Your Yale-China Stories

Your stories and experiences reflect the depth and breadth of relationships we've built around the globe for 125 years. From classroom exchanges to medical collaborations, from cultural programs to lifelong friendships, these connections continue to strengthen ties between our people around the globe. You can read your fellow community members' stories here and see the remarkable ways Yale-China has shaped lives and careers across generations.

 
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Hume Family
Community
A Legacy Forged in Changsha: Reflections on Yale-China’s 125th Anniversary
Hume Family
Community

There are moments when history ceases to be a collection of dates and becomes something you feel in your bones. For me, that moment arrives every time I step off the plane in Changsha. The humid air, the surge of the Xiang River, and the modern skyline stand as testament to a city reborn. Yet beneath that modernity, I walk in the footsteps of giants. As great-grandson of Dr. Edward Hicks Hume, founder of what would become the Xiangya Hospital system, my life has been a series of bridges between a distant family past and the living, breathing Chinese present. As Yale-China celebrates its 125th anniversary in 2026, I find myself reflecting on the invisible ties that bind a Yale graduate from 1897 to the bustling Changsha of today.

— Nathan Shroyer, great-grandson of Dr. Edward Hicks Hume

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Hume Family
Community
A Profound and Long-Lasting Positive Influence
Community
A Profound and Long-Lasting Positive Influence
Community

My parents attended Yale-in-China in the late 1930s, during the turmoil of the Japanese invasion of China. That both families chose to enroll their offspring to a missionary-founded middle school and then to Hua Chung amid ongoing conflict and economic hardship speaks to the vision of both sets of my grandparents… The years at Hua Chung had a profound and long-lasting positive influence on my parents.  The classmates maintained life-long friendships—well into their elderly years—even after emigrating to the States and Europe. 

— Florence Ling Myers

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Community
Yale-China, the Bridge Between Dr. Edmund H. Worthy, and Me
Community
Yale-China, the Bridge Between Dr. Edmund H. Worthy, and Me
Community

“Edmund (Ed) Henry Worthy, Jr. – educator, non-profit leader, and museum executive – died on March 27, 2021 from metastatic cancer.”

This is the beginning of the obituary written by Mr. Worthy himself.

In the fall of 1963, at New Asia College, (part of the Chinese University of Hong Kong), I met Mr. Edmund H. Worthy, who assisted me to overcome my language challenges as a Freshman in the English Department. My encounter with Mr. Worthy not only changed my dismal outlook on my future study in the Department, but also inspired me with the meanings of volunteerism in everyone’s life…

— Shiu-Fong (Ng, née) Tse

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Community
Family Ties Expanded Around the Globe
Host Family
Community
Family Ties Expanded Around the Globe
Host Family
Community

This year marks the 10th year our family has been hosts/ambassadors for the Chinese teaching Fellows and the YUNA visitors in New Haven. We have so many favorite memories of holidays and conversations and time shared. Doing so many 'firsts' like Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, sledding, skiing, skating, baking, hiking and so much more. Each of the Fellows has enriched our lives and we feel like we have 25 more 'family members.' We have travelled to China for a Fellow's wedding and visits, have celebrated the birth of new babies and watched (from here) the full lives of each Fellow. Thanks to Yale China for entrusting our family all these years and for expanding our family ties around the globe. All the best on this amazing milestone anniversary -- here's to another 125!

— The Judd Family

Host Family
Community
Lifelong Bonds Over a Decade
Host Family
Community
Lifelong Bonds Over a Decade
Host Family
Community

When Kim and Mike Rogers began hosting Yale-China Teaching Fellows in 2012, they expected to offer little more than a spare room and some home-cooked meals. Instead, they built lifelong bonds with dozens of Fellows, weaving them into family holidays, traditions, and trips to China. More than a decade later, the connections have grown so deep that one Fellow's daughter—born on Thanksgiving Day—calls Kim her 'American grandmother.'

— The Rogers Family

Host Family
Community