page_title: Wu Yi-fang
section_title: Early life and education
hierarchical_section_title: Wu Yi-fang / Early life and education
caption_attribution_description: 中文: 南京傅厚岗吴贻芳故居，建于二十世纪三十年代。
context_page_description: Wu Yi-fang was a prominent Chinese figure who is best known for her role as president of Ginling College and as one of only four women to sign the UN Charter in 1945. Wu came from a well-educated family and throughout her life attended numerous schools in both China and America, which played a large role in her advocacy for women's education in China. This advocacy was most persistent and prominent in her role as president of Ginling College where she was able to actively integrate the educational policies she believed in.
  Wu was also a significant Chinese diplomat abroad, especially in America, where she attained her M.A. and Ph.D. in biology. The connections she made during her time at the University of Michigan through her leadership roles in student organizations enabled her to bridge the gap between Chinese and American networks with regards to education. Her role as a Chinese diplomat was most evident when in 1945 she was sent as the only woman part of the Chinese Delegation at the San Francisco Conference.
  Wu Yi-fang is remembered as a dedicated president and diplomat, who consistently pursued greater access to education for women in China and abroad.
context_section_description: Wu Yi-fang was born the youngest of three children in Wuchang city, located in the Hubei Province in China. As she was born in the winter, her father, Wu Shou-xun (吴守训)) nicknamed her “冬生”, which translates as “Winter Born”. Wu came from a well-educated family: her grandfather was a magistrate in Jingzhou, Hubei, her father served as the director of Yali Bureau in Hubei, as well as a magistrate of Dangyang County, and her uncle was a famous scholar in Hangzhou. Wu was educated from a young age, studying at home with her brother at the age of seven, then attending Hangzhou's Hongdao Girls’ School, Shanghai's Qiming Girls’ School, and Suzhou's Jinghai Girls’ School with her sister. As she frequently changed schools and moved cities, her experiences fuelled her curiosity about the world outside her home. With a scholarly family background, Wu was encouraged to bind her feet, like her mother had done in her youth. She would later realize she could not continue to pursue education with bound feet and began unbinding and lengthening her feet.
  In 1909, Wu's father was framed by his boss for “embezzling public funds”. In distress over the lost funds, he committed suicide by throwing himself into a river. Wu Yi-fang left her school, and the following year, she and her family moved to her mother's hometown in Hangzhou, relying on relatives to support them. After a year, they moved again to Shanghai with Wu's uncle, Chen Shu-tong (陈叔通) and his family. On October 10, 1911, the XinHai Revolution broke out. Without hope of emigrating out of the country to escape the many uprisings and revolts at the time, her brother, Wu Yi-chu (吴贻榘) committed suicide by jumping into a river. Exacerbated by the deaths of her husband and her son, Wu's mother, who had fallen ill, died shortly after. The night before her mother's funeral, Wu's sister, Wu Yi-fen (吴贻芬) hung herself in despair. At the age of 19, Wu's brother, mother, and sister had died, all within a month.
  Wu Yi-fang went to live with her uncle in Hangzhou, where she continued her studies at Hongdao Girl's School. A few years later, with her uncle's recommendation, she taught English at Beijing Women's Higher Normal School. She moved back to Shanghai in 1915, where she received a letter from Mary A. Nourse, an American professor at Ginling College, inviting her to study at the university. At Ginling College, in addition to being elected president of the first student self-government association, Wu led over 50 students to support the 1919 Beijing May 4 Movement. She was also introduced to Christianity by her classmate, Xu Yi-Zhen, and was baptized in 1918. On June 25, 1919, Wu Yi-fang was one of five graduates in the college's first graduation class and became one of the first female college students in China to obtain a bachelor's degree.
  Following her graduation, Wu began teaching at the Beijing Women's Higher Normal School, where she served as the director of the English Department. During this time, Mary Wooley, President of Mount Holyoke College visited the school. Impressed by Wu's work, Wooley recommended Wu for a Barbour Scholarship to the University of Michigan. In 1922, Wu Yi-fang attended the University of Michigan to study biology. In America, Wu served as president of the North American Chinese Christian Student Association, vice president of the Chinese Students Association in the US, and president of the Chinese Student Union of the University of Michigan. Wu earned her master's degree in 1924, and her doctoral degree in 1928, writing her dissertation on The Life History of the Black Fly (黒蝇生活史),.
caption: Former residence of Wu Yi-fang in Nanjing.
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