Irene Cheng

Irene Cheng, born Irene Hotung and also known as Tsi-dsi Irene Ho (21 October 1904 to 17 February 2007), was a Hong Kong educationalist. In 1925 she became the first Chinese woman to graduate from the University of Hong Kong, completed a master's in education at Columbia University's Teachers College in 1929, and obtained a doctorate from the University of London Institute of Education in 1936. She worked as an educator in mainland China and the United States, served on the staff of the Ministry of Education in Nanjing, and from 1948 worked in Hong Kong's Education Department, rising to become the highest-ranking woman there. She was a strong proponent of bilingual and special education, and in London she founded the Chung Hwa Club in Limehouse, which taught Chinese language and culture to the children of Chinese sailors.