[2]: 55–59 She was rewarded a medical scholarship by the Presbyterian Women's Missionary Society (WMS) in 1917 and began studying at the University of Toronto that fall.
[4] Chung graduated from medical school in 1922 and wrote her final exams for certification in 1923 with Ontario's College of Physicians and Surgeons.
[1]: 22 [2]: 65–67 On June 17, 1923, Dr. Chung and three others, including Dr. Robert McClure, were consecrated by minister George C. Pidgeon for overseas missionary service.
[2]: 66–67 Fourteen days later, the Chinese Exclusion Act received royal assent, precipitating Dr. Chung's choice to leave for China.
[2]: 92 [4]: 223 Dr. Chung would also give lectures and presentations at learning and faith institutions in Canada, including the Women's Missionary Society.
[1]: 23–24 [2]: 83–84 [3] In 1948 she attended the Annual Conference on Medical Missions in Washington, D.C.[2]: 117 Dr. Chung departed Victoria in late 1923 for Kongmoon, via Hong Kong.
[2]: 74 As part of the United Church's South China Mission, the WMS assigned Dr. Chung to the Marion Barclay Hospital for Women and Children in Kongmoon.
[2]: 92 Dr. Chung returned to the Mission in early 1938 and tended to refugees who'd fled to the south as a result of the Canton Operation in late 1938, with some settling in and around the hospital.
[2]: 98 Dr Chung was kept busy vaccinating the crowds against cholera, smallpox and typhus, as well as treating patients with dysentery and malaria.
The hospital had at least one British flag painted on the roof of the compound, and the Mission's location was stated to Japan several months prior to the attack on Kongmoon.
[2]: 96–99 Since Japan was not at war with Canada or the UK at the time, the Japanese were charged with paying compensation to the Mission by the British Consulate-General of Guangzhou for the damage to the hospital.
[2]: 99 Shortly after this incident, United Church officials indicated their concern about the safety of their female missionaries, with the British diplomats eventually collecting most of the women from Kongmoon and taking them to Hong Kong.
[2]: 93, 103 There were additional nurses hired with money from the salary of vacant doctor positions, and the hospital focused on providing basic services for patients.
She wrote:"Our hills have been stripped of all timber; I wish it were for as good a cause as fuel; our river front is piled high with trunks of young trees, whilst everywhere the wood problem grows more acute ... Folks have been more cautious in venturing out at all, as carriers and coolies [sic] are in demand everywhere..."[2]: 106 Despite the hardships at the hospital, there was a Christmas celebration in 1940, complete with prayers, singing and an appearance from Santa Claus.
[2]: 116 By September 1945, Japan had surrendered to the Allies and by October Marion Barclay had been cleared of Japanese forces by Chinese soldiers.
Soon there were only two Canadian WMS members in its South China Mission, Dr. Chung in Kongmoon and nurse Cairns in Guangzhou, who left by mid-1950.
Dr. Chung confided in a Christian colleague that she had not embezzled the funds but she wishes for the issue to be quickly resolved and she confessed at a district party committee.
In 1954, Dr. Chung was exonerated and she was refunded the fine she paid, which she used to buy an X-ray machine for the hospital and pay for additional nurse training.
[2]: 131 In the aftermath of the failure of the Great Leap Forward, the North Street People's Hospital sent out medical teams to rural areas surrounding Kongmoon.
[2]: 131 Although she tampered her beliefs to survive the anti-religious nature of the new Chinese state, Dr. Chung remained an elder in the local Kongmoon Church.
[2]: 10–11, 132 Her father, Sing Noon was from the village of Ng Chuen in Kaiping, arrived in British Columbia in 1881 to work on construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
[2]: 43 Chung's mother, Yin Han was born in Fujian and educated at True Light Seminary in Guangzhou, before continuing her studies at age 16 at nearby Boji Medical School in the teaching wing of Canton Hospital.
[2]: 10–11 Between January and May 1900, Yin Han paid to board herself and Victoria at the Chinese Rescue Home to learn English and partake in evangelistic work.
[2]: 40 Yin Han returned to the home in November to give birth to her second child, Chung Yan Hing, later named Herbert.
[2]: 41 After the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed in 1923, Chung's parents and younger brother, Wilson, moved to join her in Kongmoon in 1925.
[3][2]: 43 Chung and her mother were members of the Chinese Girls House Mission Band, a group that met each month for bible study and to learn about Christian missionary work worldwide.
[2]: 131 After her death, her estate was inherited by her cousin, Mei Siu, who quickly had to hide or destroy documents connecting Dr. Chung to Canada or Christianity.
In 1998 her memory was invoked by government and hospital officials in Kongmoon to convince doctors to take less money from rich clients and provide care to all.
[2]: 138 In 2008, John Price was provided with a newspaper clipping of an article about Dr. Chung, and for the next decade, he and Ningping Yu complied documents and interviews about her.
An official delegation from Victoria, B.C., including councillor Charlayne Thornton-Joe attended, and a separate assembly focusing on Dr. Chung was also held.