Shiu-Ying Hu, BBS (; 22 February 1910 – 22 May 2012), or Hu Xiuying, was a Chinese botanist. She was an expert in the plant genera of ''

Ilex ''Ilex'' () or holly is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen or ...

'' (Aquifoliaceae), ''

Hemerocallis A daylily, day lily or ditch-lily is a flowering plant in the genus ''Hemerocallis'' , a member of the family Asphodelaceae, subfamily Hemerocallidoideae, native to Asia. Despite the common name, it is not taxonomically classified in the lily gen ...

'' (Amaryllidaceae), and ''

Panax The ''Panax'' (ginseng) genus belongs to the Araliaceae (ivy) Family (biology), family. ''Panax'' species are characterized by the presence of ginsenosides and gintonin. ''Panax'' is one of approximately 60 plant genera with a classical disjunct ...

'' (Araliaceae). She studied the families

Orchidaceae Orchids are plants that belong to the family (biology), family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan plants that ...

Compositae Asteraceae () is a large family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchidaceae, and which is the larger fa ...

, and

Malvaceae Malvaceae (), or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include Theobroma cacao, cacao, Cola (plant), cola, cotton, okra, Hibiscus sabdariffa, ...

, and Chinese

medicinal herbs Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including defense and protection ...

and food plants. She was given the nickname "Holly Hu" by her colleagues for her extensive work with holly plants.

Life

Hu was born in 1910 to a farm family in a Chinese village near the city of

Xuzhou Xuzhou ( zh, s=徐州), also known as Pengcheng () in ancient times, is a major city in northwestern Jiangsu province, China. The city, with a recorded population of 9,083,790 at the 2020 Chinese census, 2020 census (3,135,660 of which lived in ...

Jiangsu province Jiangsu is a coastal province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the third smallest, but the fifth most populous, with a population of 84. ...

. She received her B.Sc. in Biology from

Ginling College Ginling College (), also known by its pinyin romanization as Jinling College or Jinling Women's College, is a women's college of Nanjing Normal University in Nanjing, China. It offers both bachelor's and master's degrees. It offers six underg ...

(now part of

Nanjing Normal University Nanjing Normal University (NJNU; zh, p=Nánjīng Shīfàn Dàxué, c=, s=南京师范大学) is a provincial public university in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. It is affiliated with the Province of Jiangsu, and co-sponsored by the Ministry of Educati ...

) and M.Sc. in Biology from Lingnan University (now part of

Sun Yat-sen University Sun Yat-sen University (; SYSU) is a public university in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education, and co-funded by the Ministry of Education, SASTIND, and Guangdong Provincial Government. The university is p ...

). In 1946 Hu traveled to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

to pursue a Ph.D. in Botany at

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...

. Her supervisor was

Elmer Drew Merrill Elmer Drew Merrill (October 15, 1876 – February 25, 1956) was an American botanist and taxonomist. He spent more than twenty years in the Philippines where he became a recognized authority on the flora of the Asia-Pacific region. Through ...

. In 1949 she became the second Chinese woman to receive a doctoral degree in botany from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, the first being Luetta Hsiu-Ying Chen (陳秀英, 1910-1949), who received her Ph.D. degree in 1942. After earning her Ph.D., Hu worked as a research botanist at the

Arnold Arboretum The Arnold Arboretum is a botanical research institution and free public park affiliated with Harvard University and located in the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale, Massachusetts, Roslindale neighborhoods of Boston. Established in 1872, it is the ...

. In 1968 she took the post of Senior Lecturer in the Department of Biology at

CUHK The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public research university in Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong. Established in 1963 as a federation of three collegesChung Chi College, New Asia College, and United College, it is Hong Ko ...

, which Hu held until her retirement in 1975. She continued to carry out research during her retirement both at the CUHK Herbarium and the

Harvard University Herbaria The Harvard University Herbaria and Botanical Museum are institutions located on the grounds of Harvard University at 22 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Botanical Museum is one of three which comprise the Harvard Museum of Natura ...

. Over the course of her career she produced over 160 academic treatises, collected over 30,000 specimens, and published the 800-page encyclopedia ''Food Plants of China''.''Food Plants of China''
accessed 26 January 2015.

Death

On 22 May 2012, Hu died at the age of 102 from

kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as renal failure or end-stage renal disease (ESRD), is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney fa ...

caused by

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

at the

Prince of Wales Hospital Prince of Wales Hospital is a regional acute government hospital located in Sha Tin, New Territories in Hong Kong, China. It is also a teaching hospital of the Faculty of Medicine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Named after Ki ...

Sha Tin Sha Tin, also spelt Shatin, is a neighbourhood along Shing Mun River in the eastern New Territories, Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the Sha Tin District. Sha Tin is one of the neighbourhoods of the Sha Tin New Town project. The new ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

''Tree Song''

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (November 15, 2022)Classic Connection review, ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...

attributes his piece ''Tree Song for Violin and Orchestra'' in a large part to Hu. The first movement of the piece is entitled "Dr. Hu and the Meta-Sequoia". He described the following experience in his note for the premiere in 2000:

During our stroll we casually paused in front of a large tree that I hadn't looked at closely enough to recognize immediately. Pointing to the tree, Dr. Hu explained that this tree was the oldest metasequoia in North America and that she had planted it in the late 1940s using seeds she had brought with her from China. I was thunderstruck by this coincidence, and when I told her of “my” metasequoia in the Public Garden she informed me that the younger tree I loved so much was also one of her children.

Awards and recognition

* 1962, botanist Paclt named in her honour, '' Shiuyinghua'', which is a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s from

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

belonging to the family

Paulowniaceae Paulowniaceae are a Family (biology), family of flowering plants within the Lamiales. They are a monophyletic and monogeneric family of trees with currently 7 confirmed species. They were formerly placed within Scrophulariaceae ''sensu lato'', or ...

. * 1992: Shiu-Ying Hu Award * 2001:

Bronze Bauhinia Star The Bronze Bauhinia Star (, BBS) is the lowest rank in Order of the Bauhinia Star, under the honours system of Hong Kong, created in 1997 to replace the British honours system In the United Kingdom and the British Overseas Territories, pers ...

* 2002:

Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public university, public research university in Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong. Established in 1963 as a federation of three university college, collegesChung Chi College, New Asia Coll ...

Honorary Fellowship * 2003: "Outstanding Chinese" in ''Success Stories'' produced by

RTHK Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the public broadcasting service of Hong Kong. GOW, the predecessor to RTHK, was established in 1928 as the first broadcasting service in Hong Kong. As a government department under the Commerce and Econom ...

* 2010: Named one of the top ten ''Loving Hearts of Hong Kong'' by

ATV Home ATV Home () was a free-to-air Cantonese television channel in Hong Kong, owned and operated by Asia Television. It was formed in September 1963 as a result of the split of the bilingual Rediffusion Television subscription service (which was pri ...

References

External links

Condolences on death of Hu
cuhk.edu.hk; accessed 26 January 2015.

; accessed 26 January 2015.
Profile
boston.com; accessed 26 January 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hu, Shiu-Ying 1910 births 2012 deaths Chinese women botanists 20th-century Chinese botanists Chinese taxonomists Chinese women centenarians Hong Kong women centenarians Sun Yat-sen University alumni Radcliffe College alumni Academic staff of the Chinese University of Hong Kong Deaths from kidney failure Deaths from pneumonia in Hong Kong Scientists from Xuzhou Recipients of the Bronze Bauhinia Star Harvard University faculty Biologists from Jiangsu 20th-century Chinese women educators 20th-century Chinese educators Educators from Xuzhou