Li Lienfung

Li Lienfung (1923 – 3 August 2011) 李廉凤 was a Singaporean chemist and writer. She was a bilingual writer, using both English and Chinese. Li was known for her plays, short stories and especially for her newspaper column, "Bamboo Green."

Biography Li was born in Shanghai in 1923. Her father, Li Kuo Ching, left to work in the United States, leaving Li's mother to raise her in China. She studied organic chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), but transferred to Cornell University where she earned her master's degree in literature in 1946.

In July 1946, she married Ho Rih Hwa, who was also a student at Cornell. Minfong would go on to become a noted writer. Li has another son, Kwon Cjan, who is also involved in business. She died in the National University Hospital.

Work The Sword Has Two Edges had its origins in research she started in 1956 on the story of San Guo Shi Yan Yi.

Li wrote a popular column in English and Chinese, called "Bamboo Green" which ran between 1979 and 1984 in The Straits Times. In 1986, a compilation of her columns, A Joss Stick for My Mother was released. Li revived the column in 1993, and continued to write it until 1998. The column educated Singaporeans on Chinese history, literature, life and culture. Li then started writing a Chinese column for the Lianhe Zaobao between 1998 and 2009.

Li published the Chinese version of her memoir, A Daughter Remembers, in 2010, with the English translation coming out after her death.