Before We Begin: Birth, Ageing, Illness, Death

First, what this part gathers

Part Three gathers "sights", Part Five gathers "institutions", Part Six gathers "schools", and Part Seven gathers "places no one can avoid".

This part gathers four words no one can escape: birth, ageing, illness and death.

A hospital is not a "place to go". You do not think of it in ordinary times, but your life is certain to have it — birth, a fever, a check-up, a stay as an inpatient, seeing off an elder … the dealings Zhabei people have had with hospitals all end up as part of the family memory.

So this part does not write about "hospital strength": beds, outpatient numbers, departmental rankings — those figures are everywhere, and today's page is out of date tomorrow. What this part writes about is: how a hospital grew, and what it looks like in the memory of several generations.

One line of division

This part originally had only "half a kingdom": Zhabei Central Hospital was kept in Part Seven, among the "places no one can avoid" — which makes sense (you truly cannot avoid seeing a doctor), but since hospitals can be gathered into one block, gather them into one block.

Now, if you look for "hospitals", you find two at a glance: one whose name survives in the catchphrase of old Zhabei people; one whose story began with a "clinic".

They are not "medical resources"; they are two living memories.

This category: two hospitals

A few reminders

1. A hospital is not a sight. Both hospitals are really saving patients — please keep quiet, keep the way clear, and do not disturb medical staff and patients for the sake of "sightseeing";
2. One north, one south, each guarding a stretch. Zhabei Central Hospital guards the old Chinese city around Zhonghua Xin Road, and the Tenth Hospital guards Daning and Pengpu north of Yanzhang Road — the memory of seeing a doctor for several generations is divided exactly this way;
3. how to read them alongside others: the Tenth Hospital goes with the Shanghai Railway Locomotive Depot — the railway people's locomotives and the railway people's hospital are different chapters of one history; Zhabei Central Hospital goes with Xinxin Department Store — they are on the same Zhonghua Xin Road, and are the memory of that street corner;
4. This category will grow. Zhabei's hospitals are more than these two — the Beizhan Hospital, the Shibei Hospital, the district hospital of traditional Chinese medicine … each has its own annual rings, and they are worth writing about slowly.

So let us begin with a railway hospital.

Connections

• See also：Part Three · Notable Sites in Zhabei, Part Five · Zhabei's Old Institutions, Part Six · Zhabei's Schools, Part Seven · Zhabei's Landmarks, Part Ten · Zhabei's Commerce