The early emergence of ophtalmology in 1914 suggests an increasing concern for seeing and vision/the visual in Shanghai modern society. This "visual turn" may accompany the shift from wearing glasses for appearance only - as noted by American attache Julean Arnold  in 1918 - to wearing glasses as a medical device to treat blindness or bad vision then considered as "social diseases" or physical impediments in modern societies.*

We may observe a change in terminology between 1914 and 1924. The terms "Oculist", "Opticians" or "optometrists" in 1924 tended to replace the earlier term "expert in ophtalmology" in 1924. This semantic shift suggests a gradual process of professionalization and autonomization of the ophtalmology field. Yet they were exclusively used in the British newspaper North China Daily News.

The early emergence of ophtalmology in the Chinese newspaper Shenbao is part of a wider process of medical specialization in both newspapers:  specialists in urology, dermatology, internal diseases, skin and bladder diseases, varicose veins and piles; as well as specialists in nervous and mental diseases, in children's diseases, appeared in the North China Daily News as early as in 1934. They were joined by specialists in lowered virility in the male in 1949. In the Shenbao, specialists in gynecology (婦科 fuke) appeared as early as 1914, followed by pediatrics (小兒科 xiao'erke), outpatient service (門診 menzhen), cholera (痧痘幼科 shadouyouke), dermatology (皮膚花柳科 pifuhualiuke) and even psychiatry (神經衰弱科 shenjingshuairuoke) in 1949.

*Source: "Weekly Report for the Week ended June 29, 1918". Julean Arnold Papers 1916-1940. Box 4 (1916-1920). Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University, Stanford.