Your Yale-China Stories

In July 2024, I boarded a plane to New Haven for the first time, carrying with me a deep passion for nursing informatics and elderly care. From the moment I arrived at Yale, language became my first real challenge. I started from the very basics — practicing daily greetings, learning how to craft an elevator speech, working through sentence structures and paragraph writing in class, and spending long hours in the library sharpening my listening and speaking skills. Slowly, English stopped feeling like a barrier and became something more — a window through which I could truly feel and understand this new world around me. Every conversation, every lecture, every debate quietly expanded the boundaries of who I was. And through it all, the Yale-China Association made sure I never felt alone. It was through the Association that I found myself hiking through hills blazing with autumn color alongside friends from across the globe, sitting in a chapel letting the resonance of a pipe organ wash over me, and laughing around a dinner table, telling stories of home in my still-imperfect English. These moments may have seemed small, but they were the quiet strength that carried me through my time far from home.

— LI Jing, Chia Health Fellow (Yale, 2024-’25)

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My name is Wu Yujiao, from the People's Hospital of Huayuan County—a remote corner of western Hunan. When I was named a 2026 Western Hunan Chia Fellow, I left my hometown with a pounding heart. The truth is, I was terrified. On my first day at the Third Xiangya Hospital, my colleague Peng Qian and I walked into Professor Xie Jianfei's research group. We didn't know what to expect. Then we saw the cake. “Welcome to Sweety Town,” the theme read. In that small, warm ritual, I felt something I had not dared to hope for: You belong here.

— WU Yujiao, Chia Health Fellow (Xinagya, 2025-'26)

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In 2019, I was fortunate to participate in a visiting program at Yale University sponsored by the Yale China Association. This precious journey left me with countless warm memories and profound inspiration. This photo perfectly captures a joyful moment from our gathering and certification ceremony. During my time at Yale, I immersed myself in an open and inclusive academic environment, exchanged ideas with outstanding scholars and kind-hearted friends from diverse backgrounds, and gained valuable insights far beyond textbooks…

— ZHENG Feng, Chia Health Fellow (Yale 2019-'20)

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— ZHANG Haiyan, Chia Health Fellow (Yale 2010)

于我而言，雅礼卫生项目带来的不仅是专业能力的提升，更有坚守基层的底气与信念。一批批湘西本土卫生工作者在项目赋能下成长起来，我们接续坚守、深耕乡土，把专业知识转化为惠民实效，持续完善乡村卫生服务，守护一方百姓健康。

从迷茫彷徨到坚定笃定，从被动履职到主动担当，我与雅礼协会卫生项目相伴同行，在山野间坚守初心、默默耕耘。未来，我也将带着这份馈赠继续前行，以微光护民生，以医者之力守护乡土安康。

— FENG Shengshi, Chia Health Fellow (Xiangya 2025-’26)

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We truly appreciate the Yale-China Association for making my visit at Yale University so warm, welcoming, and enriching—both academically and personally. Thanks to their thoughtful support, we had wonderful opportunities to join in American holiday celebrations and connect more deeply with everyday life and culture in the U.S.

— QIU Tieying, Chia Health Fellow (Yale 2024-’25)

于我而言，雅礼卫生项目带来的不仅是专业能力的提升，更有坚守基层的底气与信念。一批批湘西本土卫生工作者在项目赋能下成长起来，我们接续坚守、深耕乡土，把专业知识转化为惠民实效，持续完善乡村卫生服务，守护一方百姓健康。

从迷茫彷徨到坚定笃定，从被动履职到主动担当，我与雅礼协会卫生项目相伴同行，在山野间坚守初心、默默耕耘。未来，我也将带着这份馈赠继续前行，以微光护民生，以医者之力守护乡土安康。

— LI Xian, Chia Health Fellow (Xiangya 2013-’14)

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I got involved two decades ago, in 2006… China had expressed interest in medical education and exchange because there was no residency training program there. They only had the “barefoot doctor” as well as minimal training… We began to have exchanges of delegations coming from Changsha, China to here, as well as we were going there. Over the ensuing years we shared with them our United States model of training… In 2014 they established the Chinese Residency Training Program and that’s nationwide. Over the ensuing years, they have trained over one million residents. You have one million residents and they’re seeing thousands of patients a day. You can only imagine the impact of that.

— Barry Wu, Former Trustee

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In the winter of 2013, I arrived in New Haven as a Chia Fellow, hosted by Yale-China. There, Mr. Chia Peiyuan gathered four of us and shared the founding vision of the Chia Health Program—a vision, born years earlier, of planting seeds of health and hope across China. I still remember the cold outside, and the warmth inside that room. That seed grew into my first Chia project (2013-2014): systematically adapting behavioral activation for rural elders…

— XIE Jianfei, Chia Health Fellow (Yale 2013-’14)

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