he Chao Family:One of a kind

"I have always been an idealist. At that time, I had been determined to contribute to my country by studying science and engineering," he said.

Chao mentioned Qin Fen (1882-1973), a distant relative of his father and a Harvard-trained mathematician. "Qin Fen had a big impact on me. If you want to do something big, you've got to be well educated," he said.

A waiter brought Chao a glass of Baileys Irish Cream, an Irish whiskey and cream-based liqueur. "Actually, I just ordered this once, they remembered, and offer this to me every time I am here," he said.

Instead of tea, he asked for a glass of hot water. For people of his generation, most Chinese would develop the habit of drinking tea, and they can name different kinds of tea and be able to distinguish the taste and quality differences. Chao can't.

"I am OK to drink any kind of tea, or no tea. I don't drink alcohol. When I was a young seaman, I did drink liquor," he said.

Though not a picky person, Chao mentioned how much he likes the Japanese food at the Harvard Club.

"It's a big deal to eat good sashimi anywhere in the world. You need to keep the fresh raw fish filet in the refrigerator at zero degree Celsius for 60 hours to kill all the bacteria and parasites and also keep the best flavor of it. The chefs here can do this,"he said.

David Haviland, the club's executive chef, confirmed Chao's comment. Freezing raw fish before serving has been a New York City regulation since August 2015.

Haviland also told me that the Japanese food chef at the club was trained by Masaharu Morimoto, the world-famous sushi master who used to be the head chef of Nobu restaurant in New York and executive chef of Sony Club.

Chao, who was born in a small village in Jiading county, now part of Shanghai, said he also enjoys Shanghai cuisine, with its sweet taste in almost all dishes. He singled out eel paste, stir-fry eel with sugar, white pepper and many seasonings, a typical and tasty Shanghai dish.

Only chicken

However, as a poor immigrant coming to the US in 1958, he had to give up his hometown's delicious food, and chicken became his major dish. "A whole chicken was 29 cents. I boiled it. Making use of one chicken, I could prepare three meals for me. Besides eating the chicken, I got a pot of chicken broth," he said.

While in America, Chao was separated from his family for three years. His wife joined him from Taiwan with their three daughters, Elaine, Jeanette and May, after a 37-day voyage across the Pacific.

Chao's father, Yiren Chao, was the principal of a primary school in his hometown, Jiading. Then it was common for Chinese families to build big houses as long as they had money. However, Chao's father refused to do so. He spent almost all his money on his only child's education. Chao's house in Jiading was really shabby, and it was demolished with the construction of the Shanghai Formula 1 Track in 2005. The memory of the house remains with Chao.

"Without my father's decision not to build a big house, I wouldn't be able to have my education, and my life would be totally different," he explained.

Chao still goes to his Manhattan office every day. He has held the title of chairman of Foremost since its founding. Angela, the youngest of the sisters and also a Harvard Business School graduate, is deputy chairwoman. Her father is very happy to see her gradually taking over the company.

On the day we met at the Harvard Club, Angela was in Japan to attend the handover and launching ceremony for a 180,000 deadweight ton bulk cargo ship built for Foremost, and after that she was going to Qingdao, China, for the launching ceremony of another ship for Foremost. "Three additional cargo ships are under construction now," said Chao.

Chao's wife, Ruth Mulan Chu Chao, died on August 2, 2007. They had been married for 56 years.