Item No: #307183 Portrait of Medical Student Hü King Eng [Cabinet Card]. Charles Hall BoDurtha, photographer.
Portrait of Medical Student Hü King Eng [Cabinet Card]

Portrait of One of the First American-Trained Chinese Doctors

Portrait of Medical Student Hü King Eng [Cabinet Card]

BoDurtha, Charles Hall (photographer)

Notes: A full, seated portrait of the second Chinese woman to study medicine in the United States; she went on to be (one of) the first Western trained physicians in China. This picture dates from her four years as an undergraduate at Ohio Wesleyan University (1884–1888), before she went to Women's Medical College in Philadelphia. In this picture, she wears heavily embroidered Chinese-style clothing and many pieces of jewelry.

Hü (1865–1929) was the daughter of a Chinese minister at a Methodist Episcopal Church in Fuzhou and attended a Christian boarding school there. She was a promising student and was sent to study in the US, where she obtained a medical degree in 1894. After an internship, she returned to China and worked at two Christian Methodist Episcopal hospitals in her hometown, Magaw Memorial (also called Liang Au) and Woolston Memorial. She worked at the hospitals for more than two decades and helped train many women doctors.

In 1908 (August 21), the Los Angeles Times reported, "In China there are now many women doctors who got their education in the United States. The pioneer of these Chinese women doctors was Miss Hu King Eng of Foo Chow... She went back to her country to be resident physician of the Liang Au hospital in 1896. At that time, she was the only native physician who understood modern medicine. There are now many women doctors in China."

The first Chinese woman to earn a medical degree in the US was Kin Yamei, who graduated from the Women's Medical College of New York in 1885. Kin, the adopted daughter of white missionaries, spent most of her adult life in the United States.

Edition + Condition: A fine photograph with nice contrast; there are a couple of spots in the background that appear to be from the negative. The albumen silver print measures 3-7/8 by 5-5/8 inches on a 4-3/16 by 6-7/16 inch green mount. The photographer's imprint reads "Bo Durtha, cabinet / portraits Delaware, O." The back of the mount is dark green, without printing. It is caption in pencil, "Hu King Eng—now at school in Delaware, Ohio. S.F.R." There is a remnant of a cloth hinge along the top edge.

Publication: Delaware, OH: BoDurtha, [1884–1888].

Item No: #307183

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