| Lee Ya-Ching Chinese: 李霞卿 | |
| Birth Date: | 16 April 1912 |
| Birth Place: | Haifeng County, Guangdong, China |
| Death Place: | Oakland, California, United States |
| Nationality: | Chinese |
| Spouse: | Paifong Cheng aka Baifeng Zheng (1929-1935; divorced) |
| Known For: | First Chinese civilian aviator; co-founder of first Chinese civilian flying school; actress |
Lee Ya-Ching (; 16 April 1912 – 28 January 1998), also known by her stage name Li Dandan (Chinese: 李旦旦), was a Chinese film actress, pioneering aviator, and philanthropist. She was the first Chinese woman to be granted a civil aviation license in China, in 1936, and also co-founded its first civilian flying school. As an actress, she starred in Romance of the Western Chamber, and played the lead in an early adaptation of Mulan for the screen. Lee Ya-Ching is an Anglicized version of her Chinese name.[1] [2] [3]
At the age of sixteen, Li witnessed an airshow in Paris, which left a strong impression on her.[4] In 1943, looking back on the start of her flying career, she explained that she had been troubled by Japanese aggression towards China and decided that she could best serve her country through flying. Li began training at the Contran École d'Aviation in Switzerland, where she was the first female student to receive a pilot's license.
In 1935, she enrolled in the Boeing School of Aviation in Oakland, California for advanced training. Later that year, she returned to China, where she was commissioned by the Chinese government to make a 30,000 mile survey of potential air routes. Li also helped found the Shanghai Municipal Air School and worked there as a flight instructor until civilian flights were grounded.