Gifted son does his legendary father proud, after decades apart

British-Chinese Michael Chow became prominent in the West as a man of many faces: founder of the Mr Chow upmarket restaurant chain, artist who held solo exhibitions under the pseudonym M, architectural designer, and film actor.

But in China, this Shanghai-born man of many talents is known as Zhou Yinghua and is perhaps most famous as the youngest son of Peking Opera master Zhou Xinfang (1895-1975).

Now 10 years after his last visit, Chow has returned to Shanghai to commemorate the 130th anniversary of his father's birth. Shanghai Daily talked with him at a downtown hotel.

Chow entered the interview wearing a Chinese-style shirt and looking much younger than his 85 years. He was passionate in speaking of his father, despite the fact that they had no contact with each other after Chow was sent to England at age 12.

"I would say without hesitation that he was the Beethoven of China and was as prominent in China as Shakespeare was to Great Britain," Chow said. "He was a giant artist and the quintessence of a Chinese man."

Zhou Xinfang, also known by his stage name Qi Lin Tong (麒麟童), was the creator of the Qi School (麒派) of Peking Opera. In China, he is considered one of the greatest 20th century grand masters of Peking Opera, on par with opera master Mei Lanfang (1894-1961).

Unlike Mei, who played huadan, or young female parts, on stage, Zhou specialized in laosheng, or older male characters.

Zhou was the first director of the Shanghai Peking Opera Theater Company.

Apart from performances, Zhou also made great contributions in revising scripts for hundreds of Peking Opera dramas.

Chow said he doesn't remember Zhou much, except that he was a distant and quite strict father. Chow spent most of his childhood with his mother, who doted on him because he suffered from asthma.

"Before my departure for England – maybe because he knew we might never meet again – my father took me with him to work for two weeks," Chow said.

But that brief period of father-son bonding was short-lived, too short to Chow's dismay.

Before parting, he recalls his father saying to him, "Wherever you go, always remember that you're Chinese."

Words he has never forgotten. In fact, Chow named his first born child China.

Living abroad in an entirely strange environment was difficult for such a young boy. His years at boarding school were relatively happy, but a sense of "injustice" always lingered in him as in any Chinese person living in the West back then.

After studying at Saint Martin's School of Arts and then Hammersmith School of Building and Architecture, Chow set out to become an artist, but found that path didn't suit him – at least at that time.

"When I was young, I wanted to become a Peking Opera actor like my father, but that was not possible after I was sent to England," he said. "So I decided to become a painter, but that was thwarted at the time by the prevailing belief that Chinese men were cut out only for laundry or restaurant work."

Chow was introduced to film after his sister Tsai Chin became a Bond girl. He appeared in the British movie "Violent Playground" with his sister, and other movie contracts followed.

But in the film industry, Chow felt the same sense of injustice. Chinese characters in his movies were either villains like Fu Manchu or inferior beings working in laundries.

Well, if Chinese men were only cut out for restaurants work, Chow decided, so be it. He resolved to open a restaurant – with a difference.

"I turned my restaurant into a theater," he said.

On Valentine's Day in 1968, the first Mr Chow restaurant opened its doors to diners. Unlike common Chinese restaurants, which were stereotypically low-end, greasy and unhealthy, Mr Chow went upmarket. Chow invited chefs from Hong Kong to turn out the best Chinese cuisine and hired Italian stewards as waiters.

"Many foreign people don't understand Chinese food," he said. "They think it's the American-Chinese version, and that's wrong. My job is to interpret the complex, sophisticated and profound Chinese food culture. For example, Cantonese food is health-driven, and many medicinal elements are added to improve the heart and body."

His high-end Chinese restaurant soon became a hit. Later, the franchise expanded to the United States. The chain attracted countless celebrities, especially musicians and artists.

Anecdotes about the restaurants' clientele abound. The Beatles regularly patronized the restaurant. Andy Warhol used to visit the restaurant frequently and did a portrait of Chow. Before rising to success, neo-expressionist artist Jean-Michel Basquiat sent Chow a painting as a calling card and later they became good friends.

Although the restaurant chain was extremely successful, Chow never gave up his dream of pursuing art as a means of expression.

When Chow picked up brush again 50 years after he gave up painting, he didn't forget what made him want to "express" himself in the first place – injustice.

"My father was in a way an expressionist artist, and I am an expressionist artist," Chow said. "Great expressionist artists deal with injustice. The pain they suffer from it creates great works of art."

He chose collage as his major medium of expression because he felt it was the best way of bridging a gap in Chinese and Western cultures created by misunderstanding and lack of communication.

"My life is a collage, and I have the talent to manage to put things together that are not supposed to go together," he said. "Through collage, I make harmony. It's just like my first restaurant, with Chinese chefs and Italian-style service."

His resumption of art was as successful as his restaurant career. His works have been exhibited, sometimes in solo exhibition, in Asia, Europe and the US. In the process, Chow said he somehow reconnected with his father.

In 2015, to celebrate the 120th anniversary of Zhou Xinfang's birth, Chow released a book entitled "Voice for My father," which tells stories of the father and son through archival images and personal portraits.

In coming October, Chow will be back in Shanghai to hold another exhibition.

"I work more than ever," he said. "I am going to revolutionize one more time. Sixty years ago, I promoted, single-handedly, Chinese cuisine to the West. And this time I will promote not only cuisine, but also Peking Opera and Chinese arts as well. So I'm doing a lot before I leave."