Peng Chang-kuei (; September 26, 1919 – November 30, 2016) was a

Taiwanese Taiwanese may refer to: * Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien * Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa) * Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan * Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan * Taiwanese people, ...

chef who is sometimes credited with being the creator of

General Tso's chicken General Tso's chicken (; ) is a sweet and spicy deep-fried chicken dish that is served in American Chinese cuisine, North American Chinese restaurants. The dish is named after Zuo Zongtang, formerly romanized "Tso Tsung-t'ang", a Qing dynasty st ...

, a popular Chinese dish in Western countries.

Early life

Peng was born on September 26, 1919, in

Changsha Changsha (; ; ; Changshanese pronunciation: (), Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is the Capital city, capital and the largest city of Hunan Province of China. Changsha is the 17th most populous city in China with a popul ...

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi ...

Province in the Republic of China. He cooked for the Nationalist government, serving as personal chef to Chiang Kai-shek, before fleeing to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

in 1949.

Culinary career

Peng first prepared his new Hunanese dish of chicken and chilies, naming it after General

Zuo Zongtang Zuo Zongtang, Marquis Kejing ( also spelled Tso Tsung-t'ang; ; November 10, 1812 – September 5, 1885), sometimes referred to as General Tso, was a Chinese statesman and military leader of the late Qing dynasty. Born in Xiangyin County, ...

, at a state banquet during the

First Taiwan Strait Crisis The First Taiwan Strait Crisis (also the Formosa Crisis, the 1954–1955 Taiwan Strait Crisis, the Offshore Islands Crisis, the Quemoy-Matsu Crisis, and the 1955 Taiwan Strait Crisis) was a brief armed conflict between the Communist People's ...

. Peng then served

in his restaurants in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

. When Hunanese restaurants opened in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in 1972, they served an adapted version of General Tso's chicken. Peng emigrated to

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

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

. He returned to Taiwan in the 1980s to open a chain of Peng Yuan restaurants, later opening a branch in his hometown of Changsha.

Personal

Peng married three times and had seven children. He died from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

in November 2016.

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