Yu was trained in western medicine in Suzhou, which she practiced briefly.
As a Bible woman, Yu and Josephine Campbell in 1897 became the first two female medical missionaries from the Southern Methodist Church to do work in Korea.
[1] After working in Korea for six years, Yu returned to China and became a well-known revivalist preacher.
She was invited to preach in many parts of China and, in 1927, spoke at the Keswick Convention in northern England.
Her preaching was said to have had a great impact on many Chinese, who devoted their lives to Christian work.