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“Be a Teacher after Death”: The Message Strategies of
the Body Donation Campaign in Taiwan
INTRODUCTION
The Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu-Chi Foundation in Hualien, Taiwan
launched a campaign in 1996, appealing to the public (particularly its members) for
body donation for the use of medical education. From June to September 1996, a total
of 14 information sessions on body donation was held allover Taiwan to promote such
an idea. In January 1997, Tzu-Chi Body Donation Center was officially set up to
process, store and distribute donated bodies. From then on, campaigning for body
donation has become one of Tzu-Chi Foundation’s on-going endeavors.
Before Tzu-Chi launched such a campaign, the lack of whole bodies for medical
teachings on human anatomy was a common problem faced by all the medical schools
in Taiwan. It was not unusual that a cadaver would be shared by over ten students for
dissection (Chang, 1999a). In contrast, the Medical School at Tzu-Chi University is
able to provide every four students with a cadaver for dissection in the anatomy
class— a ratio that surpasses most developed western countries such as UK and US
(Tseng, 1999). The effectiveness of the campaign is also evidenced with the amazing
numbers of body donation. Official statistics and documents from Tzu-Chi
Foundation indicate that Tzu-Chi Medical School needs about 15 bodies per year for
the purpose of medical teachings. Nevertheless, by July 2002, Tzu-Chi has
Convention