Sin Ming Chiu | History professor, 83

Sin Ming Chiu, 83, of Bala Cynwyd, a history professor at Temple University, who was active in the Chinese American community, died of degenerative muscular disease Feb. 15 at Sunrise Assisted Living in Haverford.

A native of Guangdong Province, China, Dr. Chiu came to the United States as a student in 1949. That year, China became a communist country, and he chose to stay here, his son Herman said.

After earning a bachelor's degree from Indiana University, Dr. Chiu earned a master's degree in journalism from the University of Iowa and a doctorate in history from the University of Southern California.

He was an instructor at Centenary College in Shreveport, La., and was a research assistant at Princeton University before joining Temple in 1962.

Dr. Chiu's area of interest was 20th-century Chinese political and military history. He taught at Temple's Japan campus and also taught at the University of Delaware.

He retired in 1990.

In the early 1980s he was active in the project to construct the Friendship Gate on Arch Street in Chinatown. The brightly painted portal was built by artisans from Tianjin, China. He was also involved in the founding of On Lok House, a senior citizens' residence in Chinatown.

In 1975, Dr. Chiu returned to China and wrote an account of his visit for The Inquirer. Shanghai, which had been been a city of "international adventurers and purveyors of sin" dominated by foreign interests, had become "a sprawling industrial complex" and "probably the most proletarian city in the world," he said. He made many trips back to China and led tour groups there.

Dr. Chiu had been married to Helen Goodwin Lienhard since 1970. He was previously married to Tung Chen Chiu, with whom he had two children.

In addition to his wife and son, he is survived by a daughter, Phyllis. His former wife also survives him.

A memorial service will be at 10 a.m. April 7 at the Chapel of Peace at West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd.