Lowe, Pardee, 1904-1996

Named after George Pardee, the governor of California, Pardee Lowe (1904-1996) was born in San Francisco, California, to Lowe Fat Yuen (also known as Low Fat Yuen; pinyin: Liu Fa Yuan) and Miss Ho (Yip) Lowe. Following the 1906 earthquake and fire, Lowe's family relocated to Oakland, California. While Mrs. Lowe operated a store in West Oakland, Lowe Fat Yuen remained active in business and civic affairs in San Francisco, as a merchant with Sun Loy Co. and vice president of the San Francisco Chinese Chamber of Commerce. Pardee Lowe became active in the Oakland High School ROTC unit, the YMCA, and church activities of the Union Street Presbyterian Church. Throughout his life Lowe continued to be extremely active in social, professional, alumni, and fraternal organizations and associations.

Lowe received a BA from Stanford University in 1930, and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1932. While on a 1931 study trip in Germany, Lowe married his first wife, Louisa Hope Bailey, and in 1936 their child, Pardee Lowe, Jr. (Pardee Joe Yee Lowe) was born in Oakland, California.

Pardee Lowe worked at various projects throughout the 1930s. Of longest duration was Lowe's serving as a research assistant for Stanford economics professor Richard T. LaPiere, from 1932 to 1935. Lowe conducted work in San Francisco Chinatown for LaPiere and served as a technical advisor for LaPiere's two sociological-historical novels, Son of Han (1937) and When the Living Strive (1941). At LaPiere's recommendation, Lowe became involved in two projects for the Institute of Pacific Relations (IPR). Lowe received funding to conduct a "secret" study of the people of San Francisco Chinatown. Due to disagreement over scope, methodology, and timetable of completion, the IPR concluded funding for the project in late 1936.

Lowe worked in support of IPR conferences in Yosemite (1936) and Virginia Beach (1939), and continued collecting materials for his projected Middletown Study of San Francisco Chinatown. He had associations with the Social Service Department of the State Emergency Relief Administration (SERA) for San Francisco's Chinese Division for a few months of 1934; and the Social Science Research Conference of the Pacific Coast, 1933-1934. During the Sino-Japanese war, Lowe was active in work to raise funds and increase support for aid to war-torn China, through organizations such as China Relief and Rice Bowl parties. He joined planning and implementation work for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition's Pacific House, before moving to New York to serve as a secretary for Wah Chang Trading Corporation president K. C. Li.

In 1942 Lowe volunteered for military service, and served stateside, as well as overseas in the New Delhi headquarters of the China-Burma-India theater, and in Chongqing from 1943 to 1946, with some assignments to the Counterintelligence Corps. Following discharge from the military, Lowe returned to China, and under the U.S. Alien Property Administration served as manager of the China division of pharmaceutical manufacturer Schering Corporation, New Jersey and Shanghai, 1946-1947. Correspondence also identifies Lowe as sales manager for China United Products Co., Shanghai in 1946-1947.

From 1947 to 1949, Lowe worked in the U.S. Embassy in Nanking, administering the beginnings of the United States Educational Foundation in China (USEF China).

In January 1948 Lowe and Louisa Hope Bailey divorced, and Lowe married Anita Ting, born in Peiping, China, 1919. In 1960 their child, Patricia Pardee Lowe, was born.

Lowe maintained a strong interest in creative writing throughout the 1930s and 1940s, publishing articles in periodicals such as Asia, Missionary Review of the World, and various association newsletters. In 1943, Brown, Little and Co., publisher of LaPiere's socio-historical novels, added to their series a collection of Lowe's autobiographical articles, with names of individuals and places altered for publication. A best-seller that year, Lowe's Father and Glorious Descendant also was issued in an edition by the U.S. Armed Services. Lowe continued writing throughout his time in the military and in subsequent posts in China.

Lowe remained in Shanghai until the U.S. ordered withdrawal in 1949. Returning to the San Francisco Bay Area, Lowe entered the University of California, Berkeley, for PhD studies with the Institute for Slavic Studies from 1949 to 1956.

Lowe also joined the U.S. Air Force Reserves, becoming a major by 1952. In 1964 he was assigned to the Retired Reserve.

55 Lowe joined the U.S. Information Agency (USIA), serving as intelligence research officer, and later as China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong desk officer until 1959. From 1959 to 1965 Lowe served as cultural attaché in the U.S. Embassy, Taipei, Taiwan. His Chinese name was Liu Yu Chang.

From 1965 until his retirement in 1972/1973, Lowe served in the U.S. Department of State as education officer of the Multilateral Policy and Program Office assigned to monitor the UNESCO Education Program.

After retiring, Lowe occasionally taught at Tatung Tech in Taiwan, and remained a committed advocate to the Free China cause. He continued to gather and organize materials related to Chinese Americans and to Chinatowns for a projected sequel to his 1943 book, telling the story of growing up Chinese American in relation to his late mother and stepmother, and continued his involvement with Christian charities.