ABSTRACT
Two paradoxical concepts of ‘history’ and ‘modernity’ are discussed as tools to facilitate the back-and-forth and forth-and-back assessment of midwifery in China. Using this paradoxical approach, the process and scope of changes in midwifery are examined in the light of the modernisation of Chinese health care, which has brought about the dominance of the Western model of care and its value systems. Therefore, the concurrent method of history and modernity can uncover the relations among technology, women, midwives and other health workers and point a way forward for the promotion of health and the development of maternity care.
