Hü King-eng (1865-1929), born in Fuzhou, was the first overseas student in Fujian Province. She was a Chinese female doctor in the first batch of overseas returnees and the first female representative of China to participate in international affairs.
Her life story began with her father, Hü Yangmei. Her father was a very devout Buddhist, while his brother first became a Christian. When he was trying to convert his Christian son, Hü Yangmei gradually came to know God and began to work hard for God. He later became a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, where he remained until his death in 1893.
Hü King-eng’s mother grew up in a rich family in Fuzhou. After her father became a minister, they had to move frequently for the sake of evangelism. Her father had great regard for their place of birth and thought it a disaster for a man to move out of the birthplace. But as he was called by God, he accepted the arrangement without any scruple. Her mother was also willing to serve with her father.
When they left Fuzhou and visited the first people they came into contact with, her father saw piles of rubbish and dirty ditches in front of these people’s houses. In the houses, people, pigs, cattle, chickens and sheep lived in the same rooms. These people had no time to comb their hair, wash their faces and dress, and basically work in the fields for whole days.
Despite all the difficulties, their work paid off. Her mother was a warm-hearted sister who spread the gospel to those who had never heard it before. Neighborhood women began to come to her to hear the Gospel, and eventually, hundreds of people received it.
Hü King-eng was born in 1865, shortly after a period of severe persecution. It was customary for girls to bind their feet from an early age. But her father, a pastor, believed that this common and ancient custom was wrong. So he made a brave decision never seen before in the region: his daughter should have natural feet, and the bandage should be taken off. Later, she became an ardent advocate of natural foot and often recounted her experience as a pioneer of the natural foot movement in Fujian.
When she was old enough to go to school, Hü went to Uk Ing Girls' School, a boarding school run by the Methodist Episcopal Church. There was no music course at the school, but Hü was eager to learn how to play. Later, the wife of a missionary gave her lessons on her organ. After leaving the boarding school, she went to the Magaw Memorial Hospital, founded in 1877, which was the earliest and largest women’s and children’s hospital in China. Her adaptability to medical work and compassion for patients impressed Dr. Trask, then head of Magaw Memorial Hospital, who hoped she could get a more comprehensive education than she had received in Fuzhou. Therefore, she wrote a letter to the Executive Committee of the Women’s Foreign Missionary Society, praising Xü’s abilities and character and urging that arrangements be made for her to study in the United States. She could stay in the US for a decade if necessary, so that she could make a greater contribution when she returned.
Mrs. Keene, secretary of the Philadelphia chapter of the Women’s Foreign Missionary Society, was in charge of Xü’s travel arrangements. It was not easy for this young girl, who was only eighteen years old, to decide to leave her home and her country and go to study in a foreign country that was completely new to her. Her parents neither opposed her going nor encouraged her to go. Her parents told her at length about the loneliness she would experience in a foreign country, the perils of the long ocean voyage which she must undertake, and the situation she would face when she returned ten years later, at 28, well past her marriageable age.
But Xü, with strong faith and determination, said, “If God opens the door for me and calls me to go, I will go; otherwise, I’d rather work at home.” Her father said to her, “I can’t decide this for you. You must pray to God. If you decide to go, God will lead you.” She felt God say to her, “Don’t be afraid, for I will be with you no matter where you go.”
In the spring of 1884, Hü set foot on the journey to the United States. Upon arriving in New York, she immediately went to see Mrs. Keene in Philadelphia, where she met the Seitzes, who had come from Fuzhou, where she had known them since she was a child. She was in Philadelphia attending a meeting of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and she spent the summer with them. Mr. and Mrs. Seitz helped Ms Hü learn English. When the fall semester began, Hü King-eng successfully entered Ohio Wesleyan University.
