Healing Henan grypma1.p65 1 11/14/2007, 9:06 AM grypma1.p65 2 11/14/2007, 9:06 AM Sonya Grypma Healing Henan Canadian Nurses at the North China Mission, 1888-1947 grypma1.p65 3 11/14/2007, 9:06 AM © UBC Press 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission of the publisher, or, in Canada, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency), www.accesscopyright.ca. 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in Canada on ancient-forest-free paper (100% post-consumer recycled) that is processed chlorine- and acid-free, with vegetable-based inks. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Grypma, Sonya, 1965- Healing Henan : Canadian nurses at the North China Mission, 1888-1947 / Sonya Grypma. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7748-1399-0 1. Missions, Medical – China – Henan Sheng – History. 2. Nursing – China – Henan Sheng – History. 3. Missions, Canadian – China – Henan Sheng – History. 4. Protestant churches – Missions – China – Henan Sheng – History. 5. Nursing – Canada – History. I. Title. R722.G79 2007 362.1’095118 C2007-905473-0 UBC Press gratefully acknowledges the financial support for our publishing program of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP), and of the Canada Council for the Arts, and the British Columbia Arts Council. This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Aid to Scholarly Publications Programme, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and with the help of the K.D. Srivastava Fund. Printed and bound in Canada by Friesens Set in Stone by Artegraphica Design Co. Ltd. Copy editor: Jillian Shoichet Proofreader: Stacy Belden Indexer: Patricia Buchanan UBC Press The University of British Columbia 2029 West Mall Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2 604-822-5959 / Fax: 604-822-6083 www.ubcpress.ca grypma1.p65 4 11/14/2007, 9:06 AM For Martin, Janessa, and Mike grypma1.p65 5 11/14/2007, 9:06 AM grypma1.p65 6 11/14/2007, 9:06 AM Contents List of Illustrations / ix Foreword / xi Acknowledgments / xiii List of Spellings / xvii List of Abbreviations / xix Introduction / 1 1 The Gospel of Soap and Water, 1888-1900 / 25 2 Visions Interrupted, 1901-20 / 50 3 Modern Nursing at Last, 1921-27 / 73 4 Golden Years, 1928-37 / 105 5 Scattered Dreams, 1937-40 / 137 6 War Years, 1941-45 / 164 7 The Last Days, 1946-47 / 191 Conclusion: Creating a Cloistered Space / 219 Epilogue: Return to Henan, 2003 / 231 grypma1.p65 7 11/14/2007, 9:06 AM viii Contents Appendices 1 Missionary nurses at the North China Mission (NCM) / 237 2 WMS nurses who resigned to be married / 240 3 Three types of missionary nurses / 241 4 Missionary nurse education / 242 5 Summary of 1947 Confidential Report / 245 Notes / 246 Bibliography / 275 Index / 281 grypma1.p65 8 11/14/2007, 9:06 AM Illustrations Map Map of China and Henan province / facing page 1 Table Weihui reconstruction costs in 1946 / 194 Figures 1 Margaret MacIntosh just before retirement, c. 1926 / 33 2 Dr. William McClure at a village inn, c. 1900 / 36 3 Original photograph later published as “Preaching to Patients,” c. 1910 / 38 4 Female missionaries, c. 1903 / 51 5 Missionary homes at Weihui, along the Wei River, 1915 / 53 6 More patients for eye treatment, c. 1915-30 / 55 7 Margaret Russell Gay, c. 1910 / 61 8 Jeanette C. Ratcliffe, c. 1910 / 63 9 Janet Lillian Brydon, c. 1910 / 65 10 Janet Brydon in a China garden, c. 1920s / 68 11 Louise Clara Preston wearing an RVH graduate pin, 1922 / 79 12 Weihui Hospital, 1920s / 83 13 New hospital ward at Weihui, c. 1924 / 84 14 Mrs. Ratcliffe and staff at Weihui before the 1927 evacuation / 86 15 Clara Preston’s NAC certificate, 1930s / 89 16 Jean McClure Menzies, 1922 / 92 17 Coral Brodie, 1921 / 93 18 Huaiqing Hospital in pre–nursing school days, 1920s / 94 grypma1.p65 9 11/14/2007, 9:06 AM x Illustrations 19 Inspection by Chinese schoolchildren of the new women’s hospital at Anyang, c. 1926 / 97 20 Anna Marion Fisher Faris, 1923 / 99 21 Historic last meeting of the Henan Presbytery, Tianjin, 1927 / 103 22 Canadians living in Jinan, 1930s/ 106 23 Anyang women’s hospital occupied by soldiers, March 1930 / 108 24 Margaret R. Gay’s VGH nursing pins / 112 25 Cartoon from 1926 VGH yearbook / 115 26 Hospital staff at Anyang, 1930s / 118 27 1937 meeting of the first NAC District Auxiliary / 121 28 Patients with kala azar, 1930s / 122 29 Convalescing kala azar patients, Weihui, 1939 / 123 30 Clara Preston escorting “kala azar sufferers” to the gate, Anyang, 1930s / 