Li Bi Cu

Li Bi Cu (born c. 1881)[1] was a Chinese medical doctor who studied in the United States who established hospitals in China.

"Then was seen the strange combination of a Chinese Christian woman caring for an injured Slav in an American baggage car," a Kentucky newspaper observed in 1913.

In China, Li gave "much of her time to educating district nurses so they can go into the homes of Chinese mothers and help them in the care of sick children," the paper said.

[7][4] In May 1912 Li, who was in Delaware for graduate study, was also the first woman lay delegate ever to attend the U.S. Methodist Episcopal General Conference in Minneapolis, representing Fuzhou.

[3] Before returning to China, Li was received cordially by President Theodore Roosevelt in May 1905 when she called on him to pay her respects.

[11] In Fujian, she began her professional career at Nugeheng, where a hospital was built and furnished by the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society under her supervision; in 1907 it was dedicated for the healing of women and children.

The missionaries used to laugh at me when I told them that, but it is literally true; and even after I learned the language and have been speaking it for years[,] English still reminds me of the mysterious and mutual chirping and chattering of the birds.