Main description:

When Mabel (Chu, Cho-Shin) Tow (1914-1999), one of the first Chinese women to practice medicine in China and the United States, shares her story with us, we may experience "the tender gravity of kindness" (the generative transmission of her lineage). That lineage becomes Tow's blend of Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Christianity. Mabel Tow was a boundary-crosser by being a Christian in China and a Chinese woman in America. In this reflective work, eight authors share their unique author-reader relationships with Strange Kindness as they dramatize further how Tow crossed the boundaries of gender, culture, religion, language, tradition, and medical practices. They vividly illustrate Tow's lineage-in-transmission, moving all into "tikkum olam," the poetic act of repairing the world.

Contents:

Part 1 Foreword Part 2 Preface Part 3 Acknowledgements Chapter 4 Introduction Part 5 I: Strange Kindness Part 6 II: Strange Kindness Commentaries Chapter 7 Benevolence, Courage, Humility, and Keen Observation: Tow's Classical Chinese Medical Arts Chapter 8 Reading Strange Kindness from Confucian and Taoist Perspectives Chapter 9 Harmony of Kindness and Strange: Reading Strange Kindness through the Lenses of Holistic, Western Medical Art and Poetry Therapy Chapter 10 Little Bamboo: A Five-Element Study of a Life Fully Lived Chapter 11 Heart-mind Biopoetics and Tow's Moon Door Chapter 12 Mabel Cho-Shin Tow Part 13 Author Biographies