broader population in the course of socialist nation-building. Yet, beneath this narrative of liberation lay the harsh realities: chronic shortages of anesthetics, inadequate medical infrastructure, insufficient medical personnel, persistently high maternal and infant mortality rates, political pressures on healthcare providers, and an excessive focus on reported success rates.