The Story of Lily Lee Chen
This is the story of Lily Lee Chen, the first female Chinese American to become mayor of a US City.
In Tianjin
Municipality in China
Childhood
It begins in 1936 China, under Japanese occupation. Lily grows to be a combination of these two personalities. The ambition, intelligence and confidence of her father and the compassionate, empathetic woman dedicated to serving others. Two different strengths of character that mold her into the woman who accomplishes so much.
Son of This Family
Her mother believes: “Lily is a special girl – very intelligent, confident, destined for great things. She is the “son” of this family.” Her father eventually picks up on this idea, coaxing her to develop better than a boy.
Move to Taiwan
Lily’s father is a professor and prominent member of KMT during the Japanese occupation of China in the late 1930s. During World War II, he is put in jail and tortured. After the civil war, when the Communists take over in 1949, he shows tremendous strength of character to bring his family on one of the last boats bound and flees to Taiwan.
In Taiwan
Strong Student
Lily excels in school as a teen at the Taipei Girl’s High School. After winning a national speech contest in 1953, it delivers her speech, advocating service to others, to the nation’s youth alongside the Taiwanese leader, Chiang Kai-shek. She becomes famous and is remembered to this day by many Chinese Americans for being the girl who gave the youth speech about service.
International Youth Leadership Program
In 1957 Lily visits the US as an ambassador of the International Youth Leadership Program, a group established by the US State Department to promote and strengthen relations between the US and China. She is exposed to the social services system in this country and her eyes are opened to the prejudices against Asians in America.
US Studies
Soon after, Lily becomes one of the first Chinese students to attend college in America. She attends San Francisco State University eventually getting her bachelors in Communications. While there, she meets Paul Chen, a student at UC Berkeley.
Love Story
Meets Paul Chen
They become very close during this time, fall in love and travel together to Paul’s first job as an aerospace engineer with Boeing in Seattle, Washington.
The Car Accident
After the car accident, they decide to marry together. Lily could have had her pick of a number of successful men, but she dramatically decides to marry the penniless and disabled Paul. Lily has to work three jobs to support them and to pay the hospital bills. However, there are some dear friends to help them through these trying times. This reminds Lily of the Chinese proverb: “It is easier to get one thousand ounces of gold than to find a true friend who knows and satisfies your need.”
Marriage
After the marriage, they lived throughout the Kennedy years, Johnson’s Great Society and Civil Rights Era, balancing work and raising their two children, Arthur (who is purchasing manager for Boeing’s space program) and Helen (a radiation oncologist at the City of Hope).
