The Woolston Memorial Hospital was a Christian hospital in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and the first of its kind in

Fuzhou Fuzhou is the capital of Fujian, China. The city lies between the Min River (Fujian), Min River estuary to the south and the city of Ningde to the north. Together, Fuzhou and Ningde make up the Eastern Min, Mindong linguistic and cultural regi ...

History

The Woolston Memorial Hospital was formed from the expansion of a small

nese clinic run by a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

missionary within the walled city. It was located near Crow Pagoda Park in Gulou (). Originally, the hospital only accepted members of Christian churches to study on the medical course, however this rule was lifted in 1906 and a standard exam was put in place. Of the four girls to pass the exam in 1906, three were not Christian. In 1907, the head physician was forced to rest due to serious illness and it was suggested that the hospital should be closed. However, the physicians sister insisted that the hospital remain open for the public and its reputation slowly recovered under her management. As a Christian hospital, the Woolston held regular services and sought to convert its patients and visitors. A report made to the Foochow Woman's Conference of the

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself nationally. In 1939, th ...

in 1915 records 30 new

baptisms Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...

, 20 new full church members, and a total of 1,252 women who had been taken to the nearby church. The staff also campaigned against foot-binding and made an annual report of the number of women who had been persuaded to unbind their feet. In January 1927, thieves broke into the hospital and set fire to it. The entire building was burnt down. A Woolston Memorial

Dispensary A dispensary is an office in a school, hospital, industrial plant, or other organization that dispenses medications, medical supplies, and in some cases even medical and dental treatment. In a traditional dispensary set-up, a pharmacist dispense ...

opened in 1930 in Longtian village () and at the Lucie F. Harrison Hospital, both in neighbouring

Fuqing (，Foochow Romanized: Hók-chiăng; also romanized as Hokchia) is a coastal county-level city under the jurisdiction of Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian Province, China. Covering 1,432 square kilometers and home to over 1.46 million residents ( ...

Capacity

The table below shows the number of in-patients and home-visits attended by Woolston hospital staff over 16 years of Hü King Eng's management.

Notable staff

* Hü King Eng * Hü Seuk Eng (), younger sister of Hü King Eng and one of the first local

nese to train at Woolston

References

Notes

Works cited

* * * * * *{{cite journal , title=独立修志气，悬壶济妇孺——中国近代女医生许金訇 , trans-title=Independently cultivating resolve, practising medicine to help women and children: modern China's female doctor Xu Jinhong , language=Chinese , last1=Lin 林 , first1=Yujian 语尘 , journal=Mindu Wenhua , date=2015 , number=2 , pages=48–52 , ref={{sfnref, Lin, 2015 Hospitals established in 1899 Christian hospitals Defunct hospitals in China