Betty Chandler

Betty Chandler (born May 6, 1915 in Winnipeg , Manitoba , † May 3, 2006 in Beijing ), with a Chinese name of Chen Bidi ( Chinese  陳必弟  /  陈必弟 , Pinyin Chén Bìdì ), was a nutritionist and lecturer. She moved to China, became a member of the Chinese Communist Party , became a Chinese citizen, and became a member of the National Political Consultative Conference of the Chinese People (NPKKV).

biography

Betty Chandler was born in Winnipeg, Canada in 1915 and moved to Eugene , Oregon , USA with her parents when she was seven . In 1936 she came to Lingnan University in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou as an exchange student . When the war of resistance against Japan began in 1937, she gave up her studies in Guangzhou and did not return to the USA as planned, but traveled to Beiping (now Beijing) via Hong Kong , Shanghai and Nanjing . Together with other foreigners, she cared for Chinese injured people. She bought photos of Chinese victims of Japanese aggression from a US journalist and smuggled them from occupied territory to the US, where they were published in newspapers.

Upon her return to the United States, Betty Chandler graduated in 1938 and began training in nutrition at the University of Michigan Hospital. There she met Zhāng Jìzhèng 张纪 正 know, who studied at the Institute for Thoracic Surgery of the same hospital. They married and later had five children.

In October 1940, Betty Chandler followed Zhāng Jìzhèng to China, settled in Tianjin and taught English at Hebei University. It welcomed the founding of the People's Republic of China in October 1949.

In 1961, Betty Chandler became editor of English-language publications at the publishing house for foreign-language literature in Beijing and in 1963 took Chinese citizenship.

After the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, she traveled eleven times to the United States to visit relatives.

Betty Chandler became a member of the 6th, and subsequently the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th National Political Consultative Conferences of the Chinese People in 1983, an office she held until her death.

On May 3rd, 2006 at 7:51 am, she passed away in Beijing at the age of 91. On May 11, 2006, she was buried in the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery in Beijing.

Web links

• CPPCC members celebrate 90th birthday ( News Guangdong )
• Chén Bìdì: Zhōngguó shì wǒde dì-èr gùxiāng 陈必弟 ： 中国 是 我 的 第二 故乡 ( People Daily )
• Zhōngguó rénmín de lǎopéngyou Chén Bìdì tóngzhì zài Jīng shìshì - xiǎngnián 91 suì 中国 人民 的 老朋友 陈必弟 同志 在 京 逝世 享年 91 岁 ( China Internet Information Center )