Isabel Sun Chao is one of the last of her generation to have experienced legendary Old Shanghai firsthand. After growing up in Shanghai, she left for Hong Kong on what she thought was a holiday in 1950 and never saw her father again. She has since lived in Hong Kong, where she worked for more than thirty years as a cultural affairs specialist in the US Consulate General. Now in her eighties, Isabel is retired and most days can be found exercising her skills and diplomacy at the mahjong table.