ASIA LE WOM ''ERN CHI ii. (Qarttell Httittcraitg Slibrarg CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE GIFT OF CHARLES WILLIAM WASON CLASS OF 1876 1918 Cornell University Library CT 3710.B97 Notable women of modern China / 3 1924 023 000 312 1 Notable Women of Modern China By MARGARET E. BURTON Notable Women ofModem China Illustrated. i2mo, cloth. Net $1.25 The author's earlier work on the general subject of Women's Education in China, indi- cates her ability to treat with peculiar interest and discernment the characters making up this volume of striking biographies. If these women are types to be followed by a great company of like aspirations the future of a nation is assured. 'The Education ofWomen in China Illustrated. i2mo. cloth. Net $1.25 "Thrilling is a strong word, but not too strong to be used in connection with TkeEdU' cation of Women in China. To many it will prove a revealing book and doubtless to all, even those well-informed upon the present condition of women. Miss Burton's book will interest all the reading public."—Christian Advocate. Dr. Hii King Eng at the Time of Her Graduation from the Medical College Notable Women of Modern China By MARGARET E. BURTON AUTHOR OF " THK EDUCATION OF WOMEN IN CHINA '' New York Chicago Toronto Fleming H. Revell Company London and Edinburgh Copyright, 1912, by FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY ^•fl\1oo New York: 158 Fifth Avenue Chicago: 125 N. Wabash Ave. Toronto: 25 Richmond St., W. London: 21 Paternoster Square Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street TO MY FRIEND GRACE COPPOCK WHO TAUGHT ME TO KNOW AND LOVE THE WOMEN OF CHINA Preface DURING a stay of some months in China in the year of 1909, I had an oppor- tunity to see something of the educa- tional work for women, and to meet several of the educated women of that interesting country. I was greatly impressed, both by the excellent work done by the students in the schools, and by the useful, efficient lives of those who had completed their course of study- When I returned to America, and spoke of some of the things which the educated women of China were doing, I found that many people were greatly surprised to learn that Chinese women were capable of such achievements. It occurred to me, therefore, that it might be worth while to put the stories of a few of these women into a form which would make them accessible to the public. It will be noted that the majority of the women of whose work I have written received a part of their education in America. My reason for selecting these women is not be- cause those whose training has been received wholly in China are not doing equally good work, but because it is difficult to gather defi- 7 8 Preface nite information in regard to the women whose Hves have been spent entirely in their native country. The fact that most of the biogra- phies in this book are of women in professional life is due to the same cause. The great aim of the girls' schools in China is, rightly, to furnish such training as shall prepare their students to be worthy wives and mothers, and the large majority of those who attend the schools find their highest subsequent usefulness in the home. But in China, as in other coun- tries, the life of the woman in the home re- mains, for the most part, unwritten. I have therefore told the stories of the women concerning whose work I have been able to obtain definite information, believing that they fairly represent the educated women of China who, wherever their education has been received, and in whatever sphere it is being used, are ably and bravely playing an important part in the moulding of the great new China. For much of the material for these sketches I am indebted to friends of the women of whom I have written. To all such my hearty thanks are due. For personal reminiscences, letters, and photographs, I am most grateful. M. E. B. Contents DR. HU KING ENG I. Childhood in a Christian Home . 15 II. Education in China and America 23 III. Beginning Medical Work in China 39 IV. The Beloved Physician ... 44 V. The Favour of the People . 58 MRS. AHOK I. The Mistress of a Home of Wealth 73 II. Work Among the Women of the Upper Classes .... 82 III. A Journey to England . 90 IV. Patient in Tribulation . loi DR. IDA KAHN I. Childhood in Three Countries . 115 II. At the University of Michigan . 121 III. Seven Years in Kiukiang . .126 IV. Pioneer Work in NaNchang . 