In August, 1879, King attended Lady Li, the wife of Li Hung Chang, then seriously ill, in Tien-Tsin. On Lady Li's recovery, she remained in Tien-Tsin, in practice with the use of a temple being given to her for the purpose. She founded, in Tien-Tsin, the Methodist Episcopal Mission Hospital in 1880. In 1885 King opened a medical school for Chinese women and girls who had been educated in mission schools. In 1886, Lady Li built King another hospital, which was later known as Government Hospital for Women and Children, Tien-Tsin, China. During the war between China and Japan, Dr. Howard opened her hospital to wounded soldiers as opposed to women and children. At the close of the war, King the first Western woman, was made a Mandarin an honour of the Imperial Chinese Order of the Double Dragon.