Author Study: Bette Bao Lord

Bette Bao Lord was born on November 3rd, 1938 in Shanghai, China. Her
mothers family included prominent intellectuals and professionals, and her father
was an engineer who had been educated both in China and England and was a
member of the Nationalist Chinese government. With her mother and father, she
came to the United States at the age of 8 when her father was sent by the Chinese
government to purchase equipment. The youngest daughter, Sansan, who was still
an infant, remained with an aunt in China. After Mao Zedong came to power in 1949,
the Bao family was unable to return to Mainland China and to the rest of their
family. During the first years in the United States, the family lived in Brooklyn. The
children initially experienced difficulties moving between the Chinese traditions at
home and the American milieu, but they adapted quickly. Because education was
important to the family, they moved to East Patterson and then Teaneck, New
Jersey, for the superior school systems. She married Winston Lord, later an
Ambassador to China, in 1963, and they have a daughter, Elizabeth Pillsbury, and
son, Winston Bao.
Bette Bao Lord received an MA from Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
and her BA from Tufts University. Bette Bao Lord is a recipient of seven honorary
degrees (including Notre Dame, Tufts, and Pepperdine) and many awards as author,
democracy advocate and outstanding immigrant. These include the USIA Award for
Outstanding Contributions. President Clinton in 1998 presented her the first
Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights and hailed her as "someone who writes
so powerfully about the past and is working so effectively to shape the future." She
has also served as chair of the Board of Trustees of Freedom House.
Today, Bette Bao Lord is a distinguished international novelist and writer.
Some of her others works include: Spring Moon, The Middle Heart, Legacies: A
Chinese Mosaic, Eighth Moon: The True Story of a Young Girls Life in Communist
China, Exploring Realistic Fiction, Lune Dete, Het Beste Boek, and Mittens Jharta.