140 DR. MARY STONE I. With Unbound Feet . 161 II. The Danforth Memorial Hospital 169 III. Winning Friends in America . 183 IV. A Versatile Woman . 190 9 lo Contents YU KULIANG 221 ANNA STONE I. Eager for Education . 233 II. Among Her Own People . 244 III. The Power of an Endless Life . 254 Illustrations Dr. Hu King Eng at the Time of Her Grad- uation from the Medical College Frontispiece Dr. Hu's Medical Students 41 Dr. Hu's Christmas Party 61 Mrs. Ahok and Her Two Granddaughters . 73 Reception Rooms in Chinese Homes of Wealth 83 Dr. Ida Kahn 115 A Nurse in Dr. Kahn's Hospital .... 138 One of Dr. Kahn's Guests A Village Crowd ' Dr. Mary Stone 161 Elizabeth Skelton Danforth Memorial Hos- pital, Kiukiang, China 172 Dr. Stone, Dr. Kahn, and Five of the Hos- pital Nurses 174 General Ward of the Danforth Memorial Hospital . .182 Nurses of the Danforth Memorial Hospital 192 Yu Kuliang 221 Anna Stone 223 The Anna Stone Memorial 257 DR. HU KING ENG I. Childhood in a Christian Home II. Education in China and America III. Beginning Medical Work in China IV. The Beloved Physician v. The Favour of the People DR. HU KING ENG CHILDHOOD IN A CHRISTIAN HOME AMONG the earliest converts to Christian- ity in South China was Hii Yong Mi, the son of a mihtary mandarin of Foo- chow. He had been a very devout Buddhist, whose struggles after spiritual peace, and whose efforts to obtain it through fasting, sac- rifice, earnest study, and the most scrupulous obedience to all the forms of Buddhist wor- ship, remind one strongly of the experiences of Saul of Tarsus. Like Saul too, Hii Yong Mi was, before his conversion, a vigorous and sin- cere opponent of Christianity. When his older brother became a Christian, Hii Yong Mi felt that his casting away of idols and abolishing of ancestral worship were crimes of such mag- nitude that the entire family " ought all with one heart to beat the drum and drive him from the house." He tells of finding a copy of the Bible in his father's bookcase one day, and how, in sudden rage, he tore it to pieces and IS 6 1 Dr. Hii King Eng threw the fragments on the floor, and then, not satisfied with destroying the book, wished that he had some sharp implement with which to cut out " the hated name Ya-su, which stared from the mutilated pages." But when, through the efforts of the very brother whom he had persecuted, he too came to recognize the truth of Christianity, he be- came as devoted and tireless a worker for his Lord as was Paul the apostle, preaching in sea- son and out of season, first as a layman, after- wards as an ordained minister of the Metho- dist Church. His work often led him to isolated and difficult fields; he was "in jour- neyings often, in perils of rivers, in perils of robbers, in perils from his countrymen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness." But, alike in toil and persecution, he remained steadfast. He was made a presiding elder at the time of the organization of the Foochow Confer- ence in 1877, and from that time until his death, in 1893, he was, in the words of one of the missionaries of that district, " a pillar of strength in the church in China, because of his piety and wisdom and his literary ability, hav- ing, withal, an eloquent tongue which in the ardour of pulpit oratory gave to his fine six- foot physique a princely bearing." Childhood in a Christian Home 17 A striking testimony to the power and beauty of this Christian man's character is a picture, painted by a Chinese artist, an old man over eighty years of age. This man was not a Christian, but after hearing Mr. Hii's preach- ing, and watching his consecrated life, he em- bodied in a painting his conception of the power of the " Cross Doctrine " as he knew it through Hii Yong Mi. The picture, which is five feet long and nearly three wide, and is finely executed in water colours, was presented to Mr. Hii by the artist. At first glance its cen- tral figure seems to be a tree, under which is a man reading from a book. Lower down are some rocks. But looking again one sees that the tree is a cross, and that in the rocks are plain semblances of human faces, more or less perfect, all turned toward the cross. The thought which the artist wished to express was that the " Cross Doctrine," as preached and lived by such as Hii Yong Mi, would turn even rocks into human beings. The wife of Hii Yong Mi was brought up in a home of wealth and rank in Foochow.