Kan was a little girl in Hangzhou when she joined the household of American Baptist missionaries Rev.

[1][3] Kan later attended Oberlin College in the United States,[4] to study music and education.

[6] Kan was superintendent of the Union High School kindergarten in Hangzhou.

[8] In 1921 Kan spoke about China at the Women's American Foreign Baptist Missionary Society gatherings in 1921 in Minneapolis,[9] San Francisco,[10] and New York,[11] and lectured in other American and Canadian cities.

But I don't think American children can possibly enjoy their work as Chinese youngsters do," she told audiences.