摘要中国古代具有非常悠久的优生传统,对这种传统应有全面客观的认识.古人并非如今人所认为的那样普遍提倡晚婚;在择偶问题上古人既有优生的考虑,更受到其他复杂社会因素的影响;房中术的提倡者虽声称以优生为目的,但房中术的优生效果是值得怀疑的;在胚胎保育方面,真正有意义的不是所谓的"胎教",而是中医学者们所建议的各种"胎养"方法.与近现代优生学相比较,中国古代优生学还体现出重男轻女、同情残疾者、一切以家族繁衍为本位的特点.

abstractsThere was a centuries-old culture of eugenics in ancient China. We should have comprehensive and objective cognition of this tradition. The ancient people did not generally advocate marrying at a mature age as do people of modern times. They not only considered the prepotency, but also were influenced by other complicated social factors on the problem of mate selection. Although advocates of coition techniques claimed the purpose of prepotency, the eugenic effect of coition techniques deserved to be suspect. Regarding the aspect of embryo conservation and care, the most significant thing was not so-called"prenatal education", but various antenatal care methods which were proposed by TCM scholars. By making a comparison with modern eugenics, the ancient eugenics had the characteristics of valuing the male child only, commiserating with deformity and being based on familial values.