In April of Xü’s first year at Ohio Wesleyan, special meetings were held related to the university’s day of prayer, including one in the chapel where the university’s president and female faculty spoke. Minutes of the meeting show that Hü began to serve before returning to China. As soon as the female teacher, Miss Martin, finished speaking, Hü walked up to the podium, according to the transcript. Dressed in traditional Chinese dress, she stood elegantly in front of 600 young men and women to witness the wonderful work of Christ in her life. After hearing the testimony of Hü King-eng, the faith of many people was strengthened. One of her classmates gave an impressive statement: “Hü King-eng has a great influence on the girls and is usually more influential in leading people to Christ than any other girl in the school.”
One mother, visiting the school after her own daughter became a believer, said aloud, “When I gave money for our work in China, I didn’t expect that a Chinese girl would come to this country and bring my daughter to Christ.” Ms. Martin told the story of a student who for a long time refused all help but was willing to listen to Ms Xü. Eventually under Ms Xü’s guidance, she dedicated herself to the Lord, and later devoted her life to missionary work in Japan.
In four years, she completed classes at Ohio Wesleyan University, and in the fall of 1888, entered the Women’s Medical College of Philadelphia, where she lived with her friend Mrs. Keene. Later, Hü became so ill that she decided to stop studying for a while and was going back to China, while her father was also sick in bed. Her lifelong friend, Sister Ruth Seitz, was also returning to Fuzhou.
Some wonder if living in the United States for so many years would have changed X, but she was not. No doubt in large part because of her calling at the time. A few years later, while saying goodbye to some girls who went to the United States for the first time, she said, “Some people don’t want girls to study in the United States because they think that when girls are educated, they will get proud. I don’t think we really have anything to be proud of. We Chinese girls have such a good chance to study abroad not because God loves us more than anyone else, but because God loves all of us Chinese. That is why He sent us first to learn about all the good things that we can do to help our people. The more we receive, the more we owe to the women and girls of China. So wherever we go, we have to think about how we can benefit our people and not become arrogant.”
In the fall of 1892, Hü re-entered the Women’s Medical College of Philadelphia. She graduated on May 8, 1894. She spent the next year working in the hospital and was fortunate enough to be selected as a surgeon’s assistant at the Philadelphia General Clinic, which gave her the privilege of attending all the clinics and lectures.
In 1895, she returned to Fuzhou. She immediately began working at Magaw Hospital. Dr. Leon, who worked with her, reported at the end of the year, “She is not only our teacher but also a great inspiration to our students in living as a Christian.”
The next year, Dr. Leon took a leave to return to the United States, and let her take full responsibility for the hospital’s work. At the end of the year, her colleagues thought that sending Hü to the United States for medical education was one of the greatest blessings Fuzhou had ever received.
One missionary described her impression of Xü, “She was very busy at the hospital and at home, but she was always happy and helpful. Her love for Christians attracted the hearts of hundreds of suffering local women, who felt that every look and touch she made was a pity for them. Moreover, over the months, her humble manner and the gentle and quiet spirit with which she worked and prayed with us have greatly increased her popularity among her fellow missionaries here in Fuzhou.”
Around this time, Hü had the honor of being appointed by Li Hongzhang as one of two Chinese delegates to the World Congress on Women held in London in 1898.
She was not only a successful doctor but also a very good teacher in medical teaching and was well-liked by locals and foreigners alike. In 1899, Hü King-eng took over the Woolston Memorial Hospital.
The hospital is a women’s and children’s hospital, three miles from Fuzhou. During her first year at Woolston Memorial Hospital, two medical students were trained there, one of whom was her sister, Hü Shuhong. Hü once heard a patient said, “My own parents, brothers, and sisters would never be so patient and careful in taking care of me, especially when I’m sick. Your religion must be better than ours.” So despite the struggle, in the first year, Dr. Hü treated more than 2,600 patients.
Here, she had four main jobs: working at the pharmacy, working with hospital patients, visiting the homes of those too ill to come, and supervising the training of medical students. The hospital records tell many stories of what happened in the hospital.
