Collections: Cecilia Chiang and The Mandarin Restaurant
Cecilia Chiang. Photo by Noriko Sanefuji.
APA Collections Update from Noriko Sanefuji and Tim Yu:
I continue with my search for objects for the National Museum of American History’s on-going initiative on Chinese foodways in America. During my recent trip to San Francisco, I had an opportunity to meet with Cecilia Sun Yun Chiang who was influential in transforming Chinese foodways in the United States. Forced to flee from her home following the Chinese communist takeover, Chiang first arrived in the United States in 1960 to aid her recently widowed sister in San Francisco. After coming across two Chinese women she had previously met in Tokyo on the streets of San Francisco’s Chinatown, Chiang agreed to help them negotiate a $10,000 lease with a local landlord due to her greater proficiency in English, only to find that her new business partners would soon desert her. Reluctant to give up on her new commercial investment, Chiang opened the now-legendary The Mandarin restaurant on Polk Street before subsequently relocating to the prestigious Ghirardelli Square in June 1968.
Several years later, she opened her Beverly Hills restaurant. Although her initial business ventures did not yield immediate success, her voracious determination to unveil a unique, yet eloquent style of Northern Chinese dining proved to be pivotal in significantly altering American attitude towards authentic Chinese cuisine.
Artifacts from The Mandarin Restaurant. Collection includes porcelain tea cup, ashtray, match book with the Mandarin restaurant’s logo and a tiki cup, chopsticks with logo and various menus.
Prior to Chiang’s arrival in the United States during the early 1960’s, American people were predominantly exposed to “Americanized” Cantonese-based dishes—a stark contrast to the diverse, spicy meals offered in the Chinese provinces of Szechuan and Hunan. Credited for elevating the standard of upscale Chinese dining in America, Chiang sought to create a restaurant that not only matched her personal ambitions as an Asian American businesswoman, but also demonstrated “the elegance, the beauty of Chinese culture” to a Western audience. Chiang has also been acclaimed by Alice Waters, a leading American restaurateur, as China’s Julia Child, and for her role in challenging existing depictions of Chinese American cuisine amidst the Cold War. Over her forty-year reign at The Mandarin, Chiang went on to serve famous celebrities, including John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and Henry Kissinger.
[1] Allan Carr and Cecilia Chiang. The Mandarin Way. San Francisco: Little, Brown and Company (1974), 7. [2] Lisa Weiss and Cecilia Chiang. The Seventh Daughter: My Culinary Journey from Beijing to San Francisco. San Francisco: Ten Speed Press, October 2007, 11. [3] Bauer, Michael. “At the Mandarin, Cecilia Chang changed Chinese food.” http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/2011/05/25/at-the-mandarin-cecilia-chiang-changed-chinese-food/ (accessed May 26, 2011). [4] Harlib, Leslie. “Ceclia Chiang – China’s Julia Child.”
Discussion