Shih Chen Wang

She was born in Beijing, China in 1921. The family moved to Shang-Xi Province when she was 2 months old. Subsequently the family made additional multiple moves as a result of job, WWII, Japanese invasion and occupation, etc. ending up in Shanghai while in college.

Upon her birth, her grandmother hired a maid to help her mother with house work. This enabled her mother to devote her time on the care and the upbringing of the new-born. Her mother loved to read and write poems. Always wishing to go to college with advanced study abroad to follow, her mother never could or did. In the old days in China, it was not considered important for a woman to acquire a high degree of education; the expectation is to be capable, presentable and likable. Her mother did not want her to follow the same fate and experience deep regret.

At the age of seven months, her mother started to teach her how to read. At age of one, she could read off signs and posts. At age of four, she could recite some complex Chinese poetry (from The 300 Poems of Tong Dynasty). With the early start, school work was easy for her. Not satisfied with what the curriculum covered, she was eager to learn significantly more. Her mother hired a tutor to teach her each day after school for a couple of hours. She appreciated the opportunity of extra coaching and teaching which planted the seed of her support to tutoring.

Her eagerness to learn paralleled her eagerness to share knowledge. With a younger brother and two younger sisters, she spontaneously taught them as much as they could take. This heralds her subsequent teaching career.

As a young girl, one night she overheard an adult conversation joking about a family, that the thieves would not get into their door. The adults laughed heartily. Not understanding the humor, she asked her father. Her father just shook his head, walked away and provided no answer. Her mother subsequently explained the joke to her. That family had 5 daughters and would have to put up a lot of dowry to marry them off. Thieves had their code of “Robin Hood” justice and would not steal from a poor family; a family with several daughters is considered poor. She took offense by that type of mentality and remembered that vividly, which further strengthened her resolve to excel.

When other children were struggling to read and especially to write, she enjoyed it very much. While in 4th grade, she had impressed her teachers except for some. One day a teacher of another class called her to his class and asked if she would write an impromptu composition on the spot if the teacher would select any topic for her. She accepted the challenge with a smile. The topic given was “Spring Rain”. In a short period of time in front of the teacher, she finished and submitted what she wrote. What in the teacher’s hand was not just a scrambled composition, but a compelling contemporary Chinese poem. The teacher read it, and was very impressed. That teacher quickly showed all the other teachers, who unanimously agreed that this must be reported to the principal. The principal was amazed and immediately decided to print it, and made it a reading assignment for all the students. In addition, the principal wrote a letter to her father, congratulating the family for having such a talented child, and for her unprecedented academic achievement. This completely changed her father’s old fashioned biased attitude toward her education.

She continued to excel through high school, always the top student wherever she went to school and able to obtain scholarships when available. Physics, chemistry and mathematics were her favorite subjects. The only thing she did not do well in was calligraphy. Somehow she did not seem to see the value of spending a lot of time practicing the same stroke after stroke until it looks beautiful. She would much rather spend the time reading or studying.

Small in stature, she compensated with extra hard work and practice to get in sports. She would get up at 5 am to practice until eventually the efforts payed off and she became members of the school’s volley ball and basketball team.

ILLUSTRATIVE COLLEGE YEARS AND WORK

The college years coincided in time with the turbulent years of WWII, Japanese invasion and occupation of China, and subsequently the rise of Chinese communism. Toward the end of high school years, disruption of school administration, moving of schools and loss of records and transcripts resulted in difficulty of admission to college for many students. She was able to get into Jiau-Tung University, subsequently transferred to Ta-Tung University when the family settled in Shanghai.

To help reduce the financial burden of the family, she wanted to get a scholarship. The most prestigious scholarship for Ta-Tung University was donated by Mr. Tsu (竹), an influential business man. It was awarded to three top students in science and math. Being the top student, she did not hesitate to apply. Her application however was not accepted, because there was a stipulation that the scholarship is for men only. She disagreed with the decision and wanted to appeal. The professors supported her but advised her to acquiesce to the discretion of the donor. She continued to want to fight for the de facto bias/discrimination and requested an interview with Mr.Tsu (竹). Mr. Tsu was well connected and had heard of this talented and unyielding young lady, and granted her the interview. She remembered meeting Mr.Tsu, a large tall man in a very tall building sitting in a large tall chair. Not intimated but encouraged, she eloquently elaborate her case and answered questions. After a long interview, not only did she get the scholarship but also changed his policy. This also started a long friendship between Mr.Tsu and her family, landing a job for her father in Mr Tsu’s company 3 months later. Mr. Tsu later also played a key role in helping her to get passage to Taiwan.

To earn additional income, she also tutored high school students science and math and tutored Japanese children and adults English and Chinese. She wrote novels. Because of her imagination and unconventional presentation, the novels were popular and well sold. She wrote articles for magazines. As a patriot, she also wrote editorial comments and opinion articles for newspapers.

Her activities above in addition to lecturing and debates got the attention of the Japanese soldiers. They arrested her and put her in jail, alleging spying for the Chinese government. Not afraid or diminished, she stood up for her rights and insisted on speaking to the commanding captain. She remembered being treated well and with respect by the Japanese soldiers and captain. She was released in 18 days.

The most significant event in college occurred while she was a Junior. She met her future husband. She majored in Chemistry and worked in the chemistry lab. He was a teaching assistant in Chemistry. It was love at first sight with perfect chemistry. They got engaged in one year and married in two years. The most treasured wedding present from friends were sets of pillow cases with beautiful embroidery and 4 Chinese characters 永世同夢 (which means forever sharing the same dream). They did share the same dreams for the rest of their lives, and will from now to eternity.

