Chao was born on May 9, 1912, in
Xinshi, Deqing County, Zhejiang, China. She married
Chen Mengjia, an anthropologist and expert on
oracle bones, in 1932. In 1944, Chao and Chen were awarded a joint fellowship by the
Rockefeller Foundation to study at the
University of Chicago in the United States. Chao earned her PhD from the institution in 1948 for a dissertation on
Henry James. Afterward, she returned to China to teach English and North American literature at
Yenching University, Beijing. Chao's husband Chen opposed the government's proposal to
simplify Chinese writing in the 1950s and was labeled a
Rightist and an enemy of the
Communist Party. He was sent to a labor camp in 1957. After he returned, he was banned from publishing research and committed suicide after denunciation and persecution during the
Cultural Revolution. After Chen's death, Chao developed schizophrenia. In spite of this, she created the first complete Chinese translation of
Walt Whitman's
Leaves of Grass, which was published in 1991. That same year, she was awarded the University of Chicago's "Professional Achievement Award". ==Works==