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THADDEUS WHITE & DER LING YU

THADDEUS WHITE & DER LING YU

Posted: 22 May 2002 4:42PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: White Yu
Hi, I'm trying to find out more about a woman named Der Ling Yu who married an American, Thaddeus C White, in 1907. I believe they met in Shanghai 1905/1906 and then emigrated back to the States.

Thanks

Re: THADDEUS WHITE & DER LING YU

Robert Boettcher (View posts)
Posted: 1 Jul 2002 3:04PM GMT
Classification: Query
Eleanor,
I just finished reading Two Years in the Forbidden City last night and decided to do a bit of investigating myself.

Apparently Mr and Mrs White went to Los Angeles (as per this report from the following website)

"Among the dignitaries present were government officials, Consul Chang and his wife, Consul Wong, Anna May Wong, Keye Luke, Soo Yong, a famed actor of the period, a certain Mrs. Thaddeus White, who was Princess Der Ling, and Mrs. Merriam. Radio station KTMR broadcasted the ensuing events."

http://www.oldchinatownla.com/history.html

Hope this helps. I'd be interested in hearing what else you find out....

Thanks!

Re: THADDEUS WHITE & DER LING YU

Posted: 1 Jul 2002 3:57PM GMT
Classification: Query
Hi Robert, I also did some further research and found out that she published a number of books under Princess Der Ling - Old Buddha (about Empress Dowager CixI), Lotus Petals, Kowtow (about her childhood) after she left China. I got some second hand copies from Amazon zShops. There is also a reference to her being friends with Madame Chiang Kai Shek in "Stone from Heaven" a book published last year on the Burmese jade trade. However, still no further on what happened to her after that or where she and her husband ended up living. Happy reading!

Re: THADDEUS WHITE & DER LING YU

Robert Boettcher (View posts)
Posted: 1 Jul 2002 4:08PM GMT
Classification: Query
Wyn,

Thanks for the info. I just found out about her other books today as well (and also found an autographed copy of Old Buddha for sale on the web).

Additionally, I believe she died in 1949 (this is from a website that lists just her Name and Birth/Death as the author of "Two Years...")

An excellent website with all the photos from the original publishing of "Two Years..." can be found here:

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/DerYear.html

Re: THADDEUS WHITE & DER LING YU

Posted: 7 Aug 2002 11:36PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 7 Nov 2005 2:54AM GMT
Hello -

As I'm researching for a biography of Princess Yu Derling, and have all her books in my library as well as some other materials about her, I can fill in a little of her later history. She lived with her husband Thaddeus White in Los Angeles, and had a son, Thaddeus Raymond White, who died young. She was in LA at least as late as 1938, when she is mentioned in the L.A. Times article about the Chinatown Mall. She was in Berkeley at least by the early 40's because she was teaching Chinese at UCB when, in 1944, she was struck by a car and killed. She was born in 1885, daughter of Lord Yu Keng, Minister successively to Japan and France and Chairman of the Tsongli Yamen. Her mother, Yu tai tai, was the daughter of an American father and Asian mother. Derling was educated in France and studied dance with Isadora Duncan. A most interesting woman. Anyone who knows more about her, please feel free to share your knowledge with me.

Grant

Re: THADDEUS WHITE & DER LING YU

Posted: 2 Sep 2002 11:25AM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 2 Sep 2002 2:44PM GMT
By the way, in her book "Two Years..." Princess Der Ling said that she have a portrait of her done by Katherine Carl, I was wondering if anyone have ever seen the portrait ? I wonder if its still out there.

Re: THADDEUS WHITE & DER LING YU

Posted: 8 Nov 2002 7:15AM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 7 Nov 2005 2:54AM GMT
I'm afraid STONE OF HEAVEN, while a gripping book, is riddled with errors where Princess Der Ling is concerned. Der Ling *did* know Barbara Hutton - she was present at Hutton's Reno wedding to Count Reventlow in the mid-1930's - but she is not identical with the Princess Yu who was a friend and advisor of Mme Wellington Koo. Scott-Clark and Levy completely screwed up there, to such a degree I wonder about parts of the rest of the book.

Re: THADDEUS WHITE & DER LING YU

Posted: 8 Nov 2002 7:23AM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 7 Nov 2005 2:54AM GMT
Kate Carl's portrait of the Empress Dowager Tzu Hsi is reproduced in Carl's own book, WITH THE EMPRESS DOWAGER. But it can be seen in much more available fashion on this site:

http://www.dreamwater.net/regiment/RoyalArk/China/manchu1.ht...

Hubert Vos' portraits of Tzu Hsi, by the way, are far better than Kate Carl's, both aesthetically and analytically. His "old" portrait of the Empress Dowager is featured in Sterling Seagrave's biography DRAGON LADY.

Grant

Re: THADDEUS WHITE & DER LING YU

Posted: 8 Nov 2002 7:24AM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 7 Nov 2005 2:54AM GMT
As for the portrait Kate Carl did of Der Ling... I'm trying to track that down :-)

Grant

Re: THADDEUS WHITE & DER LING YU

Jerry D. Reynolds, Jr. (View posts)
Posted: 12 Nov 2002 6:43PM GMT
Classification: Query
Thank you so much for the info in Der-Ling. I have been searching for a long time for any articles relating to her later life as Mrs. Thaddeus C. White, and your reply was the best I have had so far. It saddend me to find out how she died, for silly as it sounds, I have read all her books and in a strange way she was always alive for me.

Would you be so kind as to let me know where on the web I can find those particulars that you found? This has always been sort of my own private research as her bboks and life opened a door into Chinese history not seen from a Westerners' point of view, and I was always fascinated by the life of the Ching court in the last years of the dynasty.

Sincerely,

Jerry D. Reynolds, Jr.
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