For hundreds of years until the early 20th century, getting medical help for a Chinese woman was tricky. In those times the Chinese placed enormous importance to the chastity of a woman (many cultures still do), which meant that a woman couldn’t show too much skin to a male who was other than her husband. This implied trouble as doctors were mostly men, and if a doctor couldn’t get his female patients to undress so that she could be examined, a diagnosis and treatment was impossible. So a solution was devised.

Photo credit: Wellcome Collection gallery