We set out to assemble this Special Issue of IJPP with three goals in mind: (1) to familiarize Anglophone readers with research on paleopathology conducted by Chinese scholars; (2) to enhance interest in paleopathological research among Chinese scholars, and to foster the use of differential diagnosis as the key mode of paleopathological analysis; and (3) to initiate integration of pathological analysis of human skeletal collections with historical records documenting early medical practices, epidemics, development and age-related diseases, and demographic records.

The collection of papers that follows presents new data, from a range of time periods and geographic and social contexts, that we feel reflect the diversity, dynamism, and enormous scope of archaeology in China today. Themes such as infectious disease history, interpersonal violence, and comorbidity as a methodological issue are addressed by multiple papers. However, as the special issue developed, we also came to a slow appreciation of structural constraints that made our original goals difficult to attain within the current state of our discipline, of which the language barrier represents only a minor issue.

This introductory paper is intended to contextualize the Special Issue, and help readers understand the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that influence paleopathological research in China and its interactions with similar research in other parts of the world.

中国大陆的古病理学研究:特刊导论我们着手准备这期IJPP特刊，有三个目标:(1)让以英语为母语的读者熟悉中国学者的古病理学研究;(2)提高中国学者对古病理学研究的兴趣，促进将鉴别诊断作为古病理学分析的关键模式;(3)将人体骨骼标本的病理分析与记载早期医学实践、流行病学、发育及与年龄有关的疾病的历史记录和人口统计记录相结合。以下的论文集提供了来自不同时期、地理和社会背景的新数据，我们认为这些数据反映了当今中国考古学的多样性、活力和巨大范围。多篇论文讨论了诸如传染病史、人际暴力和作为方法学问题的共病等主题。然而，随着特刊的发展，我们也慢慢地认识到结构上的限制，这些限制使我们在目前的学科状态下难以实现我们原有的目标，而语言障碍只是其中的一小部分。这篇介绍性论文的目的是将特刊置于特定的背景中，帮助读者了解影响中国古病理学研究的内在因素和外在因素，以及这些因素与世界其他地区类似研究的相互作用