There was once a man, belonging to a prominent family in the city, who brought an old man to be treated. Hospital rules were that only women and children could be hospitalized, so the doctor directed him to Dr. Kinnear’s hospital. But the old man looked very disappointed and pleaded pityingly: “I am a poor old man. My limbs are aching. Doctor, please help me. Don’t treat me like an adult. Treat me like a child.” Hü then made an exception to treat this old man. After he recovered, the old man regularly came to the hospital every day for morning prayers. After listening carefully for a few weeks, he said to the doctor, “Now I really know that this is a good religion and what I want, and I have decided to worship this God.”
A sick girl became happy and warm-hearted in hospital. When she came home from hospital, she said in the coming year, she hoped to return to the girls’ boarding school she was attending. At the same time, she was very eager to tell the people in her village the happy truths she had learned. “I will be the only Christian in the village, and I wish they could come and tell the people of our village about the Gospel.”
Work at the hospital had been progressing steadily since Hü took over. In 1904, she reported, “Our little medical school is doing very well. The success of the school is mainly attributed to our good teachers and the students themselves, who have a strong desire to learn. They took the written test this year, and the highest score was 98 while the lowest was 85.” The first student to receive a diploma from Woolston Memorial Hospital was Hü Shuhong, Hü King-eng’s younger sister, who graduated in April 1902.
The medical graduates were small in number, but they worked very hard and efficiently. Some of them stayed in the hospital as assistants or head nurses. In addition to her regular work as a doctor and teacher, Hü also paid great attention to evangelism. Every morning, there were morning prayers attended by hospital staff, hospital patients who were able to get out of bed, and sometimes a few visitors.
In addition to their morning meetings, the sisters who worked at the hospital often did evangelical work. They met in hospital wards, taught hospital patients to read the Bible, worked in hospital lines, and visited homes.
