David Landsborough

Medical Training and Calling

David Landsborough (Chinese name Lan Dawei, 兰大卫) was born on August 2, 1870, in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland, and grew up in a devout family that valued learning. Shaped by the faith from childhood, he resolved to use medicine to serve those in hardship. He studied at the University of Glasgow and the University of Edinburgh, graduating from the University of Edinburgh's medical school in 1895. He then answered the call to overseas mission and was sent by the Presbyterian Church of England to Taiwan, then known as Formosa.

Arrival in Taiwan and Founding the Hospital

In December 1895, at only 25 years of age, Landsborough arrived in Taiwan. At first he settled in Tainan to study Taiwanese, laying the groundwork for practicing medicine among ordinary people. In 1896 he went to Changhua and founded Changhua Christian Hospital. In an age when Western medicine was still rare, he treated countless poor and sick people with skill and kindness. He worked to expand the hospital buildings, brought in running water, and carefully trained local Taiwanese doctors and nurses, so that the hospital gradually became an important teaching hospital in central Taiwan. A local saying went, “At the South Gate, the Mazu temple; at the West Gate, Dr. Lan,” showing how much the people loved and relied on him.

One in Heart

In 1912 he married Marjorie (Chinese name Lian Mayu, 连玛玉), who came from England, at the British consulate in Tamsui. From then on husband and wife, of one heart, gave themselves together to the medical and mission work in Changhua.

“Skin-Deep Love”

In 1928 a 13-year-old boy, Zhou Jinyao (周金耀), had a severe ulcer on his leg that for a long time would not grow new skin. To save this poor child, Marjorie willingly had skin taken from her own leg, which Landsborough grafted onto the boy. Although the graft ultimately failed because of rejection, after a switch to grafting with the boy's own skin and the careful nursing of the couple, the boy finally recovered. This story of self-giving to save another has been handed down as “skin-deep love” (切肤之爱) and has become one of the most moving chapters in the history of medicine and of the church in Taiwan.

Healing and Preaching

Landsborough practiced medicine and preached in Changhua for nearly 40 years, retiring and returning to Britain only in 1936. He died on October 14, 1957, in Redhill, Surrey, England, at the age of 87.

From Father to Son

Landsborough's dedication did not end with his return to Britain. His son, David Landsborough IV (Chinese name Lan Dabi, 兰大弼), followed in his father's footsteps and also became a physician. He later returned to Taiwan to carry on his father's unfinished medical work, continuing to serve the patients of Changhua. The labor of father and son, spanning two generations and two centuries and rooted in the same land, bears witness to a lasting love woven of faith and medicine, and it is still remembered today.