The Monk and the Mafioso

Meng Zhao Shek was a two star general, military judge, and war hero. He had twelve children with his wife, and lost a brother and son to war before fleeing with his family to Taiwan. Through an exchange program, his three daughters taught English in S. Korea and brought the remaining eight brothers to the United States as political refugees.

While most of his brothers became academics and medical professionals, Meng Hsien-Nien took interest in the culture of the street. In 1972, with youthful grit and an entrepreneurial spirit, Hsien-Nien set foot in America with $9 in his pocket and a few English words. With a deep love for food, he toured the country from Alaska to Miami as a waiter. In 1979, he returned briefly to Taiwan and met his wife, a tough Shanghai-nese woman, buying chopsticks in a grocery market.

In 1985, his first and only daughter was born. He asked his best friends, a retired principal for the Taiwanese mafia, and his wife, a monk and artist, to be her godparents.

In 1987, Hsien-Nien took his family to Kerrville, Texas, to open his first restaurant. Hsien-Nien, wife, and new daughter slept atop an egg crate mattress on the floor while he continued to build his business. While working 80+ hour weeks, he would fit in a run of five miles and playtime with his daughter everyday. Growing up, his daughter never felt poor through actions of love, the company of books, MTV, home-cooked meals, rich conversations with family and community members, and the inquiry that art brings.

Today, Hsien-Nien is a semi-retired successful entrepreneur (who will likely never stop working), proud grandfather, tea lover, tai-chi practitioner, political activist, and survivor of lung cancer. He has updated to a tatami mat (it’s better for his back). His daughter, an image of her Father (there is no one on earth like her Mother), lives and works in San Francisco as a mother, cultural producer, non-profiteer, community-builder, and art entrepreneur.

The family are descendents of Mencius, the most published and renown student under Confucius, who ideologized teachings on the goodness of human nature. Mencius believed in the importance of community, and is revered as a philosopher, teacher, and an avid practitioner of the I-Ching.