Anna Chennault was born Chen Xiangmei in Beijing, China on June 23, 1923. She studied journalism with refugee professors and received a degree from Lingnan University in 1944. She became a correspondent for China's Central News Agency, covering the war and later Mao Zedong's spreading Communist revolution.
She married Major General Claire L. Chennault in 1947 and became the vice president of the Flying Tiger Line, her husband's postwar cargo operation. Her husband died in 1958 and she moved to Washington, D. C. She joined the Republican Party and the influential Americans supporting Taiwan and opposing Communist China. In 1962, she founded the Chinese Refugees' Relief. From 1963 to 1966, she made weekly broadcasts in Chinese on the Voice of America radio.
She wrote novels, poetry, and nonfiction books. Her memoir, The Education of Anna, was published in 1980. She died from complications of a stroke on March 30, 2018 at the age of 94.
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