"Practicing law has given me the freedom and security to do things that are more meaningful than just making a living. Teaching at the university has allowed me to contribute to the Herculean task of establishing the legal framework for a socialist market economy in China."
Betty Mayfoon Ho '77
Professor of Law, Tsinghua University Law School
One of six siblings, Betty Mayfoon Ho risked disappointing her parents by declining to take over the family's book publishing business. Instead, she immigrated to Canada at age 25 with a Master's Degree in Asian Studies. Unable to find work with employers who told her she was over-educated and underskilled, Betty entered U of T's law school as a way to ensure financial security and freedom at a time when she was one of the few non-white students. In the decade following graduation, Betty practiced international commercial law, first in Canada and later in Hong Kong. In 1988 she decided to follow her true calling in the world of academia, first at the University of Hong Kong and later at the Tsinghua University Law School. Her goal was to help develop a comprehensive and thoughtful account of the Anglo-Saxon Law as reference for the Chinese in drafting their new laws. She accomplished just that, publishing seminal books which have helped build the foundations of an indigenous legal literature in China.
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