In the spring of 2024, within the library of Smith College in Massachusetts, United States, Huang Yao carefully examined an 18-year archival record. As she read through the handwritten diaries, she traced the historical texts that documented the very foundations of her own family history.
The diaries belonged to Ruth V Hemenway, an American physician who arrived in Fujian province, China, in 1924 and spent nearly two decades providing medical services. During her time there, she adopted a month-old Chinese baby girl named Hua Sing — Huang's grandmother.
Following Huang's dedicated two-year effort to translate the manuscript, the doctor's words have officially completed their journey home. On June 30, 2026, as a summer breeze swept through the historic mountain resort of Kuliang in Fuzhou, descendants, historians, and international guests gathered to witness the launch of the Chinese edition of Ruth V. Hemenway, M.D.: A Memoir of Revolutionary China 1924-1941, released ahead of its nationwide distribution in July by Sichuan People's Publishing House.
"To a stranger, these pages tell a story; to me, they trace the road that led my grandmother Hua Sing into being," Huang says.
"Through her life, my grandmother passed on to me the luminance that Dr Hemenway first kindled, and through this book, I hope to pass it on to many more."
