T. L. Li (李天祿)

I return to the South this week with a Vanderbilt student: Dr. T. L. Li (李天祿, pinyin Lǐ Tiānlù; courtesy name 福田, pinyin Fútián). Dr. Li was not only extremely involved in the international Methodist Church, but participated in political events and was savvy enough to navigate the changing political waters of China through the Communist takeover.

Y. F. Chen (程義法)

Back to another original 1909 Boxer Indemnity Scholar! This week’s student is Y. F. Chen (程義法, pinyin Chéng YìFǎ), with a courtesy name of 中右 (pinyin Zhōng Yòu). He was born in about 1890 in Shanghai and left for the US before his 19th birthday to study mining and metallurgy.

Miss Clara Soo-hoo (司徒如坤)

I’ve made an executive decision on the next Soo-hoo child and decided to treat Clara as the oldest daughter. This is because Clara’s younger sister does so in her memoirs, calling her “1st daughter” (Sung, 291, cited in Chinese Historical Society). However, Western records suggest her sister Paulina may have been older than her, and there are even references to her sister Nettie being born only three months after her. The explanation for this discrepancy is most likely incomplete records – Paulina’s birth year has been guessed at from her school records – as well as variations in translation from Asian systems of measuring age to Western ones. Since I don’t know the original Asian-system birth dates for anyone, I’ll take a family memoir as being the truth on birth order: first Clara, then Paulina, then Nettie, and so will post about Clara first, followed by Nettie (Paulina I will save for later).