Animal for Survival: Veterinary Medicine and Logistic Capacity in Wartime China, 1937–49

In pre-industrial China, animal-powered vehicles—such as horse-drawn wagons—played a more critical role in military transportation than did mechanical vehicles. Recent scholarship has begun to challenge human-centered narratives in the history of medicine by recognizing the agency of nonhuman animals in the wartime mobilization of knowledge and resources. Building on this emerging trend, I propose to examine the vital role that veterinary medicine played in maintaining and facilitating logistic capacity in wartime China, specifically during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War. Drawing on sources such as veterinary journals, military archives, and other contemporary publications, this research investigates how the health of humans and animals was pragmatically conceptualized and intertwined with the logistical systems underpinning military economies. I will argue that the rationalized exploitation of animal energy—through systematic practices of maintaining, healing, and vaccinating animals—was fundamental to powering the logistical infrastructures of both the Nationalist and Communist forces. In doing so, this study aims to rethink the epistemological shifts experienced by medical practitioners and state agents as they engaged with nonhuman actors, thereby contributing a fresh perspective to our understanding of wartime mobilization and the broader history of medicine through a One Health lens.