Chi Nyok Wang

Chi Nyok Wang
王季玉
A young Chinese woman, her dark hair in an updo, wearing a light-colored blouse with ribbon and lace trim
Chi Nyok Wang, from the 1916 yearbook of Mount Holyoke College
Born1885
Suzhou, China
Died1967
Other namesWang Jiyu, Wang Chi-yueh
Occupation(s)Educator, school principal
RelativesChi Che Wang (sister)

Chi Nyok Wang (王季玉) (1885–1967), also known as Wang Jiyu, was a Chinese educator, principal of the Tsunghua School for Girls (振華女學校) in Suzhou from 1926 to 1958. She was one of the first two Chinese students at Mount Holyoke College.

Early life and education

Wang was born in Suzhou, China, one of the five daughters of a government official father, Wang Songwie, and a social reformer mother, Wangxie Changda [zh](王謝長達).[1][2] Her sister, Chi Che Wang, attended Wellesley College and stayed in the United States to make a career as a biochemist.[3]

Wang attended Mount Holyoke College, as one of the school's first two Chinese students, alongside her classmate Yau Tsit Law. Law and Wang were officers of the school's small Chinese Students' Club.[4] She completed a bachelor's degree in 1916.[5]

In 1917, she earned a master's degree in botany at the University of Illinois,[6] with a thesis titled "Revegetation and Plant Succession along Salt Fork Creek". Her thesis advisor was plant ecologist Walter Byron McDougall.[7]

Career

From 1926 to 1958, Wang was principal of the Tsunghua School for Girls in Suzhou, a Christian school founded by her mother in 1906,[1] though she was offered teaching and administrative positions at other prestigious Chinese institutions.[8] Her sisters Wang Jizhao and Wang Jichang also worked at the school.[1] Boys sometimes attended the school, including anthropologist and sociologist Fei Xiaotong.[9]

In 1925 Wang attended the Conference on American Relations with China, held in Baltimore.[10] She was a member of the Institute of Pacific Relations when it met in Honolulu in 1925.[11] In 1949 she was again in the United States, to study at Teachers College, Columbia University and the University of Chicago.[12][13]

Personal life

Wang died in 1967, in her eighties. Her school is now known as Suzhou No.10 Middle School.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Tsunghua Girls' School". HuangQuest. Retrieved 2021-11-09.
  2. ^ Wang, Huibin (September 2020). "Born to do science? A case study of family factors in the academic lives of the Chinese scientific elite". Cultures of Science. 3 (3): 186–196. doi:10.1177/2096608320960243. ISSN 2096-6083. S2CID 225109663.
  3. ^ "Chinese Girls Reunited". Mission Studies. 7: 36. January 1914.
  4. ^ "Mount Holyoke". The Chinese Students' Monthly. 11: 137–138. December 1915.
  5. ^ Mount Holyoke College, Llamarada (1916 yearbook): 214.
  6. ^ University of Illinois, Board of Trustees Minutes (1918): 364.
  7. ^ Wang, Chi Nyok (1917). Revegetation and plant succession along Salt Fork Creek. Master's thesis, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign.
  8. ^ Who's who in China; biographies of Chinese leaders. Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library - University of Toronto. Shanghai China Weekly Review. 1936. pp. 242–243 – via Internet Archive.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  9. ^ Arkush, R. David; Harvard University Council on East Asian Studies (1981). Fei Xiaotong and Sociology in Revolutionary China. Harvard University Asia Center. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-674-29815-6.
  10. ^ American Relations with China: A Report of the Conference Held at Johns Hopkins University, September 17-20, 1925, with Supplementary Materials, and Arranged to be of Use to Discussion Groups, Current Events Clubs, and University Classes. Conference on American Relations with China. 1925. p. 190.
  11. ^ Conference, Institute of Pacific Relations (1925). Institute of Pacific Relations, Honolulu Session, June 30-July 14, 1925: History, Organization, Proceedings, Discussions and Addresses. Institute. p. 38.
  12. ^ "Class Notes from Chi Nyok Wang, Class of 1916". Alumnae Association. Archived from the original on 2020-06-27. Retrieved 2021-11-09.
  13. ^ "Chinese Teacher". The Bangor Daily News. 1949-03-14. p. 2. Retrieved 2021-11-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Welcome to Suzhou Zhenhua Middle School-苏州市振华中学校". Suzhou Zhenhua Middle School. Archived from the original on 2015-01-13. Retrieved 2021-11-10.