Cecilia Chiang
江孙芸

18 June 2019
Cecelia Chiang Interview conducted for MOCA’s Sour, Sweet, Bitty, Spicy Exhibition, 2017 Museum of Chinese in America
(MOCA) Institutional Archives
江孙芸在2017年MOCA的《酸甜苦辣》展览中被采访的照片,美国华人博物馆(MOCA)机构档案

Cecilia Chiang (b. 1920) is a Chinese American restaurateur and chef that founded and managed the Mandarin Restaurant in San Francisco. With the opening of the restaurant in 1960, Chiang is credited with introducing Americans to authentic Mandarin cuisine.

After escaping the Chinese Communist Revolution of 1949 on the last flight out of Shanghai, Chiang, her husband, and her daughter eventually settled in San Francisco, where she agreed to help some friends open a restaurant. When the landlord refused to return her deposit after her friends backed out, Chiang decided to run the restaurant on her own. She listed over 200 dishes on her first menu to figure out which dishes appealed most to non-Chinese Americans and eschewed stereotypical Chinese restaurant decor in designing the spaces. While Chiang initially struggled in the industry as a Mandarin-speaking Chinese woman, she soon began attracting important clientele (such as The Flower Drum Song creator C.Y. Lee) and moved her booming restaurant to a 300-seat location in Ghirardelli Square. She ran the restaurant until her she sold it and retired in 1991; the restaurant continued to operate until 2006.Her son, Philip Chiang, eventually co-founded the popular restaurant chain P.F. Chang’s.

Chiang has written two cookbooks and a cookbook/memoir. In 2013, she was honored with a lifetime achievement award from the James Beard Foundation. Even at the age of 98, Chiang continues to champion charitable causes, most notably raising money for the Chinese American International School in San Francisco.


江孙芸(出生于1920年)是一名美籍华裔餐馆老板和厨师,她在旧金山创办并管理着“福禄寿”中餐厅。1960年,餐厅开业,江孙芸因向美国客人推出正宗的中国菜而受到赞誉。

逃离1949年中国共产主义革命,乘最后一班机离开上海,江孙芸和她的丈夫及女儿最终定居在旧金山,在那里她同意帮助一些朋友开一家餐馆。但她的朋友们食言退出了,而房东又拒绝退还押金,这时江孙芸决定自己经营这家餐馆。她在第一个菜单上列出了200多种菜肴,以确定哪些菜肴会对非华裔美国人最有吸引力,并且在设计空间时避开陈规定型的中国餐馆装饰。作为一名说普通话的中国女性,江孙芸最初在这个行业中很挣扎,但她很快就开始吸引重要的客户(例如《花鼓戏》(The Flower Drum Song)的作者黎锦扬(C.Y. Lee)),并将她蓬勃发展的餐厅搬到位于Ghirardelli广场的能容纳300个座位的新址。她一直经营这家餐馆,直到1991卖掉退休,之后这家餐厅继续营业到2006年。她的儿子江一帆(Philip Chiang),最终与其他人共同创办了很受欢迎的连锁餐厅“华馆”(P.F. Chang’s)。

江孙芸写了两本烹饪书和一本烹饪回忆录。2013年,她被詹姆斯·比尔德基金会授予终身成就奖。即使在98岁高龄,江孙芸依然继续支持慈善事业,其中最著名的是为旧金山的中美国际学校筹集资金。

Countdown to the TCS NYC Marathon on November 3, 2019: 216 Days.

2019年是美国第一条横贯大陆铁路建成150周年,为了纪念第一批华人来美建设这条铁路所做出的巨大贡献, MOCA将其2019 TCS NYC Marathon的活动命名为 MOCA Spike 150 – Running Forward With Our Stories! 鼓励大家通过马拉松公益跑,全国线上接力,以及一天一个故事的方式讲述150个华人的历史故事,敬请大家持续关注, 讲出华人自己的故事,回顾过去,立足现在,展望未来,共同书写美国历史,使之更加充实完整。

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