Chen Tsui-Yu (Photograph courtesy of Li Chin-Jung and Avanguard Publishing)

Chen Tsui-Yu (Stella Chen Landauer) was born into a Christian family in Homei, Changhua, on February 9, 1917, during Japanese rule of Taiwan. When she was seven, her father passed away from illness, and her mother took on the responsibility of raising their seven children. Chen's mother placed great importance on the children's education. Having learned modern ideas from foreign missionaries, the mother did not discriminate against her daughters in favor of the sons, and led them in volunteering at the church. As a result, Chen developed a desire to serve others from a young age.

 

 

Undergoing solid training in Japan

After graduating from Shōka (Changhua) Girls' Secondary School, Chen helped at her uncle's hospital in Amoy, China. Seeing the city’s dirty streets, she wondered how an environment’s sanitation could be improved. Back in Taiwan, Chen consulted with Dr. David Landsborough III, a medical missionary at her church. Landsborough recommended her to the Rockefeller Foundation-spon-sored St. Luke’s Women’s College in Japan, where four years later Chen obtained qualifications in nursing, midwifery, public health, and nurse training. Her diligence and fluent English made a deep impression on the Japanese.

 

 

Investigating the public-health situation in Taiwan

After another year of employment in Japan, Chen returned to Taiwan in 1942 and was appointed a director at Taihoku (Taipei) Health Center with the rank of a Taiwan Government-General technical specialist. She investigated the public-health situation in Taiwan, founded a training center for nurses specializing in public health, and taught the trainees English using children's books. When the Pacific War broke out, she organized training of field-hospital nurses and response teams made of middle schoolers. She also assisted in the handover of the estate of her alma mater, Shōka Girls' Secondary School, following Japan’s defeat.

 

 

Endeavoring in multiple capacities

By 1946, Chen was holding several positions: the secretary-general of Taiwan Provincial Government’s Department of Health; the head of the nursing department at the Provincial Taipei Hospital; and a consultant for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA).

In that same year, she set up mobile medical teams to care for the health of people in remote, mountainous regions. 

She then hosted in Taipei an international nursing conference sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO). She rotated nursing supervisors from hospitals across Taiwan to the Provincial Taipei Hospital, where they went through an on-the-job, UNRRA-accredited course in nursing administration, so as to instigate nationwide reforms in that area. Furthermore, she helped Taiwan's health-center system take form by training public health-minded doctors and nurses for these centers. Finally, she founded the Provincial Taipei Medical Vocational High School as part of the nursing education system she designed for Taiwan.

 

 

From the brink of death to a North American baccalaureate

In summer 1946, cholera broke out in Putai, Chiayi. Chen led her team south and controlled the epidemic successfully. During the process, however, some of her superiors were offended, and put Chen on the list of persons to be executed as the February 28 incident raged. Fortunately, the WHO offered a scholarship in time, allowing her to leave the country to study nursing education at the University of Toronto. She became the first Taiwanese nurse receiving a North American degree.

 

 

Toward "parallel management of doctors and nurses"

Once it was safe for her repatriation, Chen accepted the invitation to serve as the director of the National Taiwan University (NTU) Hospital's nursing department, with a mandate to reform the hospital. Taking European and American systems as models, she carried out modernizing reforms in nursing and healthcare, advocating "parallel management of doctors and nurses." Despite facing numerous obstacles, she persevered.

Chen implemented a three-shift system for the nurses to ensure their occupational safety. She sent nurses abroad for further studies on WHO or Council for United States Aid grants. In addition, she centralized the management of operating theaters, laboratories, and supply rooms within the hospital, while setting up separate maternity wards, delivery rooms, nurseries, and infant-formula kitchens. She reorganized the hospital’s nutrition department, requesting that the doctors prescribe diets based on patient conditions. She also dedicated staff to public health and social services to provide patients with more comprehensive care.

 

 

With the NTU Nursing School

The hospital reforms partially over, Chen turned her attention to establishing the NTU Nursing School. 60 students, including 10 male, were admitted as the first cohort. The school required them to complete its rigorous curriculum in three years instead of four as in the US. Chen designated the first semester after enrollment as a trial period, and a capping ceremony was held for the students who survived the trial.

Chen valued student attendance and strictly required appropriate attire. In the classroom, she encouraged students to express their opinions and raise questions whenever they had any. At the end of a semester, she also asked students to provide feedback on their teachers' performance.

 

 

Framed and self-exiledl

In 1954, Chen took another scholarship from the WHO and went to Boston University for a master's in nursing administration. Upon returning, she was unexpectedly framed for embezzlement by some faculty members at the NTU Nursing School. The Taipei District Court found her guilty of embezzlement and corruption, leading to her dismissal and house arrest. Though finally acquitted after five trials in three years, a disheartened Chen decided to resign from all her positions anyway. The NTU Nursing School ceased enrollment in 1957 and was eventually closed in 1959.

The WHO once again extended a helping hand, appointing Chen a consultant on nursing education and administration for the Pan American Health Organization. Before going to work in a given Latin American or Caribbean country, Chen would learn the local language to facilitate communication. In this part of the world using her expertise, she helped various governments eradicate diseases that were stubbornly infectious, and improved the education and status of nurses.
Chen (second from right) and Eric Landauer (center) in front of their residence in Puerto Rico. (Photograph courtesy of Li Chin-Jung and Avanguard Publishing)

 

Turning to Taiwanese women's democracy movement

In retirement from the WHO, Chen was active in the Formosan Association for Public Affairs and the Formosan Association for Human Rights, both based in the US. Believing that "a man educated is one person educated, but a woman educated is a whole family educated," she founded the Women's Movement for Democracy in Taiwan, a global organization cultivating female leaders in democracy and fighting for the right of Taiwanese nationals, blacklisted or not, to return home freely.

 

 

A Taiwanese forever

In July 1988, Chen, herself on the blacklist, finally overcame the obstacles thrown at her and obtained a visa in Singapore for returning to Taiwan to attend a meeting of the World Federation of Taiwanese Associations. On August 20, however, she succumbed to health issues exacerbated by the long journey home and passed away in the NTU Hospital.

Chen Tsui-Yu made significant contributions to public health and nursing in Taiwan, and her legacy deserves to be remembered. Her story, which had once been suppressed, has now come to light.