Bertha Hosang Mah (November 18, 1896 – 1959) was a Canadian student, the first Chinese woman to graduate from a Canadian university.
Hosang was born in Lillooet, British Columbia, [1] [2] the daughter of Lena Hosang. [3] Her older sister recalled, "We were the only Chinese family and there weren't any separate classes in the school, so we talked English all the time." [4]
Hosang attended McGill University, first at the Vancouver satellite location (now the University of British Columbia), and later at the Montreal campus; when she graduated in 1917, she was described as "the first Chinese woman graduated from a Canadian university". [5] At McGill, she won an award for best speech, from the Women's Literary Society (Delta Sigma). [6] She also won first prize in a national essay competition, with her article "Physical Education for Chinese Women", which was later published in Chinese Students' Monthly. [7]
Hosang was elected to the University Women's Club of Vancouver in 1918, and gave a presentation to the group that year, on "Chinese Literature". [8] Hosang worked as a secretary at the Chinese consulate in Vancouver in 1918 and 1919. [1] Her older sister Myrtle Hosang Lee studied economics at the University of California in Berkeley. [9]
In May 1921, in Berkeley, California, [3] Hosang married Dr. Ng Wing Mah, [10] a Chinese-born political scientist who taught at the University of California. They had three children, Winberta, Bertwing, and Lynn. [11] [12] Bertha Hosang Mah died in 1959, aged 62 years. [13]