First impression
David Duncan Main was born in 1856 in Ayrshire, Western Scotland. His father is a man full of humor and his mother is a very religious woman. He left school at the age of 16 as the head boy and medalist. Believing in universal values and kindness he went to China as a medical missionary with his wife in 1881 to lead the Guangji Hospital in Hangzhou, which is known today as the Second Affiliated Hospital Zhejiang University School of Medicine (SAHZU).
Medical Degree Certificate
Mr. and Ms. Main.
Diploma in Gynecology, Obstetrics and Paediatrics.
Wedding photo 1881
After they arrived, they learned Hangzhou is a great place called “the heaven below”. However, after the Taiping rebellion, the city became “hell on earth”. Dr. Main have seen nothing to compare in hideousness with the streets of Hangchow as he first saw them on that forenoon.
Two bearers carried a lord, Hangchou, 1897
“What I did see was a merry twinkle in Dr. Main’s bright eyes, a distinctly shut mouth, as if no word could he speak until his lungs were filled again with something purer than that which they were then breathing, for he knew that to breathe through the nose under such circumstances was the only thing to do. ” ~ Arthur Elwin, Senior missionary
Pull a cart with an ox, Hangchou, 1917, Sidney Gambo.