Source: Zhongshan School of Medicine
Written by: Zhongshan School of Medicine
Translated by: Cao Suzhen
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

Human anatomy, one of the most important basic courses for medical students, is usually the first course offered to them after admission to the medical school. Embarking on the tough path to medical professionalism, students often get overwhelmed and frustrated with the tremendous challenges in lectures, notes, systems and organs, human specimens and anatomic scalpels... To activate their passion for the course and facilitate their learning, the Department of Human Anatomy in Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) and the SYSU Youth Association recently launched a "Contest in Hand-drawn Anatomic Illustrations", with an aim to weave the threads of medical humanities into the knowledge of human anatomy. 


The contest was warmly received. More than 60 pieces of original hand-drawings were collected, involving both realistic and creative styles. The realistic group of works depicted the regular structures of the human body in meticulously scientific fashion while the creative ones presented the structures with refining techniques such as comic exaggerations, cartoonish reasoning, image analogies and symbolism. Whichever style, the hand-painted pictures revealed what the students have learned in human anatomy and how deeply they understood the connotation and significance of the knowledge, as in life science, social medicine, and medical ethics.

The hand-painted anatomic pictures reflected the mastery of the medical students in the structure of the human body and in the profound meaning of life. They worked together as a comprehensive embodiment of the medical professional qualities. Selected works from the contest have been on show in the lobby of the Science Building on SYSU’s Guangzhou North Campus, freely accessible for all teachers and students. Some of the exquisite pictures will be displayed in the recent "SYSU Images" section on the University’s homepage.