Honored guest

At 90, James Chao is in very good shape. He can recall clearly the details of what we talked about some 20 years ago. "You wrote many editorials, right?" Writing editorials was one of my routines back then.

James Chao recalls his early years. "As a student at Shanghai Jiaotong University in the 1940s, I was the publisher of a student newspaper, Youth."

That was a biweekly newspaper with a circulation of more than 2,000 copies per issue distributed to eight national and three private universities in Shanghai.

"I was in the limelight at that time, dreaming to be a journalist in the future."

That was during the final phase of the civil war in China. It was dangerous for a student newspaper to cover sensitive political issues. Youth ceased to publish after its fifth issue. So ended James Chao's dream of journalism.

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

James Chao mentioned Qin Fen(1882-1973), a distant relative on his father's side 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."

We talked about his newly published biography, Fearless against the Wind, and the nomination of his eldest daughter as the secretary-designate of the Department of Transportation. We discussed the question: What is the formula, if there is one, for him to have such a wonderful family with six devoted daughters and his brilliant career as a shipping tycoon.

The servers at the HCNY are familiar with James Chao. He has his designated table in a relatively quiet corner, where he can conveniently conduct conversation with guests. The waiter brought him a glass of Bailey's.

"Actually I just ordered this once. They remembered and offer this tome every time I am here."

James Chao is not a picky person. Instead of tea, he asked for a glass of hot water. Most Chinese of his generation develop the habit of drinking tea. And they can name different kinds of tea and are able to distinguish the taste and quality differences. James 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."

James Chao likes the Japanese food at the HCNY. "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 0 C for 60 hours to kill all the bacteria and parasites and also keep the best flavor. The chefs here can do this."

James Chao doesn't care about certain things in his daily life, but he does have principles about his diet.

David Haviland, executive chef of the HCNY, confirmed James Chao's comment. Actually, to freeze raw fish before serving has been a New York City regulation since August 2015. Haviland also told me that the Japanese-food chef at this club was trained by Masaharu Morimoto, a world-famous sushi master who used to be the head chef of Nobu and executive chef of the Sony Club.