During the nine years she led Woolston Memorial Hospital, she worked almost nonstop and took few holidays. Like Lin Chao-chin, a female doctor in Fujian province known as the “mother of ten thousand babies”, Hü never married and devoted her whole life to the cause of medicine. In 1926, she left for Southeast Asia and died three years later in Singapore. She used to humbly say, “I just tell patients to ‘Please hold up your head and stretch out your hand’.”
Reference:
Margaret E. Burton《Notable Women of Modern China》(2005)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolston_Memorial_Hospital
https://k.sina.cn/article_6750175107_192577f8300100drz9.html?from=history
https://www.dgkeheng.com/loupan/fxghlcp7mr
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
许金訇（1865-1929），福州人，曾是福建第一位留学生，中国第一代“海归”女医生，中国第一位参加国际事务的女代表。
她的故事要从父亲许扬美开始说起。许扬美曾是一个非常虔诚的佛教徒，哥哥先成为基督徒，许扬美在逼迫哥哥的时候，渐渐认识了信仰，开始为主竭力作工，后来成了美以美会的牧师，直到1893年去世。
母亲在福州的富贵人家长大，父亲按立为牧师后，他们因为传福音的缘故需要经常搬家。父亲非常看重他们的出生地，认为人若时常搬家，必被认为是灾祸。但因着呼召，他毫无顾忌地接受外出服事。母亲也愿意随着丈夫一起服事。
他们离开福州，到他们接触的第一批人中去，父亲看到这些百姓的房子前有着成堆的垃圾、肮脏的沟渠。房子里，人和猪、牛、鸡、羊，同住在一间房子里。这些人没有时间梳头洗脸，打扮自己，白天基本上在地里干活。
尽管困难重重，但他们的工作见了成效。母亲是一位热心的姐妹，她把好消息告诉那些从来没有听到过的人。邻近的妇女们开始来找她听福音，最终有成百上千的人接受福音。
1865年，在一段时期的严重迫害之后不久，许金訇出生了。当时的习俗是女孩从小就要缠足。但是，作为牧师的父亲认为，这种普遍而古老的习俗是错误的。因此，他作出了在这个地区从未有过的勇敢的决定：他的女儿应该有天生的脚，应该把绷带取下来。后来，许金訇也成了自然足的热心拥护者，她经常讲述自己作为福建自然足运动先驱的经历。
被神呼召的留学生涯
到了上学的年纪，许金訇去了美以美会办的寄宿学校毓英女塾就读，当时学校里没有音乐课程，但许金訇非常渴望学习演奏，后来一位宣教士的妻子用自己的风琴给她上课。离开寄宿学校后，她去了当时中国最早、最大的妇幼医院——创办于1877年的马高爱医院。她对医疗工作的适应能力和对病人的同情给时任马高爱医院负责人的查斯克（Trask）医生留下了深刻的印象，查希望她能得到比在福州更全面的教育，因此，她写信给妇女外国宣教会执行委员会（the Executive Committee of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society），高度赞扬许金訇的能力和品格，并敦促安排让她去美国学习，必要时在美国待上十年，学成归来后做出更大贡献。
许金訇的出国安排主要由妇女外国宣教会费城分会的秘书基恩太太负责。对这个只有十八岁的年轻女孩来说，决定离开她的家和她的国家，到一个完全陌生的异国他乡去求学很不容易。父母既不反对她去，也不鼓励她去。父母详尽地告诉她在异国他乡将会经历的孤独；她所必须进行的长途远洋的危险；以及十年后她回来时需要面对的处境，那时她已经28岁，早过了适婚的年纪。
但许金訇带着坚定的信念和决心，她说：“如果上帝为我开路，呼召我去，我一定去；否则，我宁愿在家里工作。”她的父亲对她说：“我不能替你决定，你必须向上帝祷告。如果你要去，上帝会带领你的。”许金訇感觉到上帝对她说：“不要害怕，因为你无论到哪里去，我都会与你同在。”
1884年春，许金訇踏上了美国旅程。一到纽约，她马上就去了费城的基恩太太那里，在那里她见到了来自福州的赛茨夫妇，她从小在福州就认识他们，当时正在费城参加美以美会的大会，她和他们一起度夏，赛茨夫妇帮助许金訇学习英语。等到秋季开学，许金訇顺利进入俄亥俄州卫斯理大学就读。
许在俄亥俄州卫斯理大学第一年的四月，举行了与大学祷告日相关的特别会议，其中一个会议是在大礼拜堂，学校校长和女教师在会上发言，这次会议的记录显示，许在回到中国之前，就开始为主作工。记录中提到，女教师马丁小姐刚讲完话，许就走上了讲台。她穿着一身中国的传统服装，优雅地站在六百名年轻男女面前，见证基督在她身上的奇妙作为。在听到许金訇的见证后，许多人的信心得以坚固。她的一位同学的陈述令人印象深刻：“许金訇对女孩们有很大的影响，她通常比学校里的任何其他女孩都更多地引导人们归向基督。”
有一位母亲，在她自己的女儿信主后，来到学校参观时大声说道：“当我为在中国的工作奉献金钱时，我没有想到一个中国女孩会来到这个国家，并把我的女儿带到基督面前。”马丁小姐讲了一个学生的故事，这个学生长期以来拒绝所有人的帮助，但她却愿意听许金訇的话；最终在她的引导下，她奉献给主，后来她把自己的生命奉献给了日本的宣教工作。
许金訇在四年的时间里完成了俄亥俄卫斯理大学的课程，并在1888年秋天进入费城女子医学院学习，与她的朋友基恩太太住在一起。后来，许病得很重，她决定停止学习一段时间，并且准备回中国，那时她的父亲也卧病在床。她一生的朋友，路得·赛茨姐妹，当时也正返回福州。
