Michael Chow: Voice for My Father

The story of Michael Chow (b. 1939, Shanghai) is that of an improbable icon, a global cultural actor decades before globalization became the norm.

Chow is the son of Zhou Xinfang, celebrated Beijing opera master and founder of the Qi School of performance. Chow went to the Saint Martin’s School of Art, and opened the first of his chic Chinese restaurants in London in 1968. Today, MR CHOW operates in six locations around the world and has become synonymous with both high-end Chinese cuisine and the diverse set of artists and cultural luminaries for whom the restaurant was (and remains) a social hub.