The Betty Lee Sung Memorial Fund recently awarded a grant, through the Asian American / Asian Research Institute, to Yu Wang, at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, to conduct research on “Betty Lee Sung’s Chinese Activities at the Voice of America.”
Over the next year, Wang will research on the Chinese Activities radio show written by the late Betty Lee Sung for the Voice of America in the 1950s, and look into how the show leveraged its platform to illustrate the lives of Chinese in America, their individual achievements as well as community organizations, to demonstrate their vital role as active participants in shaping the nation’s identity. In addition, the project will explore how the show contrasted with the Chinese Communist narrative about the lives of Chinese in America during the same period.
Yu Wang is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in the History of Education program within the College of Education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Prior to her current studies, she received her Ph.D. from East China Normal University and taught Chinese literature and Asian cinema. Her academic journey includes postdoctoral research at Fujian Normal University (2009-2011), and serving as a visiting scholar at the Communication University of China (2014-2015) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2017-2018). Wang’s research includes feminist and historical literature in Shanghai during World War II. Her recent scholarly focus has expanded to Asian American Studies, exploring topics such as Chinese international students during the Chinese Exclusion era and early Indigenous-Chinese relations.
Asian American / Asian Research Institute
The City University of New York
