Cecilia Chiang
| Cecilia Sun Yun Chiang | |
|---|---|
| Native name | 江孫芸 |
| Born |
Sun Yun (孫芸) c. 1920 (age 97) Wuxi, China |
| Nationality | Chinese American |
| Occupation | Restaurateur |
| Spouse(s) | Chiang Liang |
| Children | Philip Chiang and May Chiang |
Cecilia Sun Yun Chiang (Chinese: 江孫芸; pinyin: Jiāng Sūnyún; born ca. 1920) is a Chinese-American restaurateur and chef, best known for founding and managing the Mandarin Restaurant in San Francisco, California.
Chiang was born near Shanghai in an aristocratic family and raised in a 52-room mansion in Beijing. Her Chinese name, Sun Yun, means "flower of the rue". As a child she enjoyed elaborate formal meals prepared by the family's two chefs, although the children were not allowed to cook or go into the kitchen. Her mother had bound feet, but her parents refused to follow the tradition with their children. She escaped with a sister from the Japanese occupation of China in 1942 by walking for nearly six months to Chongqing, where they settled with a relative. She soon met Chiang Liang (江梁), a successful local businessman whom she married, establishing a comfortable life in Shanghai. There they had two children, May and Philip (江一帆). During the war she operated as a spy for America's Office of Strategic Services. She and her husband escaped from China on the last flight from Shanghai during the Chinese Communist Revolution of 1949. With only three tickets for a family of four they had to leave Philip behind with her sister (the family was reunited more than a year later). Her parents and siblings who remained were treated poorly by the communists. Her parents died poor. A brother died in a labor camp and one sister committed suicide. Others were killed by communist soldiers.
Chiang settled in Tokyo, Japan with her husband and children, May Ongbhaibulya and Philip Chiang. In 1960 she came to San Francisco to visit a sister, whose husband had died. Walking through the streets of San Francisco's Chinatown she met two friends from Tokyo who were planning to open a restaurant in a small space at 2209 Polk Street, and agreed to help negotiate their lease. She impulsively wrote a deposit check for $10,000 to secure their rent, which the landlord refused to return after her friends backed out of the venture. Unable to terminate the lease she decided to run the restaurant on her own, although she had never before run a business.
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