有些人想知道，在美国居住这么多年是否会改变许金訇，但许金訇没有改变，毫无疑问，这很大程度上是由于她当时的呼召。几年后，在对一些第一次去美国的女孩说再见时，她说：“有些人不希望女孩去美国学习，因为他们认为当女孩受到教育时，她们会感到骄傲。我觉得我们真的没什么好骄傲的。我们中国女孩有这么好的机会去国外学习，不是因为上帝爱我们胜过其他任何人，而是因为上帝爱我们所有的中国人。所以他差我们先去学习一切美好的事，叫我们可以帮助我们的百姓。我们得到的恩惠越多，欠中国妇女和女童的债就越多。所以无论我们走到哪里，我们必须考虑如何造福我们的人民，而不是变得骄傲自夸。”
1892年秋天，许金訇重新进入费城女子医学院。于1894年5月8日毕业。接下来的一年，她在医院工作，并有幸被选为费城综合诊所的外科医生助理，这给了她参加所有诊所和讲座的特权。
福州有史以来最大的祝福之一
1895年许金訇返回福州。她立刻开始在马高爱医院工作，与她一起工作的里昂医生在年底的工作中报告中写道：“她不仅是我们的老师，而且在活出基督徒的身份方面，对我们的学生都有很大的启发。”第二年，里昂医生休了假回到了美国，让许金訇全权负责医院的工作。这年结束时，她的同事们都认为，将许送到美国接受医学教育是为福州提供了有史以来最大的祝福之一。
有一位宣教士这样描述她对许金訇的印象：“她在医院和家里都很忙，但她总是很快乐，乐于助人。她对基督徒之爱吸引了成百上千受苦受难的当地妇女的心，她们觉得她的每一个眼神和触摸都是对她们的怜悯。此外，几个月来，她的谦卑态度，以及她和我们一起工作和祷告的温柔安静的灵，大大地增加了她在福州的宣教伙伴们对她的喜爱。”
大约就在此时，许金訇有幸被李鸿章任命为参加1898年在伦敦举行的世界妇女代表大会的两名中国代表之一。
她不仅是一个成功的医生，在医学教学上也是一个非常优秀的教师，并深受当地人和外国人的喜爱。在1899年，许金訇接管了伍尔斯顿纪念医院（Woolston Memorial Hospital）。
这座医院是一所妇幼医院，距离福州三英里。在伍尔斯顿纪念医院工作的第一年，有两个医科学生在这里培训，他们也协助她在医院工作，其中一个是她的妹妹许淑訇。许金訇有一次听到病人说，“我自己的父母、兄弟姐妹永远不会这么耐心，这么细心地照顾我们；特别是当我们在生病时候。你们的宗教一定比我们的好。”因此，尽管这项工作开展得艰难，第一年，许金訇还是治疗了2600多名患者。
在这里，她主要有四个工作：药房的工作，医院病人的工作，到那些病得太重而不能来的人家里拜访，以及监督医科学生的培训。医院的记录记载了许多在住院期间发生的故事。
曾经有一个人，属于城里的一个显赫的家族，他带了一位老人来治疗。医院的规定是，只有妇女和儿童才能住院，因此医生指示他去金尼尔医生的医院。但是老人看起来很失望，可怜地哀求道：“我是一个可怜的老人，我的四肢很痛。医生，请帮帮我吧。不要把我当大人看，要把我当孩子看。”许于是破例为老人看病。老人痊愈后，每天都定期到医院来做晨祷。他认真地听了几个星期后，对医生说：“我真的知道这是一个好的宗教，也是我想要的，我决定向这位神敬拜。”
一个生病的女孩在医院里变得快乐、热心，她出院回家时说，希望明年能回到女子寄宿学校学习。与此同时，她非常急切地想把她所学到的令人高兴的真理告诉她村里的人。“我将是村里唯一的基督徒，我多么希望许金訇医生他们能来告诉我们村子里的人关于福音的好消息。”
自从许接管医院以来，医院的工作一直在稳步进行。1904年，她报告说：“我们的小医学院进展得很好。学校的成功主要归功于我们的好老师和学生自己，他们有很强的学习欲望。他们今年参加了笔试，最高的是98分，最低的是85分。”第一个获得伍尔斯顿纪念医院文凭的学生是许金訇的妹妹许淑訇，她于1902年4月毕业。
医学课程的毕业生虽然人数不多，但他们非常认真而有效率地工作。其中的一些人留在医院里担任助理或护士长。除了正常的看病和教学工作，许也非常注重传福音工作。每天早上医院都要举行早祷，参加聚会的有医院的员工，还有那些能够起床的医院病人，也会有一些访客参加。
除了早晨的聚会外，在医院工作的姐妹还经常做传福音的工作。他们在医院的病房里聚会，教医院的病人读圣经，在医院排队等候的人中间作工，并到各家各户探访。
在带领伍尔斯顿纪念医院的9年里，她几乎没有间断地工作，几乎没有假期。和被称为“万婴之母”的福建女医生林巧稚一样，许金訇终身未婚，把自己的一生都献给了医学事业。1926年，她远赴南洋，3年后在新加坡病逝。她常谦卑地说：“我只是告诉来看病的人‘请抬起头来，伸出手来’”。
中国第一代“海归”女医生许金訇
Hü King-eng (1865-1929), born in Fuzhou, was the first overseas student in Fujian Province. She was a Chinese female doctor in the first batch of overseas returnees and the first female representative of China to participate in international affairs.
Her life story began with her father, Hü Yangmei. Her father was a very devout Buddhist, while his brother first became a Christian. When he was trying to convert his Christian son, Hü Yangmei gradually came to know God and began to work hard for God. He later became a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, where he remained until his death in 1893.
