Peng Chang-kuei (彭長貴,

Xiang Chinese Xiang or Hsiang ( Chinese: 湘; Changsha Xiang: , Mandarin: ), also known as Hunanese, is a group of linguistically similar and historically related Sinitic languages, spoken mainly in Hunan province but also in northern Guangxi and parts of n ...

: ; September 26, 1919 – November 30, 2016) was a chef specializing in

Hunan cuisine Hunan cuisine, also known as Xiang cuisine, consists of the cuisines of the Xiang River region, Dongting Lake and western Hunan Province in China. It is one of the Eight Great Traditions of Chinese cuisine and is well known for its hot and s ...

. Throughout his culinary career, he was based in

Hengyang Hengyang (; ) is the second largest city of Hunan Province, China. It straddles the Xiang River about south of the provincial capital of Changsha. As of the 2020 Chinese census, Its total population was 6,645,243 inhabitants, of whom 1,290,71 ...

Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. He was credited to be the creator of General Tso's chicken.

Career in Hunan and Chongqing

Peng was born on September 26, 1919, in Shaping-xiang,

Changsha County Changsha County (), commonly known as Xingsha (), is a county in Hunan Province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Changsha. Located in the west portion of Changsha, the county is bordered to the north by Miluo ...

Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...

Province,

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. In 1933, Peng became the apprentice of Cao Jinchen (曹藎臣), the fourth-in-line personal chef of the late

Tan Yankai Tan Yankai (; ; 25 January 1880 – 22 September 1930) was a Chinese politician who briefly served as its head of state and premier. Biography Tan Yankai was born on 25 January 1880 in Hangzhou during the waning decades of the Qing dynasty. ...

, a Hunan statesman and the former

Premier of the Republic of China The premier of the Republic of China, officially the premier of the Executive Yuan ( zh, 行政院院長), is the head of government of Taiwan and leader of the Executive Yuan. The premier is nominally the principal advisor to the President ...

. Peng followed Cao Jinchen to

, Hunan, when Cao found his own restaurant ''Yuloudong'' (玉樓東). Following the 1938 Changsha fire, Peng and his family moved to

Guiyang Guiyang; Mandarin pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, alternatively as Kweiyang is the capital of Guizhou, Guizhou province in China. It is centrally located within the province, on the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, eastern part of the Yun ...

and finally to

, the wartime capital. His father and elder brother died on the way. While working in the Hunan restaurant ''Xiaoxiang Jiudian'' (瀟湘酒店) in Chongqing, he was offered to be the personal chef of Zeng Guangshan. Zeng, then in her 80s, was a native of Hunan and the granddaughter of

Zeng Guofan Zeng Guofan, Marquis Yiyong (; 26 November 1811 – 12 March 1872), birth name Zeng Zicheng, courtesy name Bohan (), was a Chinese statesman and military general of the late Qing dynasty. He is best known for raising and organizing the Xiang ...

, the commander of the

Xiang Army file:Zeng Guofan.png, 150px, Zeng Guofan, the leader of the Xiang Army The Xiang Army or Hunan Army () was a standing army organized by Zeng Guofan from existing regional and village militia forces called ''tuanlian'' to contain the Taiping Rebel ...

and the mother of Lt. General , the head of the Department of Weapons of the

Ministry of War Ministry of War may refer to: * Ministry of War (imperial China) ( 600–1912) * Chinese Republic Ministry of War (1912–1946) * Ministry of War (Kingdom of Bavaria) (1808–1919) * Ministry of War (Brazil) (1815–1999) * Ministry of War (Esto ...

. He was well connected to the senior figures of the

Nationalist government The Nationalist government, officially the National Government of the Republic of China, refers to the government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China from 1 July 1925 to 20 May 1948, led by the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT ...

while in Chongqing. He cofounded ''Banyating'' (半雅亭) restaurant in Chongqing. After the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...

, he returned to Changsha. He was married for the first time (he remarried twice in Taiwan). Before the communist takeover of Hunan in September 1949, he parted ways with his mother, wife, and children to follow the

Kuomintang's retreat to Taiwan Following their defeat in the Chinese Civil War, the remnants of the Nationalist government of the Republic of China (ROC), alongside many refugees, retreated to the island of Taiwan (Formosa) beginning on December 7, 1949. The exodus is so ...

