Claire Chao Author

Isabel Sun Chao is one of the last of her generation to have experienced legendary “Old Shanghai” firsthand. After growing up in Shanghai, she left for Hong Kong on what she thought was a holiday in 1950 and never saw her father again. She has since lived in Hong Kong, where she worked for more than thirty years as a cultural affairs specialist in the US Consulate General. Now in her nineties, Isabel is retired, and most days can be found exercising her skills and diplomacy at the mahjong table. Isabel’s daughter, Claire Chao, spent much of her youth seeking connections to her parents’ homeland. After thirty years in management with companies such as Tiffany & Co., Harry Winston and Hill & Knowlton, she spent a decade creating Remembering Shanghai, uncovering an uncanny link with the grandfather she never met. She has been designated one of Avenue magazine’s “500 Most Influential Asian Americans” and Tatler Hong Kong’s “Who’s Who in Hong Kong.” She graduated with highest honors from Princeton University and lives in Honolulu with her husband and two dogs.