in 1927, von randow moved to china, to become a laboratory technician at t’ung-chi university, a german-language institute near shanghai. she married elgar armin von randow, german vice consul to shanghai, in 1935: the couple had two sons, and divorced in 1945. von randow had been taught to weave by her mother and she turned to these skills to support herself and her children, designing fabrics for local textile companies.