The times., 1897-06-06
A CHINESE WOMAN DOCTOR.
Educated in a-Countenanced
hy Ii Hung Chang.

Educated in ca-Countenanced
by Ii Hung Chang.
The higher education of women indui-
gently winked at, in speoialinstances even
upheld, by Viceroy Ii Hung Chang ana
through him, by the vast Flowery Empile!
Such. surprising as it seems, is the present
status Of the woman question in Chna' the
still shadowy beginning of vast socal
revolution-a result of the astute states
mans Occidental tour. Atleast, a numter
of his recent acts and the complacency
with which they are received by the public
so signify. One of these, coincident with
his return, was the choice OF DR.. Rachel @
Benn, of Tien-Tsin, where is his palace,
as physician TO the women OF his household
another, deeply pertinent, the appointment
as delegates to the women's congress, 10
he held in London in 1898, of two young
Chinese girls, Miss Wang and DIR. Hu King
Eng.
Among the few almond-eyed Standard
bearers OF the mute newborn revoltaeainst
the subjection OF Chinese wOmankind,
Or Hu King Eng stands pre-ennnont. OF
her sex and race, the first master Of arts.
the second doctor OF Inedicine-Dr va Mae
Kin graduated in 1889, but without re-
turning TO the orient, married Eca de
SiIoa, with whom she lives in Honolulu
her position in the history OF China is
unique In the beginning of any reform
whatsoever pioneers encounter only oppo-
sition, contumely, ridicuie; not so Dr.
Hu public ovation was her welcome
home: the utmost Difference, consideration
and the helpful hand outstretched meet her
everywhere. As unhampered as in the
West, she lives and works, opening the
way-a long, narrow way-to social equality
for women. And this in the most con-
servative country in the world!
King Eng was born in Foochow 20
heritage Of wealth and aristocracy Her
grandfather, Hu, was a mandarin of in
nuence. q councillor to the late Emperor;
his badge the ''vermillion pencil: lis
sohriauet. .'ofncer Plain Clothes" for
on formal occasions only would he don Ills
robes OF state In the seventeen year of
his age he became a convert 10 the Jesus
doctrine and with him his two sons, HU
Po NJ and Hu Yong Mixing Eggs
father-hotE OF whom for more than thirty
years were Methodist pastors and pTesid-
ing elders Soon grandmother Hu ard her
daughters-iu-law all OF the bound-eoot
class, influenced by convincing, even CO.
ercive, arguments, also embraced the
alien faith.
When quite a child King Eng was placed
In the girls boarding school at Foochow,
t-n... inf
nugh student. evincing marked artistic abil-
ity, an Inherited talent. Furtive peeps into
the dispensary and wards of the adjacent
hospital, however, determined effectually
her vocation be not art but medicine.
With that end in view, the little high
caste Celestial maid. now in her fifteenth
year, came across the seas, having met and
conquered bitter. determined opposition
she Immediately entered the Ohio Wes-
leyan University, graduating four years
later IA master Of arts. Three years more
OF rstudy a1dthe degree ofdoctorofmelicine
was con ferned by the Woman's Medical Col
lege. Of Philadelphia, aud also, after a
brief poSt-graduaLe course, by the Phila-
dephia Polytechnic. Then followed several
months of practical work in the WUInan's
Hospital OF Boston.
In December, OF 1895, DR. Hu, fully
equipped for her life work, returned to
Fuocnow to assume charge OF Liang-au
hospital A triumphant home coming 1T
was Mandarins and coolies, high and low,
met the ship. eager tospay their respects.
A round of dinners and receptions as in
siitutcd by native grandees, conSuls, and
other Western residents and their wives,
the guest OF honor being always the little
olive-hued doctor, witty, Charming, gor-
geouely dressed, her face guiltleSs Of
powder, her shining hair bedecked with
jewels-the initial Introduction into gen
eral society in China of a Chinese woman.
Her mcst priced successes, however,
are not social, but professional Her at
tractive personality, high breeding, Gnd
oristocratic lineage, give her freest access
20 the homes Of the great and conservative
homes which 70 other physician-no man,
no foreign woman could enter in no
less degree do the poor love and depend
upon her. One instance is related of d
cooley wheeling his blind old mother a
thousand miles in in a wLeelharrow to
consult the woman doctor a t1ouble
cataract operation, and the blind was
made TO see! Another cure, equally won
drous:
The only son of a wealthy mandarin
was dumb from his birth, and so of no
account disqualified 10 worship before
the names of his ancestors The tied
tongue once relieved, and the dumb was
made to talk. Hence the name and tie
fame OF the Miracle Lady," For upon
such snowy results -miracles-King Eng's
renown among her own people, to her in
finite distress, is wholly due. The skill
ful, often brilliant, work of the brown.
dimpled fingers in Eiangau Hospital, how
ever, failing general recognition, calls forth
from naval and other Western visiting
surgeons praise ample Compensatory. Yet
of the many sides of her profession, this
the surgical-is the least Here, as else
where, the medical cases preponderate, the
total number taxing the credulity of tie
uninitiated, being within the year 80 ,0oO
gratifying testimonial to the wisdom
OF her experiment was the character of the
Exception to Kiukiang Of DR.. Meiyii SHE