William Yu-Hwa Wei

Sino-Japanese War, the Second World War, and the Chinese Civil War, became a member of

the Chinese Kuomintang Nationalist Party as a teenager, fled as a refugee from Shanghai to

Taiwan in 1949, and immigrated to the United States in 1969 – died on Sunday in Skokie,

Illinois. He was 93.

Yu-Hwa was in Shanghai in May 1949, when the Communists began their campaign to take the

city. Without enough money for a ticket, he escaped to Taiwan by sneaking onto a ship. In

Taiwan, he studied at National Taiwan University and became a professor of political science at

National Chung Hsing University, where he specialized in Dr. Sun Yat-Sen and his teachings.

He married his first wife, Su-Chen Chang, in 1954, and had a daughter, Grace. The couple

divorced, but maintained a good relationship.

Yu-Hwa married his second wife, Judy Sho-Ho Chen, in 1970, and they immigrated to the

United States. He had two more children, a son, Dean, and daughter, Helen. In the United

States, he owned and ran a Chinese restaurant, which was first opened in Elmwood Park and

then relocated to downtown Skokie for twenty years.

To some, Yu-Hwa was simply a restauranteur, but to the Chinese-American community, as well

as Chinese and Taiwanese academics and government officials, he was an academic, a writer,

a publisher, and a lecturer in international politics, particularly China-Taiwan relations. In the

early 1980s, he was the publisher of the Chinese Chicago Tribune, a Chinese language

newspaper with national reach in the U.S. Yu-Hwa was the founder of the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen

Institute, established in Chicago in 1978 to support academic research and Dr. Sun Yat-Sen’s

philosophies and teachings. As a writer, his essays were often published by Chinese-language

journals and newspapers, and he wrote several books, two of which won awards.

From the 1980s through 2010, Yu-Hwa traveled frequently to China and Taiwan to give lectures

and was often the keynote speaker at conferences relating to China-Taiwan issues. In 1988 and

1993, he served as an overseas representative from the U.S. at the Kuomintang National Party

Meeting. He was also a frequent contributor to charitable causes in China and Taiwan, and in

2003, Yu-Hwa was recognized for his work in co-founding the Dong-Wei Primary School in his

hometown in Anhui, China. He also contributed to the construction of science laboratories for

Yun-Hua Middle School, also in his hometown in Anhui.

Yu-Hwa was a kind, generous, thoughtful man who always put his children’s needs and

aspirations first, yet always made time for others who sought out his assistance. He was a

beloved and respected pillar of the Chinese-American community in Chicago and will be

remembered for his warmth and a mischievous intellectual streak, which he used to make his

political points in public talks and in his writings.

Yu-Hwa is survived by his wife of fifty years, Judy, his three children, Grace (John), Dean

(Sarah), and Helen (Paul), and his grandchildren, Natalie, Erica, Tiffany, Quentin, Elia,

Theodore, and Josephine.

The inurnment service will be private, and a public memorial service will be held at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to the Chinese American Museum of

Chicago (ccamuseum.org/donate/) or the CCEA Chinese Language School in Skokie (checks

made payable to CCEA Chinese Language School and mailed to CCEA Chinese Language

School, P.O. Box 354, Skokie, IL 60076).