Hü King-eng’s mother grew up in a rich family in Fuzhou. After her father became a minister, they had to move frequently for the sake of evangelism. Her father had great regard for their place of birth and thought it a disaster for a man to move out of the birthplace. But as he was called by God, he accepted the arrangement without any scruple. Her mother was also willing to serve with her father.
When they left Fuzhou and visited the first people they came into contact with, her father saw piles of rubbish and dirty ditches in front of these people’s houses. In the houses, people, pigs, cattle, chickens and sheep lived in the same rooms. These people had no time to comb their hair, wash their faces and dress, and basically work in the fields for whole days.
Despite all the difficulties, their work paid off. Her mother was a warm-hearted sister who spread the gospel to those who had never heard it before. Neighborhood women began to come to her to hear the Gospel, and eventually, hundreds of people received it.
Hü King-eng was born in 1865, shortly after a period of severe persecution. It was customary for girls to bind their feet from an early age. But her father, a pastor, believed that this common and ancient custom was wrong. So he made a brave decision never seen before in the region: his daughter should have natural feet, and the bandage should be taken off. Later, she became an ardent advocate of natural foot and often recounted her experience as a pioneer of the natural foot movement in Fujian.
When she was old enough to go to school, Hü went to Uk Ing Girls' School, a boarding school run by the Methodist Episcopal Church. There was no music course at the school, but Hü was eager to learn how to play. Later, the wife of a missionary gave her lessons on her organ. After leaving the boarding school, she went to the Magaw Memorial Hospital, founded in 1877, which was the earliest and largest women’s and children’s hospital in China. Her adaptability to medical work and compassion for patients impressed Dr. Trask, then head of Magaw Memorial Hospital, who hoped she could get a more comprehensive education than she had received in Fuzhou. Therefore, she wrote a letter to the Executive Committee of the Women’s Foreign Missionary Society, praising Xü’s abilities and character and urging that arrangements be made for her to study in the United States. She could stay in the US for a decade if necessary, so that she could make a greater contribution when she returned.
