Disability, Disease, and Mortality in Northeast China, 1749-1909

Ruijie Liu, Peking University
Hao Dong, Peking University
Cameron Campbell, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
James Z. Lee, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Understanding the causes and consequences of early and mid-life disease and disability in past populations are important because of their contemporary as well as historical implications. However, such historical data are relatively rare, and are especially uncommon for non-Western populations. Chinese household registers from the Qing Dynasty record information on disease and disability for several million males that can be linked to their later health and mortality outcomes. This paper uses such sources to make a preliminary examination of the causes and later-life mortality consequences of early and mid-life disabilities. The study population comprises 147,781 adult males, with 15,103 registered as disabled and 5,617 having a specific recorded disability or disease. Event-history analysis confirms that these disability and disease records in this administrative dataset largely represent biomedical reality beyond mere social construction. The study demonstrates the potential of these data and methods to clarify the implications of disability in an non-Western agrarian society, shedding light on the interplay between individual health, household contexts, and institutional incentives.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 165. Determinants of Mortality: Disease, Disability, and Climate Impacts