Yau Tsit Law (1888-1961) was a Chinese Christian educator, and one of the first Chinese women to graduate from Mount Holyoke College.
Early life and education Yau Tsit Law attended the True Light Seminary in Canton, where her mother was the principal."Who's Who at the Annual Meeting?" Life and Light for Woman (November 1916): 474. In 1912 she traveled to the United States for college, one of the first women sent by the Chinese government for an American college education."First Women Students from China Arrive" Chillicothe Gazette (August 31, 1912): 2. via Newspapers.com She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1916,M. I. Han, "Mt. Holyoke" Chinese Students Monthly (November 1916): 64. and pursued graduate studies at Columbia University.Edith R. Peyser, "The Spiritual Freight of Miss Yau Tsit Law" World Outlook (July 1917): 15.
Career After she returned to China, Yau Tsit Law taught and was principal of the True Light Middle School of Hong Kong.About True Light: History , True Light Middle School of Hong Kong. Beyond school work, she was the general secretary of the YWCA in Guangzhou. In that capacity, she attended the first Institute of Pacific Relations conference in July 1925, held in Honolulu, Hawaii.Karen Garner, Precious Fire: Maud Russell and the Chinese Revolution (University of Massachusetts Press 2003): 73. She gave a talk there, on "Canton Women in Business and the Professions".Yau Tsit Law, "Canton Women in Business and the Professions" News Bulletin (Institute of Pacific Relations) (December 1926): 11-12."China is Filled with Optimism for Future, Says Woman Delegate" Honolulu Star-Bulletin (June 22, 1925): 1. via Newspapers.com In 1927 she was appointed dean of women at Lingnan University."Dean of Chinese College" El Paso Herald (January 8, 1927): 7. via Newspapers.com
Yau Tsit Law was awarded an honorary doctorate by Mount Holyoke College in 1937,Mount Holyoke College Archives, Honorary Degrees by Name . at its centennial celebration.Louis M. Lyons, "Rights Denied, Women Charge" Daily Boston Globe (May 9, 1937): B1. One of Law's students at True Light Seminary, Jane Kwong Lee, served as coordinator of the Chinese YWCA in San Francisco, California, from 1935 to 1944.Judy Yung, Unbound Voices: A Documentary History of Chinese Women in San Francisco (University of California press 1999): 229.
References
External links Another photograph of Yau Tsit Law, taken in 1913 during her time at Mount Holyoke College, from the Mount Holyoke Archives and Special Collections.