Cecilia Sieu Ling Zung (程修龄) (born 1903 – died after June 1978), also seen as Hsiu-Ling Ch'eng, Zheng Xiuling, and Cecilia S. L. Cheng, was a Chinese lawyer, interpreter, and writer.

Cecilia S. L. Zung
程修龄
Born1903
Other namesHsiu-Ling Ch'eng, Zheng Xiuling, Cecilia S. L. Cheng
Occupation(s)Lawyer, writer

Early life and education edit

Zung was born in Shanghai,[1] to wealthy parents.[2] She attended the McTyeire School. She earned a law degree at Soochow University's law school in 1934.[3] She pursued further education in the United States, where she earned a bachelor's degree at Barnard College in 1938, a master's degree at Columbia University in 1939,[4] and a doctoral (JSD) degree at New York University in 1942, with a thesis titled "Belligerent interference with mails on neutral ships and aircraft".[5]

Career edit

Zung taught mathematics at her alma mater, the McTyeire School, for nine years. She was based in the United States from 1936 to 1946, working in various private and government positions, including for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. Zung wrote a comedic play, Two Too Many (1939),[6] and, with Peking opera artist Mei Lanfang, Secrets of the Chinese drama: A complete explanatory guide to actions and symbols as seen in the performance of Chinese dramas (1937, 1964).[7][8] In 1942 she was a guest lecturer at Mills College, and spoke to a meeting of AAUW members in Sacramento, California, about "The Legal Status of Chinese Women, Old versus New".[9] She gave a similar talk to a YWCA group in Southern California in 1943.[10]

Zung returned to Shanghai in 1946 and resumed a law practice there. She was also a professor at Soochow University Law School.[4] In 1948 and 1949 she served as a delegate to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.[11][12][13] The Chinese Communist Revolution prevented her return to Shanghai in 1949, so she settled in New York City. She taught courses in government at Miami University in Ohio in 1950.[14][15] She continued studying, teaching, writing, performing, and speaking in the United States, into the 1970s.[2][16]

Personal life edit

Zung inherited a significant estate as a young woman, and became a lawyer in part to protect her own inheritance.[17] She was still traveling and active in summer 1978.[18]

References edit

  1. ^ "UVM Has Summer Session Student Who Became Lawyer to Win her Own Case". The Burlington Free Press. 1949-08-02. p. 9. Retrieved 2021-11-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b Ford, Patricia (1973-10-16). "'Old China' Woman Gains Multi Careers". The Pittsburgh Press. p. 21. Retrieved 2021-11-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Conner, Alison W. (Spring 1994). "Training China's Early Modern Lawyers: Soochow University Law School" (PDF). Journal of Chinese Law. 8: 24.
  4. ^ a b Schultz, Ulrike; Shaw, Gisela; Thornton, Margaret; Auchmuty, Rosemary (2021-02-25). Gender and Careers in the Legal Academy. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 235. ISBN 978-1-5099-2313-7.
  5. ^ Zung, Cecilia S. L (1942). Belligerent interference with mails on neutral ships and aircraft (Thesis). OCLC 34092254.
  6. ^ Zung, Cecilia S. L (1939). Two too many: a Chinese comedy in fifteen scenes. New York: S. French. OCLC 18349458.
  7. ^ Zung, Cecilia S. L (2007). Secrets of the Chinese drama: a complete explanatory guide to actions and symbols as seen in the performance of Chinese dramas. La Vergne, Tenn.: Lightning Source. ISBN 978-1-4067-6915-9. OCLC 820471678.
  8. ^ "Miss Zung Tells Wigs and Cues History of Chinese Theatre". Barnard Bulletin. October 26, 1937. p. 1.
  9. ^ "Chinese Woman Lawyer Will Address University Women". The Sacramento Bee. 1942-02-28. p. 12. Retrieved 2021-11-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Dr. Cecilia S. L. Zung Talks of Women in China at Friday Club". News-Pilot. 1943-01-23. p. 5. Retrieved 2021-11-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Adami, Rebecca (2018-10-26). Women and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-79552-7.
  12. ^ Adami, Rebecca. "International Welfare Feminism: CSW Navigating Cold War Tensions 1949" in Rebecca Adami and Dan Plesch, eds., Women and the UN: A New History of Women's International Human Rights (Routledge 2022): 61. ISBN 978-0-367-47823-0
  13. ^ United Nations Department of Public Information (1948). What the United Nations is Doing for the Status of Women. Department of Public Information, United Nations. p. 13.
  14. ^ "Miss Zung Was Guest Speaker". Oxford Western Roundup. April 21, 1950. p. 4. Retrieved November 17, 2021 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  15. ^ "Chinese Women on Faculty". Dayton Daily News. 1950-01-09. p. 5. Retrieved 2021-11-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Cecilia Sieu-Ling Zung to SPeak to Women's Club Here Wednesday". The Middletown Journal. 1950-02-19. p. 11. Retrieved 2021-11-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Chinese Girls, More Subtle, Never Say 'Yes' to Lovers; Miss Zung, Young Shaighai Lawyer..." The Boston Globe. 1938-09-09. p. 6. Retrieved 2021-11-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ Bonifanti, Terry (1978-07-19). "Keystone Elderhosteler Lives an Extraordinary Life". The Times-Tribune. p. 14. Retrieved 2021-11-18 – via Newspapers.com.