Mrs. Keene, secretary of the Philadelphia chapter of the Women’s Foreign Missionary Society, was in charge of Xü’s travel arrangements. It was not easy for this young girl, who was only eighteen years old, to decide to leave her home and her country and go to study in a foreign country that was completely new to her. Her parents neither opposed her going nor encouraged her to go. Her parents told her at length about the loneliness she would experience in a foreign country, the perils of the long ocean voyage which she must undertake, and the situation she would face when she returned ten years later, at 28, well past her marriageable age.
But Xü, with strong faith and determination, said, “If God opens the door for me and calls me to go, I will go; otherwise, I’d rather work at home.” Her father said to her, “I can’t decide this for you. You must pray to God. If you decide to go, God will lead you.” She felt God say to her, “Don’t be afraid, for I will be with you no matter where you go.”
In the spring of 1884, Hü set foot on the journey to the United States. Upon arriving in New York, she immediately went to see Mrs. Keene in Philadelphia, where she met the Seitzes, who had come from Fuzhou, where she had known them since she was a child. She was in Philadelphia attending a meeting of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and she spent the summer with them. Mr. and Mrs. Seitz helped Ms Hü learn English. When the fall semester began, Hü King-eng successfully entered Ohio Wesleyan University.
In April of Xü’s first year at Ohio Wesleyan, special meetings were held related to the university’s day of prayer, including one in the chapel where the university’s president and female faculty spoke. Minutes of the meeting show that Hü began to serve before returning to China. As soon as the female teacher, Miss Martin, finished speaking, Hü walked up to the podium, according to the transcript. Dressed in traditional Chinese dress, she stood elegantly in front of 600 young men and women to witness the wonderful work of Christ in her life. After hearing the testimony of Hü King-eng, the faith of many people was strengthened. One of her classmates gave an impressive statement: “Hü King-eng has a great influence on the girls and is usually more influential in leading people to Christ than any other girl in the school.”
One mother, visiting the school after her own daughter became a believer, said aloud, “When I gave money for our work in China, I didn’t expect that a Chinese girl would come to this country and bring my daughter to Christ.” Ms. Martin told the story of a student who for a long time refused all help but was willing to listen to Ms Xü. Eventually under Ms Xü’s guidance, she dedicated herself to the Lord, and later devoted her life to missionary work in Japan.
In four years, she completed classes at Ohio Wesleyan University, and in the fall of 1888, entered the Women’s Medical College of Philadelphia, where she lived with her friend Mrs. Keene. Later, Hü became so ill that she decided to stop studying for a while and was going back to China, while her father was also sick in bed. Her lifelong friend, Sister Ruth Seitz, was also returning to Fuzhou.
Some wonder if living in the United States for so many years would have changed X, but she was not. No doubt in large part because of her calling at the time. A few years later, while saying goodbye to some girls who went to the United States for the first time, she said, “Some people don’t want girls to study in the United States because they think that when girls are educated, they will get proud. I don’t think we really have anything to be proud of. We Chinese girls have such a good chance to study abroad not because God loves us more than anyone else, but because God loves all of us Chinese. That is why He sent us first to learn about all the good things that we can do to help our people. The more we receive, the more we owe to the women and girls of China. So wherever we go, we have to think about how we can benefit our people and not become arrogant.”
In the fall of 1892, Hü re-entered the Women’s Medical College of Philadelphia. She graduated on May 8, 1894. She spent the next year working in the hospital and was fortunate enough to be selected as a surgeon’s assistant at the Philadelphia General Clinic, which gave her the privilege of attending all the clinics and lectures.
In 1895, she returned to Fuzhou. She immediately began working at Magaw Hospital. Dr. Leon, who worked with her, reported at the end of the year, “She is not only our teacher but also a great inspiration to our students in living as a Christian.”
The next year, Dr. Leon took a leave to return to the United States, and let her take full responsibility for the hospital’s work. At the end of the year, her colleagues thought that sending Hü to the United States for medical education was one of the greatest blessings Fuzhou had ever received.
