Ettie Len-toy Chin was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. She received her Bachelor's degree from Smith College (1936) and her Master's degree from the University of Michigan (1937). In 1937, she set out to join the Physical Education Department at Ginling College in Nanking. By the time she reached China, however, the Japanese occupation had forced the college to leave Nanking. Chin joined a unit of Ginling students in Shanghai, and in 1938 she accompanied them to Chengtu in West China, which became Ginling's home for the duration of the war. She served as Acting Head of the Physical Education Department at the Chengtu campus until 1944, when she returned to the US and joined the faculty at Smith. She served as an Assistant Professor in Smith's Physical Education Department until 1953. Chin was an active member of the Smith Alumnae Committee for Ginling for a number of years, her first-hand experience of Smith's sister college making her a valuable and popular spokesperson. In 1953, she married Edward Lim Hong, and the couple settled in Freeport, Long Island.

• Ettie Chin w/ Ginling faculty at Chengtu, 1938-39
• Ettie Chin refereeing volleyball game in Chengtu, spring 1939
• Letter from Ettie Chin, July 1938
• Smith College press release about Ettie Chin, ca. 1945

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