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Chinese educator From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nora Tze Hsiung Chu (1902 – 1977) was a Chinese educator. As secretary general of the National Association for Refugee Children in the 1940s, she oversaw dozens of orphanages and programs for child refugees in China.
Nora Hsiung Chu | |
|---|---|
Nora Hsiung as a young student, from a 1923 newspaper | |
| Born | 1902 |
| Died | 1977 (aged 74–75) |
| Other names | Tze Hsiung Chu, Chih Hsiung, Chu Hsiung-chih, N. T. H. Chu, Xiong Zhi, Nora Xiong |
| Alma mater | Barnard College (BA) Columbia University (MA) |
| Occupation | educator |
| Children | 5 |
| Parent | Xiong Xiling |
Hsiung was born in Hunan province in 1902 (some sources give 1900 as the date),[1] the daughter of Chinese philanthropist and politician Hsiung Shi-ling (Xiong Xiling). Her mother, Chu Ch'i-hui (Zhu Qihui), was a leader of women's and charitable organizations.[2][3] After her mother died in 1931, her father married Mao Yen-wen (1898–1999).[4]
Nora Hsiung and her sister Rose were educated in the United States.[5] Nora attended Mount Ida School, Mount Holyoke College[6][7] and Barnard College.[8][9] While in Boston, she was in the cast of two short plays produced by Chinese students to benefit Chinese relief work.[10] While she was in New York City, she was photographed doing carpentry ahead of the 1925 Oriental Bazaar, a benefit for the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.[11] She received a bachelor's degree at Barnard in 1926; she also earned a master's degree in 1927 from Teachers College Columbia University.[12][3]
On her return to China, Nora Hsiung Chu served on the staff of the National College of Rural Reconstruction.[3] She toured European and American child welfare programs and gave a series of lectures in China about what she found, and how Western ideas might be adapted for Chinese use.[13]
In 1942, Chu became secretary general of the National Association for Refugee Children, an organization directed by Soong Mei-ling and based in Chongqing during and after World War II.[12] Chu was responsible for overseeing dozens of orphanages, schools, and programs for child refugees.[14][15][16] She was described as "the leading Chinese child-welfare specialist" after she chaired a national conference in Shanghai in 1946.[17] She went to the United Kingdom on a United Nations fellowship in 1949.[18]
Chu was living in Taiwan when she served on the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women when it met in Geneva, Switzerland in 1956.[19] Later that year, she crossed the United States, visiting educators in New York City, Washington, D.C., Cincinnati, West Lafayette, Berkeley, and Seattle along the way.[18] In 1967, Chu attended the World Girl Guide Association meeting in Canada.[20] She participated in the Regional Meeting of Teacher Educators in Asia, held in The Philippines in 1969.[21]
Nora Hsiung married Chu Ling (also known as Lynn Chu), a Chinese air force officer. They had five children;[18][22] four of their children lived their adult lives in the United States, and the fifth lived in Taiwan.[23][24] Her husband was director of the Astronautical Society of the Republic of China, and was involved in international meetings on the "peaceful uses of space".[25][26] She died in 1977, aged 75 years.[27]
Her younger sister, Rose Hsiung, married British author Robert Payne in 1942; they divorced in 1951.[28] Her granddaughter Linda Hsiung Dech[24] was a founder of the Minnesota Breastfeeding Coalition, and in 2019 became executive director of the Minnesota Milk Bank for Babies.[29][30]
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