Yau Tsit Law

Yau Tsit Law and her mother, Mrs. Law, in 1916.

Yau Tsit Law (1888-1961) was a Chinese Christian educator, and one of the first Chinese women to graduate from Mount Holyoke College.

Early life and education

Yau Tsit Law attended the True Light Seminary in Canton, where her mother was the principal.[1] In 1912 she traveled to the United States for college, one of the first women sent by the Chinese government for an American college education.[2] She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1916,[3] and pursued graduate studies at Columbia University.[4]

Career

After she returned to China, Yau Tsit Law taught and was principal of the True Light Middle School of Hong Kong.[5] Beyond school work, she was the general secretary of the YWCA in Guangzhou. In that capacity, she attended the first Institute of Pacific Relations conference in July 1925, held in Honolulu, Hawaii.[6] She gave a talk there, on "Canton Women in Business and the Professions".[7][8] In 1927 she was appointed dean of women at Lingnan University.[9]

Yau Tsit Law was awarded an honorary doctorate by Mount Holyoke College in 1937,[10] at its centennial celebration.[11] One of Law's students at True Light Seminary, Jane Kwong Lee, served as coordinator of the Chinese YWCA in San Francisco, California, from 1935 to 1944.[12]

References

  1. ^ "Who's Who at the Annual Meeting?" Life and Light for Woman (November 1916): 474.
  2. ^ "First Women Students from China Arrive" Chillicothe Gazette (August 31, 1912): 2. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  3. ^ M. I. Han, "Mt. Holyoke" Chinese Students Monthly (November 1916): 64.
  4. ^ Edith R. Peyser, "The Spiritual Freight of Miss Yau Tsit Law" World Outlook (July 1917): 15.
  5. ^ About True Light: History, True Light Middle School of Hong Kong.
  6. ^ Karen Garner, Precious Fire: Maud Russell and the Chinese Revolution (University of Massachusetts Press 2003): 73. ISBN 9781558494046
  7. ^ Yau Tsit Law, "Canton Women in Business and the Professions" News Bulletin (Institute of Pacific Relations) (December 1926): 11-12.
  8. ^ "China is Filled with Optimism for Future, Says Woman Delegate" Honolulu Star-Bulletin (June 22, 1925): 1. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  9. ^ "Dean of Chinese College" El Paso Herald (January 8, 1927): 7. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  10. ^ Mount Holyoke College Archives, Honorary Degrees by Name.
  11. ^ Louis M. Lyons, "Rights Denied, Women Charge" Daily Boston Globe (May 9, 1937): B1.
  12. ^ Judy Yung, Unbound Voices: A Documentary History of Chinese Women in San Francisco (University of California press 1999): 229. ISBN 9780520922877