Buwei Yang Chao
Buwei Yang Chao (née Buwei Yang; Chinese Traditional: 楊步偉, Simplified: 杨步伟, Pinyin: Yáng Bùwěi) (1889–1981) was an American Chinese physician, writer of recipes, and wife of the eminent linguist Yuen Ren Chao.
She was born in Nanjing into the Yang family but was looked after by her aunt and uncle. She was sent to Japan to attend the Tokyo Women's Medical College. After graduating as a medical doctor, she returned to China where she met her future husband. They married on June 1, 1921. They had four daughters; the eldest, Rulan Chao (趙如蘭), helped in the writing of her book of recipes.
Buwei Yang Chao wrote two notable books: How to Cook and Eat in Chinese and An Autobiography of a Chinese Woman.
How to Cook and Eat in Chinese was written when Buwei and Yuen Ren lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts during World War II. Yuen Ren was conducting language training for the US Army and Buwei would prepare meals for the instructors using local ingredients. The wives of other prominent academics encouraged her to publish a book which would share these recipes. With the help of her daughter Rulan she prepared over two hundred and thirty recipes. Some came from her travels with her husband. He collected dialect data from across China and often they stayed with their language informants. Though the recipes were not written down, she often recreated them from memory of their taste. [1] When the recipes had been worked out, Yuen Ren wrote the text based on his wife's experience. He coined the terms "pot sticker" and "stir fry" for the book, terms which are now widely accepted. [2] Jason Epstein of The New York Times stated "it is obvious that the professor wrote virtually the entire book in his wife's name."[3] Buwei Yang Chao had admitted that she was almost unable to write or even speak English.[3]
In her second book, An Autobiography of a Chinese Woman: Put Into English By Her Husband Yuenren Chao, she detailed the eventful life she led prior to her meeting her husband, and afterward in their travels together. Both books were first published by The John Day Company, New York.
She also wrote a third book: How to Order and Eat in Chinese to Get the Best Meal in a Chinese Restaurant (1974).
Footnotes
- ↑ "Author's Note," How to Cook and Eat in Chinese (New York: John Day, 1946).
- ↑ Jason Epstein, “Chinese Characters,” New York Times Magazine (June 13 2004): FOOD Late Edition - Final , Section 6 , Page 71 , Column 1.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Epstein, Jason. "FOOD; Chinese Characters." The New York Times. June 13, 2004. Retrieved on July 31, 2013. "Since she admitted that she could hardly speak, much less write, English, it must have been her scholarly husband who wrote (in his wife's name) eatable, from the Old English etan, rather than the more pretentious edible, imported from the Latin edibilis. In fact, it is obvious that the professor wrote virtually the entire book in his wife's name."
References
- Chao, Buwei Yang (1945). How to Cook and Eat in Chinese. New York: John Day. OCLC 1459736.
- -- Za Ji Zhao Jia 雜記趙家 (Taibei Shi: Zhuan ji wen xue chu ban she, 1972)
- -- Autobiography of a Chinese Woman, Put into English by her husband Yuenren Chao, (NY: John Day, 1947; Reprinted: Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1970).
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