Yale-China Stories

The magnitude of Ms. Zhu’s impact on the Yale-China staff and scores of Yale-China Teaching Fellows (known as “Bachelors” until the 1980’s) cannot be measured. As a teacher at Hsiang-Ya (now Xiangya) School of Nursing and Yali Middle School, Ms. Zhu served as a mentor, teacher, friend, and confidant to dozens of Yale graduates stationed in Changsha over the years.

Yale-China remembers a dedicated “pilgrim” and former staff member in this tribute to Mrs. Frances E. Scherer, who served as the dean of the Xiangya School of Nursing from 1946 until 1949.

There is one story from Dr. Ke Xu’s Yale-China trip during the summer of 2008 that still plays in her mind—that of a young girl traumatized by the Sichuan earthquake.

One man's family was so terrified of his disease that they refused to cook for him or let him eat with them. Honghong and her student came to his door with groceries, prepared a meal in the family kitchen, and sat down and shared the meal with the patient, demonstrating their lack of fear and providing a model of kindness.

Guo Jia found her way into medicine for very personal reasons. She was inspired by the doctors and nurses who helped her father when an ocular injury threatened blindness. Her passion for healing was further fueled by having seen family members succumb to diabetes.

Bill Peng credits the Yale-China Teaching Fellows he learned from while in a Changsha high school with broadening his worldview and sparking his interest in nonprofit work.

"...the big question on people's minds is what the next generation’s feelings are towards human rights. Having lived and taught in China for two years and having gotten to know people my age gives me a level of insight that I think even Chinese nationals who haven't been to China in a long time lack."

Alex Wilmerding's experience at Yali Middle School was a very profound and meaningful one. "I think it made me recognize how important a role Yale-China had and would continue to have within communities."

"I came from a litter of piglets nurtured on No.6 Farm Road in the late 60’s.'Pig' was then a term of endearment as well as self-deprecation used self-referentially by us. It connoted a range of meanings from innocence, simplicity, to elitism, etc."

Where Are They Now: James Scherer, Yali Middle School 1946-1949
The last Yale bachelor to serve before liberation

In this year of division, isolationism, xenophobia and US-China tensions, there is something YOU can do to counter the dark news stories. Yale-China has connected with the inspirational American non-profit, StoryCorps, to launch an on-going effort to collect the stories of individual American and Chinese people working together and learning from each other.