One missionary described her impression of Xü, “She was very busy at the hospital and at home, but she was always happy and helpful. Her love for Christians attracted the hearts of hundreds of suffering local women, who felt that every look and touch she made was a pity for them. Moreover, over the months, her humble manner and the gentle and quiet spirit with which she worked and prayed with us have greatly increased her popularity among her fellow missionaries here in Fuzhou.”
Around this time, Hü had the honor of being appointed by Li Hongzhang as one of two Chinese delegates to the World Congress on Women held in London in 1898.
She was not only a successful doctor but also a very good teacher in medical teaching and was well-liked by locals and foreigners alike. In 1899, Hü King-eng took over the Woolston Memorial Hospital.
The hospital is a women’s and children’s hospital, three miles from Fuzhou. During her first year at Woolston Memorial Hospital, two medical students were trained there, one of whom was her sister, Hü Shuhong. Hü once heard a patient said, “My own parents, brothers, and sisters would never be so patient and careful in taking care of me, especially when I’m sick. Your religion must be better than ours.” So despite the struggle, in the first year, Dr. Hü treated more than 2,600 patients.
Here, she had four main jobs: working at the pharmacy, working with hospital patients, visiting the homes of those too ill to come, and supervising the training of medical students. The hospital records tell many stories of what happened in the hospital.
There was once a man, belonging to a prominent family in the city, who brought an old man to be treated. Hospital rules were that only women and children could be hospitalized, so the doctor directed him to Dr. Kinnear’s hospital. But the old man looked very disappointed and pleaded pityingly: “I am a poor old man. My limbs are aching. Doctor, please help me. Don’t treat me like an adult. Treat me like a child.” Hü then made an exception to treat this old man. After he recovered, the old man regularly came to the hospital every day for morning prayers. After listening carefully for a few weeks, he said to the doctor, “Now I really know that this is a good religion and what I want, and I have decided to worship this God.”
A sick girl became happy and warm-hearted in hospital. When she came home from hospital, she said in the coming year, she hoped to return to the girls’ boarding school she was attending. At the same time, she was very eager to tell the people in her village the happy truths she had learned. “I will be the only Christian in the village, and I wish they could come and tell the people of our village about the Gospel.”
Work at the hospital had been progressing steadily since Hü took over. In 1904, she reported, “Our little medical school is doing very well. The success of the school is mainly attributed to our good teachers and the students themselves, who have a strong desire to learn. They took the written test this year, and the highest score was 98 while the lowest was 85.” The first student to receive a diploma from Woolston Memorial Hospital was Hü Shuhong, Hü King-eng’s younger sister, who graduated in April 1902.
The medical graduates were small in number, but they worked very hard and efficiently. Some of them stayed in the hospital as assistants or head nurses. In addition to her regular work as a doctor and teacher, Hü also paid great attention to evangelism. Every morning, there were morning prayers attended by hospital staff, hospital patients who were able to get out of bed, and sometimes a few visitors.
In addition to their morning meetings, the sisters who worked at the hospital often did evangelical work. They met in hospital wards, taught hospital patients to read the Bible, worked in hospital lines, and visited homes.
During the nine years she led Woolston Memorial Hospital, she worked almost nonstop and took few holidays. Like Lin Chao-chin, a female doctor in Fujian province known as the “mother of ten thousand babies”, Hü never married and devoted her whole life to the cause of medicine. In 1926, she left for Southeast Asia and died three years later in Singapore. She used to humbly say, “I just tell patients to ‘Please hold up your head and stretch out your hand’.”
Reference:
Margaret E. Burton《Notable Women of Modern China》(2005)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolston_Memorial_Hospital
https://k.sina.cn/article_6750175107_192577f8300100drz9.html?from=history
https://www.dgkeheng.com/loupan/fxghlcp7mr
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
Hü King-eng, Chinese Female Doctor in the First Batch of Overseas Returnees
