Betty Wei Peh-T'i Liu

Dr. Betty Peh-T'i Wei, PhD passed away peacefully with her family at the age of 94 in Westford, MA. Born in Nanjing, Betty and her siblings joined her parents in New York in 1947, where her father represented China at the United Nations. Betty and her husband of 64 years, Richard Meung-ta Liu (1930-2021) lived with their family across the world in New York, the Bahamas, Hong Kong, Muscat and Taipei.

An accomplished historian and educator, Dr. Wei devoted her career to students. A proud alumna of the Chapin School, Bryn Mawr College, NYU and Hong Kong University (PhD), Dr. Wei taught at her alma mater, Chapin and served on the boards of the Heep Hong Society for Handicapped Children, the Chinese International School and the YK Pao School in Shanghai and as President of the International Women’s Forum (HK). Notably, she created and steered Hong Kong’s Academy for Performing Arts’ Liberal Arts Program where her legacy continues. She was an Honorary Institute Fellow of the Hong Kong Institute of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Honorary Professor of the Institute of Qing History at The People’s University (Beijing) and Honorary Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

An accomplished author, Betty wrote several books, including Shanghai, Crucible of Modern China, Ruan Yuan 1764-1849: The Life and Work of a Major Scholar-Official in Nineteenth Century China Before the Opium War and A Chronological Biography: Remembering My Father Wei Hsioh-Ren.

Betty is survived by her daughters, Katharine Liu and Phebe Garvin; her son-in-law, Stephen Garvin and granddaughters, Katharine, Kiera, Emily and Alexandra. We are grateful to family and friends who visited; doctors, nurses and aides who cared for her and her students who carry on her legacy. For those who wish to make a donation in her memory, please consider Bryn Mawr College and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, which were both close to her heart.