Liliane Willens was born of Russian parentage in the former extraterritorial French Concession of Shanghai, China, where she attended a French lycée.  Her parents, she and her siblings – all stateless – experienced World War II under the Japanese military occupation, the bombing by American planes and the return of the Chiang Kai-shek government. Because of difficulties to obtain an immigration visa to the United States, Liliane lived two years under the newly established People’s Republic of China.

When Liliane immigrated to the United States, she studied at Boston University where she received her undergraduate degree, an M.A. and Ph.D. in French Language and Literature.  She taught these subjects at Boston College and at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  While in academia, Dr. Willens published a book on Voltaire and a number of articles on 18th century France.  Later moving to Washington, DC, she worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Peace Corps. Since retirement Dr. Willens has given lectures on history and culture on China and Old Shanghai at various organizations in the Washington, DC area, around the country and overseas.