(Click on any of the headers below for additional content.)
CHO FU LAI 
Home page

A REMEMBRANCE
Frank was born in Beijing, China and came to the United States in 1947.

CHINESE OPERA
Self-taught, Frank played the hu-chin and was one of the founding members of the Chinese Opera Club in New York City.

BRUSHWORK
Having studied Chinese brush painting with master C. C. Wang, Frank opened Mi Chou, the first gallery in the United States to exclusively feature Chinese artists.

TEA CRAFT
Expert tea taster and blender, Frank traveled extensively in search of fine teas that could be imported and distributed in the United States.
Frank F. Cho Forbes Magazine
Sidebar from a Forbes Magazine piece about several people who they felt were interesting and successful in their respective endeavors.

A remembrance

Cho Fu-Lai (Frank F. Cho) was born to father Hsiun-Mou and mother Chi-Chun in Beijing (Peking) in January 1922 but was raised by his adoptive parents, paternal uncle Hung-Mou and aunt Shu-Kang.

He had four brothers by birth — Mo-Lai (Morley), Huan-Lai (Henry), Kuang-Lai (Conrad), Ching-Lai (Kinley); and two sisters by birth — Hsiang-Lai (Sally) and Yuan-Lai (Margaret). He also had an older cousin, I-Ching, whom he considered his sister.

As a child, Frank received a traditional Chinese education at home under a tutor before and while he was enrolled in a modern high school for his formal education in the 1930s. Frank received his B.A. from Yenching University in 1944 despite the fact that while he was a student there, World War II began, and his schooling was interrupted as the university shut down operations in Peking and moved further south to Chongqing in order to avoid the advancing Japanese troops. A fluent speaker of English, Frank volunteered for the Chinese Red Cross and also worked as a translator for the American Red Cross in China in the mid-1940s.

Frank came to the United States in 1947 and received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School two years later. Although he fully intended to return to China upon graduating from business school, the ascension of Mao Tse-Tung and the Communist Party in China prevented his return. 

In 1951, he moved to New York to work for the Sembodja Corporation, one of the most active Indonesian tea importers of the day. From there his career took form, first as a co-founder and president of Formost Tea Corporation and later as founder of Grace Tea Company and finally General Tea Corporation. Frank also served as a member of the U.S. Associate Board of Tea Experts in the 70s. 

From 1951 through 1955, Frank studied Chinese painting with Chi-Ch'ien Wang (C.C. Wang, 1907-2003), a world-renowned painter and connoisseur of Chinese art. With Mr. Wang's encouragement and assistance, Frank opened Mi Chou Gallery in New York City (1954-1971), the first gallery focused exclusively on Asian and Asian American artists. Frank was an avid collector of Chinese brush art and calligraphy, and several pieces from his collection have been donated to major arts institutions around the United States, including the Denver Art Museum (three pieces) and Princeton University (one). Frank's grandfather, Cho Hsiao-Fu, and uncle, Cho Chun-Yung, both were well known calligraphers during the first half of the 20th century.

In addition to his love of Chinese painting, Frank was also passionate about Chinese Opera. He was self-taught and played the hu-chin in the Chinese Opera Club of New York, of which he and three of his friends were founding members in 1951.

Frank met his wife, Hsu Jih-Hoong (Joan J.H. Cho), in 1953. Frank and Joan were married in the Unitarian Church in Brooklyn Heights in October 1960. They had a son, Yee-Ping, and a daughter, Yee-Ann. 

In 1978, Frank and his family moved from New York to Denver, Colorado, where he successfully launched his final business, the General Tea Corporation. Frank retired in 1988 to enjoy life in the Rockies and their occasional trips out of state. In his retirement, he transitioned from his on-again, off-again tai-chi practice to a more deliberate and supportive practice of qi-gong with Joan. After becoming immersed in their qi-gong practice, both of them became vegetarians. It was in retirement that Frank was able to complete his final painting, a long scroll titled "Dwelling in the Fu-Ch'un Mountains" with a colophon by the esteemed C.C. Wang. Frank's diminishing vision effectively ended his ability to paint and do calligraphy. 

Another long-standing cause of his was honoring one of his brothers, Huan-Lai, a diplomat who was killed by the Japanese at the conclusion of World War II, and making sure that the world would never forget the wartime atrocities committed by the Japanese against the Chinese, particularly those in Nanking, in 1937.

Frank and Joan moved in 1997 to Southern California, where they lived peacefully and contentedly, generally preparing for their future. Frank passed away on February 27, 2014. He was ever generous, kind, thoughtful and devoted.
A small video to celebrate forty years together on the occasion of Frank and Joan's anniversary in 2000. Created by Yee-Ping in an early version of iMovie from some home movies that had been digitized and then rough-cut together with various photos to the sounds of "I love you" by Nat King Cole.
Do not stand by my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awake in the morning's hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush.

Of quiet birds in circling flight
I am the soft-star that shines at night.

Do not stand by my grave and cry,
I am not there, I did not die.

— Unknown