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increase in human mortality rates among previously uninfected popula-
tions. In like manner, anotherP. falciparumvector,Anopheles gambiae,
took advantage of a series of British dam projects in Egypt that increased
its breeding habitat and, lifted by airplanes, spread it well beyond its
normal two-mile range. Cross-border contact with Myanmar, including
migrant labor, has also proliferated P. falciparum in southwestern
Yunnan. Other recentfindings from southern Yunnan confirm that cer-
tain anthropogenic changes, such as irrigation and construction of pot-
able water channels near dwellings, can actually expandAn. miminus
habitat.^70
Confusion over the precise biology and ecology of the Minimus Com-
plex has been an obstacle to public health measures throughout its range.
The complexity of the complex continues to ensure that Yunnan remains
one of the only two provinces in China where the disease environment for
falciparum malaria persists. Malaria is endemic primarily among minor-
ity peoples in mountain and forested areas in the province’s southern and
southwestern extremities.^71 In sum,Anopheles’marked predilection for
human blood (its“anthropophilic”tendency) as a vital component of its
reproductive cycle is the basis for the human-mosquito relationship that
in turn transmitsP. falciparumto form a human-haematozoon relation-
ship. Both sets of relations are conditioned by the larger environmental
context of southwestern Yunnan.
Accounts from 1679 and 1935 – 36 present strong evidence that these
environmental dynamics in southwestern Yunnan constituted a malarial
disease environment where the regional version ofzhangqiwas primarily,
if not exclusively, falciparum malaria and its related conditions. The
seventeenth-century Manchu report, moreover, proves that a single indis-
criminate term such aszhangqiorehe sukdunwas not always used to
slur over the range of diseases that afflicted dynastic personnel in the area.
The multilingual documentation of the Qing is one way to transcend the
limitations of the Han record and of monocultural linguistic arguments
about the inconsistency ofzhangqi. The state could makefiner, if still
problematic, nosological distinctions.
Other important distinctions also emerge from these reports. The
Nationalist medical team believed that malaria had originally reached
Yunnan from the south and west. They also found that locals in both
provinces believed themselves to be more immune to malaria than out-
siders. Although not expressing skepticism about that belief in their
published report, the team did put it in the same category as popular
notions that eels, toads, or butterflies were carriers.^72
194 Across Forest, Steppe, and Mountain
