Ruth F. Weiss

Ruth F. Weiss, also known as Wei Lushi, (December 11, 1908 - March 6, 2006), was a Jewish-born Austrian-Chinese educator, journalist, and lecturer.

She was the last surviving European eyewitness of the Chinese Communist Revolution and the beginnings of the People’s Republic of China.

Weiss was born in Vienna, and graduated in German and English Studies from the University of Vienna. In 1933 she travelled to Shanghai and decided to stay.

Initially, Weiss worked as a freelance journalist in Shanghai. Later she became a teacher at the Jewish School in Shanghai, at the School of the Chinese Committee of Intellectual Cooperation, and at the West China Union University.

After working briefly as a secretary at the Canadian embassy in 1944, she became a correspondent at the United Nations Picture News Office in 1945 and joined the China Welfare Fund. One year later she took up a post at the Radio Division of the United Nations Organization in New York.

After she returned to China she became a lecturer for the Publishing House for Foreign Literature in Beijing from 1952 to 1965. In 1965 she worked as a journalist for China Pictorial.

Ruth Weiss was one of about 100 foreign-born residents to receive Chinese citizenship in 1955. In 1983, she became a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top advisory body.

She died in Beijing at the age of 97.