124 31 Operating theatre at Weihui, 1930s / 125 32 Miss Li and classroom “dummy,” 1933 / 126 33 Hospital staff at Weihui, c. 1935–37 / 127 34 Mrs. Ratcliffe at the well-baby clinic, Weihui, 1930s / 131 35 South gate, Weihui compound, November 1937 / 139 36 Elizabeth Thomson, TGH graduation, 1935 / 143 37 Coral Brodie at Qilu, 1930s / 147 38 Coral Brodie and Elizabeth (Betty) Thomson at Qilu, 1939 / 153 39 Farewell party for Coral Brodie at Qilu, 1940 / 157 40 Margaret Gay with refugee at Tianjin, 1940 / 174 41 Janet Brydon, home mission’s portrait, c. 1941 / 177 42 New recruit Helen Turner, c. 1941 / 199 grypma1.p65 10 11/14/2007, 9:06 AM Foreword Janet C. Ross-Kerr The letters published in the 1930s and 1940s in Canadian Nurse by a number of Canadian nurses commissioned by the Woman’s Missionary Society of the United Church of Canada to work in Henan province, China, were sem- inal in the development of the intriguing program of research developed by Sonya Grypma. These letters from the North China Mission may have gener- ated a great deal of interest at the time they were published and also en- couraged other nurses to make a commitment to participate in the work in China under the banner of the United Church of Canada. But their serendipitous discovery by Dr. Grypma, who was looking for something else at the time she was perusing old issues of Canadian Nurse, led to ques- tions such as who were these nurses, what was the nature of their work, how long did they serve in China, and what was the short- and long-term impact of their work? Dr. Grypma has pursued these and other questions through painstaking searches for data in archival records in a number of repositories, contacts with descendants of the nurses, and searches for relevant documents and literature that might refer to, or shed light on, the nurses’ mission and the situation in China that enveloped them and conditioned their work. She has left no stone unturned in her search for data and has made a number of visits to China to see where the original mission was established and to talk with nurses and health care personnel currently providing health services in the area. She clearly earned the trust of the descendants of the mission- ary nurses, including children of some of the missionaries. They have re- counted their memories of their ancestors for her and shared documents in their possession that related to the professional work of the nurses. Some descendants have accompanied Dr. Grypma on each of her journeys to China to survey the site of the mission, search for information, and speak with local inhabitants. The most fascinating element in terms of the reconstruction of the hist- ory of nursing and health care in the period of time that these Canadian grypma1.p65 11 11/14/2007, 9:06 AM xii Foreword missionary nurses lived and worked in China is that Dr. Grypma was able to share with the nurses and physicians who currently work in Henan prov- ince, and specifically in Weihui and Anyang, what was their own history. Since most records were destroyed with the advent of the revolution, there was virtually no knowledge among the local professionals of the health care and educational work that had been developed so many years ago. Early in her career, Dr. Grypma developed a nursing and medical exchange between Canada and Anyang, where one of the original hospitals was founded by Canadians. As a testament to the lasting contribution of this outstanding piece of work, Dr. Grypma was also invited to attend a ceremony held by the Weihui Hospital on the occasion of its 110th anniversary and concur- rent establishment of a museum in the original hospital building. Her photo- graphs and historical documents figure prominently in these museum displays. At this event, she was accompanied by eleven relatives of the Can- adian missionaries who staffed the hospital over the sixty-odd years that they worked in China. This powerful book, which records the contribution of Canadian nurses to the development of the health care system in the province of Henan, China, is unique because so little research has been undertaken on the work of nurses in the China missions. Physicians have figured prominently in research, but only two previous articles have focused upon nurses. Because of Sonya Grypma’s work, the connection between North Henan province and Canada, which was so strong for so many years, has been re-established and strengthened. I count it a privilege and an honour to have been involved in Dr.