Yi Yun Chen

Chen was born in Guangdong.[1] She became interested in politics at the age of 12 after hearing about the work of Sun Yat-sen.[1] Having completed the four-year high school programme in a single year, she entered Sun Yat-sen University at the age of 16.[1] She subsequently earned as master's degree in municipal government at the University of Michigan in the United States.[1] Returning to China, Chen worked as a secretary in the national government, for Nanjing municipality and in the Ministry of Railways.[2] She also taught in a police academy.[2] A close associate of Soong Mei-ling, the wife of President Chiang Kai-Shek,[3] during the Second Sino-Japanese War she served as a general, the only woman to hold the position on the front line.[4] In 1944 she was a founder member of the National Women's Constitutional Society and served as its first head.[3] In the 1948 parliamentary elections she was elected to the Legislative Yuan from a reserved seat for women in Guangdong.

After fleeing to Taiwan with the Republic of China government, Chen became president of the Chinese Women's Association.[1] Around 1960, she returned to the United States,[5] where she worked in Washington, D.C. and she met Chin Joe Lee. The couple married and moved to Seattle, where Chen ran the Mongolian Steak House restaurant.[4] She was murdered on 29 July 1969 after leaving work with around $1,000 of takings.[4] Attacked while walking between the restaurant and her car, she was killed by blow to the head and her body was discovered in a park several miles from the restaurant.[6] Despite rewards of $2,000 and $10,000 being offered for information,[7][8] no arrests were ever made.[4]