MOVING TO TAIWAN AND START OF CAREER

After college graduation, she worked in a company’s chemistry laboratory. During these days sulfonamide was in high demand. The supply was short; the import from US was severely limited by war. She devised a novel efficient and economical way of synthesis. The company utilized her method to produce sulfonamide, got the patent and profited greatly. She later left the company and worked in her husband’s company. She also started teaching in high school math and science.

In 1947, after the rise of communism, many businesses relocated to Taiwan with the nationalist government. Her husband moved his food product company to Taiwan to establish a financial foundation and planned on bring the family to join him later.

In 1948, it became increasingly difficult to gain access to airline tickets or ship passage to leave mainland China to go to Taiwan. Mr. Tsu played a key role in securing a passage on a cargo ship for her and her 3 year old son to leave Shanghai for Taiwan. Her father (then a county executive of Chiang-Hsu Province) could not leave his staff and stayed behind. She reluctantly and sadly said goodbye to her family. The Pacific journey was eventful. Multiple storms got the ship off course, missing the northern port near Taipei, the intended destination. The ship drifted and ran out of fuel and thankfully pulled into Kaohsiung, the southern port of Taiwan.

After meeting her husband in Taipei, she worked a short period of time as a chemist. Then her teaching career in Taiwan began. She started teaching physics, chemistry and math in Chien-Kuo Middle and High School, the top school for boys in Taiwan. She also had a joint appointment with the First Girls Middle and High School, the top school for girls in Taiwan. The competition for high school graduates to get into college, especially the preferred college was extremely keen. Often the students are set apart by physics, chemistry and mathematics in the entrance examination.

Her innovative way of teaching, stimulating and motivating students soon established her as a most effective teacher. Before long, she became more than well-known as “Teacher Lu”. Students’ parents put pressure on the school administration and the principal to enroll their child/children in her class. The large number of requests made it impossible to accommodate. The parents requested that she also accept students after school for tutoring. Purely out of love to teach and out of sympathy for the anxious parents, she started tutoring small classes at home. Only nominal minimal fees were charged, less than 1/3 of what commercial tutoring schools charge for large classes. Students from outside of her class and other schools were also accepted. We remembered on a typical day, she would come home after teaching school while the first tutoring class was already waiting. Skipping dinner often, she would finish teaching the first home class but would not let any student leave without answering their questions. This would roll into the next class period. Without any break the second class would start, and then occasionally a third class. She would work until 10-11 pm before catching any food, and only then it was time to grade papers and prepare teaching material for the following day. Every day she worked indefatigably and relentlessly, driven by her care for the students and love for teaching.

The dedication to teaching and her students for decades was only sustainable because of an unsung hero, her husband who gave up his career to help her by her side day and night, giving true meaning of unwavering love and 永世同夢.

Her students in general did quite well in the college entrance examination and in college. We remembered having little privacy at home. Constantly there were parents knocking on the door or patiently waiting outside the door of our house. They were hoping that Teacher Lu would be available for them to have a chance to plead for acceptance of their children into her class or advanced reservation for future years. It was as if securing a position in her class would secure their children’s future.

In over two decades of teaching career in Taiwan, Teacher Lu had earned the highest accolades and medals for teaching effectiveness and contribution from the Ministry of Education..

As a homeroom teacher she went way beyond the call of duty. Not only did she try to address student’s behavioral problems, for some family she got to know well she also became involved in complex family relationships. With no background in psychology, she became de facto their family counselor. She did it with wisdom and heart. With the family’s respect of Teacher Lu, all listened and communicated well and she became successful. Over the years, her students and families looked to her for advice. Because of the large number of students and families grew over decades, eventually the inevitable request from parents to introduce a potential spouse arose. Teacher Lu was trapped into match making reluctantly but the results propelled further requests.

ADVANCED STUDY IN US

In 1965, the government of Taiwan initiated a new program for high school teachers. One high school teacher of science and math was to be selected to go to the USA for one year. The purpose is to pursue advanced study in the area of choice and to familiarize with western curriculum and method of teaching. Teacher Lu was the finalist. She decided to go to UC Santa Barbara to study under Dr. Miller in Organic Chemistry. From 1966-1967, she completed her Master’s degree in Chemistry. She also managed to travel from west coast to east coast in the same year and visited several US high schools and principals.

She was offered a job to teach math in a NYC high school and declined. She was also strongly encouraged to stay in UCSB to pursue her Ph.D. which would have completed her childhood dream. She also had to decline and returned to Taiwan per obligation to the government. Subsequently she was happy to have her son and her daughter each double fulfilled her dream with advanced postgraduate degrees.

Teacher Lu continued to teach in Chien-Kuo Middle and High School for two more years. Then she was offered a faculty position in Taiwan Normal University in Chemistry. In Taiwan Normal University, Professor Lu rose from assistant professor to associate professor. She ended her teaching career in Taiwan in 1978 to move to the US to join her son and her daughter.

In the US, she lived in Texas, California and then Washington State. Her jobs included teaching high school chemistry and math and as a research chemist in Chevron. As a devout Buddhist, she was also open to other religions, believing in the good teachings of all religions,

Though out her life, she distinguished herself as a mother, grandmother, great grandmother, scholar, chemist, teacher, mentor, counselor, patriot, matchmaker and women’s advocate. We love her and are thankful to have her in our lives.

Just as well-known is her love of sweets. After she was over 90 the dietary restrictions were removed. She was most happy to enjoy as many chocolates as desired. Her descendants all believe her affinity to sweet is autosomal dominant.