Cecilia Sun Yun Chiang (Chinese: 江孫芸[1]; September 18, 1920 – October 28, 2020) was a Chinese-American restaurateur and chef, best known for founding and managing the Mandarin restaurant in San Francisco, California.

[2][4] At the age of four, her family moved to Peking (Beijing), where she was raised in a 52-room, converted Ming-era mansion that occupied an entire block.

[6] As a child, she enjoyed elaborate formal meals prepared by the family's two chefs, although the children were not allowed to cook or go into the kitchen.

[8] She met Chiang Liang (江梁), a former economics professor at Fu Jen Catholic University, and by then a successful local businessman whom she married, establishing a comfortable life in Shanghai.

After taking out an ad in a Chinese newspaper for a chef, Chiang hired a couple from Shandong to do the cooking, while she washed dishes and went to the market.

[15][16] A Mandarin speaker, she had trouble communicating with the Cantonese speaking suppliers from Chinatown, who would not extend her credit, and also faced discrimination as a woman business owner.

Journalist C. Y. Lee, who had just written The Flower Drum Song, about San Francisco's Forbidden City Nightclub, became a regular and brought many friends.

[12] The San Francisco Culinary Workers' Union called the location a "sweatshop", which prompted Chiang to sue them for libel.

[12] Alice Waters, who had just opened Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, learned Chinese cooking from Chiang, and the two became lifelong friends.

[20] George Chen, a founder of the city's Betelenut and Shanghai 1930 (now closed, as are his other ventures, Long Life Noodle Co. and Xanadu), waited tables for Chiang at the Mandarin in the 1970s.

[12] In a panel hosted by Colin McEnroe,[21] in response to a question from an audience member, Alice Waters said that she wanted her last meal on earth to be shark fin soup cooked by Chiang.

The comment became a viral sensation, eventually leading the Humane Society International to obtain a pledge from Waters that she would never again eat the dish.

[23][24] In 2014, filmmaker Wayne Wang's Soul of a Banquet documentary, which looks at Chiang's life as she prepares for her lifelong friend Alice Waters' 40th restaurant anniversary, was released.