Career in Taiwan and New York

In 1952, Peng found the Hunan restaurant ''Yuloudong'' (玉樓東) in Taipei, but it was destroyed by fire a few years later. In 1955, he was in charge of the staff restaurant of the

Overseas Community Affairs Council The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC; ) is a cabinet-level council of the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China ( Taiwan). The council was founded in 1926 in Canton ( Guangzhou) in Kwangtung (Guangdong) Province. Its main objective i ...

of the Republic of China. In 1956, he found two restaurants in Taipei, ''Tianchanglou'' (天長樓) and ''Peng Yuan'' (彭園). In 1959, he was in charge of the staff restaurant of the

Central Bank of the Republic of China The Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan), known from 1924 to 2007 as the Central Bank of China and still referred to under the acronym CBC, is the central bank of Taiwan. Originally founded in 1924 in Guangzhou, the CBC was expel ...

. In the 1960s, he cofounded the restaurant ''Dung Wan Gok'' (Cantonese: 東雲閣) in Hong Kong, but it was destroyed in a fire five days before its opening. Peng emigrated to

in 1973 and opened his own restaurant, Uncle Peng's Hunan Yuan, near the

Headquarters of the United Nations , image = Midtown Manhattan Skyline 004 (cropped).jpg , image_size = 275px , caption = View of the complex from Long Island City in 2021; from left to right: the Secretariat, Conference, and General Assembly buil ...

. General Tso's chicken featured in his New York restaurant. He returned to Taiwan in the 1980s to open a chain of Peng Yuan restaurants, later opening a branch in his hometown of Changsha. In 2008, Peng was interviewed by

Jennifer 8. Lee Jennifer 8. Lee ( Chinese name: ; pinyin: '; POJ: '; born March 15, 1976) is an American journalist who previously worked for ''The New York Times''. She is the co-founder and president of the literary studio Plympton and a producer of '' The S ...

for the documentary ''

The Search for General Tso ''The Search for General Tso'' is a documentary film that premiered at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival. It was directed by Ian Cheney and produced by Amanda Murray and Jennifer 8. Lee. Sundance Selects acquired it in December 2014, and it was relea ...

'' (2014). In the documentary, Peng recalled in 1952 he was invited by the

Republic of China Navy The Republic of China Navy (ROCN, Chinese, 中華民國海軍) , colloquially known as the Taiwanese Navy ( Chinese, 台湾海军) by Western or mainland Chinese media, or commonly referred as the National Military Navy ( Chinese, 國軍海軍) ...

to be in charge of a three-day state banquet during Admiral

Arthur W. Radford Arthur William Radford (27 February 1896 – 17 August 1973) was an admiral and naval aviator of the United States Navy. In over 40 years of military service, Radford held a variety of positions including the vice chief of Naval Operations ...

's visit of Taiwan. Peng claimed Tso's chicken was served on Radford's menu on the third day. According to U.S. diplomatic records, Radford's visit was during June 2–6, 1953. An alternative story proposed by Taiwanese food writer Zhu Zhenfan (2009) claimed

Chiang Ching-kuo Chiang Ching-kuo (, 27 April 1910 – 13 January 1988) was a politician of the Republic of China. The eldest and only biological son of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, he held numerous posts in the government of the Republic of China and ended ...

, the son of President Chiang Kai-shek, paid a late visit to Peng's restaurant when Peng ran out of ingredients. Chiang was served an improvised dish, General Tso's chicken, by Peng. The earliest news account on Peng was on November 13, 1968, and 15-24 January 1969 under the identical news heading "彭長貴的故事", published by ''Economic Daily News'' (經濟日報) in Taipei. It is not clear whether his stories about his invention of the Tso's chicken were featured in those 1968-1969 news report.

Personal life

Peng was married twice. His first was in Taiwan in 1950 during which he had a son (b. 1953) but divorced shortly after. His married a second time in 1961 and had a son and a daughter. There are claims he had seven children. Peng died from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

in November 2016.

Notes

References

External links

The Strange Tale of General TsoLegacy.com Peng Chang-kuei
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peng, Chang-kuei Taiwanese people from Hunan 1919 births 2016 deaths Chinese chefs People from Changsha Chinese Civil War refugees Deaths from pneumonia in Taiwan