CHENGDU’S health care sector is largely indebted to a small group of foreign doctors. These volunteers came to Chengdu in the 1890s and early 1900s. Some stayed for decades. They introduced modern medicine to the city and its people. They also established hospitals and schools, including West China Union University, which is known today as West China Medical Center of Sichuan University.

Here are some stories about the foreigners who helped shape Chengdu’s health care sector more than a century ago.

Omar Kilborn

Canadian Omar Kilborn was one of the six founders of West China Union University. He graduated as a medical doctor from Queen’s University in Canada and arrived in Chengdu in 1892. He worked as chairman of the university’s council and dean of its medical school.

He and his wife, Retta Kilborn, volunteered to come to China, first reaching Shanghai in 1891 as members of the Canadian Volunteer Team. When arriving in Chengdu, he swore to reduce the pain of Chengdu people and establish the first Western-style hospital in the city.

The couple initially rented some houses on Sishengci Street and opened a small clinic, where they treated missionaries, Christians and a few locals. Later on, the clinic became famous among some officials. They provided Kilborn with the funds to build a four-floor medical building featuring 120 beds. Renji Hospital opened in 1913. It was the best equipped hospital in Sichuan Province and also the medical and academic center of Christian churches in the province.

In 1919, Kilborn took a vacation back to his hometown in Canada. He caught pneumonia and died at the age of 53. His wife Retta continued to work as a doctor in Chengdu until she returned to Canada in her 70s. Renji Hospital later became today’s Chengdu No. 2 People’s Hospital.

Joseph Beech

Joseph Beech was a missionary from Pennsylvania of the US with a doctoral degree in philosophy. He graduated in 1899 and traveled to China later that year, eventually helping to open more than 100 schools around Sichuan. He opened Zengjiayan School, his first school, with his own money.

In 1910, Beech and five colleagues established the West China Union University. He became the university’s first principal after serving in the same capacity at Chengdu Huamei Middle School.

While most new universities placed a priority on hiring teachers, Beech took a different direction. He wanted to enlarge the campus and buy good equipment. While he was principal, over 20 teaching buildings and more than 50 dormitory buildings were constructed. The campus buildings, which combine Chinese and Western styles, were listed as cultural heritage buildings by the Chengdu government in 2001.

From 1913 to 1942, Beech traveled around Asia and America. He raised US$4 million and a huge amount of teaching materials for the university. He also made friends with high-ranking Chinese government officials and businessmen to collect money for the university.

He retired as principal in 1930, but still worked at the university. In 1946, before he returned to America, the Kuomintang government presented Beech an honorary medal  in gratitude for the contributions he made to the city. He died in 1954.

Deniel Dye

Daniel Dye, who had a PhD in science, was one of the six founders of West China Union University and also the founder of the school’s museum.

He worked at Shanghai Lujiang University in 1908. One year later he moved to Chengdu, where he lived for 40 years. He had served five terms as the dean of the West China Union University’s College of Science. The second and third principals of the university, Zhang Linggao and Fang Shuxuan, were both his students.

Dye also made great contributions in the fields of archeology and art.

While the university was under construction,  Dye began studying the geography, climate and plants in Chengdu. He even published a thesis on Chengdu’s underground water system and solar radiation. He became a member of the Royal Society of Geography of Britain in 1943.

He also collected a lot of wood carvings and wall paintings, especially the designs of traditional Chinese windowpanes. He became a specialist on the subject with a collection of more than 6,000 patterns. Oxford University once published a book detailing the collection.

Dye also established the Museum of the West China Union University, which is now known as Sichuan University Museum.

Dye married one of his college classmates in Chengdu in 1919. His wife Gene was principal of Tongchuan Middle School for Girls. She later worked with her husband in the department of mathematics and physics. The couple spent the next 30 years in Chengdu until their retirement.

Ashley Lindsay

Ashley Lindsay from Quebec, Canada, was a professor of oral surgery at West China Union University. He was honored as the “Father of Stomatology” due to his great contributions in this field.

Lindsay and his wife arrived in Chengdu in 1907 after he applied to authorities to be a dentist in China. He was the first missionary dentist in China.

His days in Chengdu were not smooth at first. He didn’t know the language, and his colleagues doubted his ability since general medical practitioners were favored over specialists such as dentists. Many of his foreign colleagues even tried to persuade him to return home.

Fortunately, Lindsay met Kilborn, who provided him with a clinic to treat missionaries at Renji Hospital. News of his excellent skill soon spread among the public and within a year he was receiving more patients.

After three years in Chengdu, Lindsay received permission from the church to set up an independent dental hospital. Some years later, West China Union University established the Dentistry College on the basis of Lindsay's clinic. It was the first higher educational institute of modern dentistry in China.

Lindsay worked as the head of the dental hospital and the dentistry college until he left in 1950. He was also promoted to executive deputy head of school affairs in 1941.

In his 43 years in Chengdu, Lindsay treated thousands of patients, including some celebrities, such as He Long, a Chinese military leader.