Claire's Posts
The Hong Kong of My Youth
Feeling especially nostalgic for the Hong Kong of my youth—if only to return to that age of hope and innocence (and parties). Read More
Nostalgia is a Strange Thing
Nostalgia is a strange thing. Its Greek roots nostos (“return home”) and algos (“pain”) express a tender longing to go back to our origin, suggesting that “home” is magically suspended in time. Read More
The Remembering Shanghai Walking Tour
The Da Vinci Code Walking Tour in Paris may have started the book walk trend, but history buffs in Shanghai have enthusiastically taken it up, and Remembering Shanghai sites have been included in several Shanghai walking tours. Read More
American Club Then and Now
Hong Kong’s American Club has always held a special place in the heart of my family—not only when my brothers and I were kids in the 1960s hanging out in the Chuckwagon at St George’s Building. Arguably, “I” might not exist were it not for the American Club. Read More
IPPY Awards
As I might prefer to stay in that dark comfy cave where I spent 10 enjoyable years writing Remembering Shanghai, when I’m blessed with third-party recognition, I must … go to the COPACABANA?! Read More
An 18th and an 88th
March 2019 was doubly auspicious for the Chao clan, as we celebrated Isabel’s 88th, and her youngest grandson Garrett’s 18th birthdays. Our family gathered in Hong Kong for a week-long food fest. Read More
Chinese New Year at da Shop
It was such an honor and delight to be part of the January Chinese New Year celebrations at da Shop, Honolulu’s fabulous independent bookshop, where I presented Remembering Shanghai to a great audience. Read More
RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong)
RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong) is home to our dear friend the legendary Uncle Ray Cordeiro, who was named by Guinness World Records as “the World’s Most Durable Radio DJ”. Read More
House Reconstruction
We have only one photo of Isabel’s childhood home, taken in the 1980s when the house was already fifty years old and in a state of disrepair. So we gave our illustrator Ming-fai Hui an unusual assignment in the summer of 2012. Read More