Xiamen (ancient town of Amoy), 1908 (the year of the Monkey): Yang is born to HO and Jun, he is the youngest of five brothers.

Yang’s father, Ho, was a ship-builder, born in the Huli district of the city. Yang’s mother, Jun, was a cook, in the local food factory, called Tao Fa (the original Amoy factory), that made soy sauce.

Yang was something of a child genius. Fluent in 5 languages by the age of ten, he was a gifted poet and showed a flair for the piano. But his first love was cooking. From the day he was given a wok for his 14th birthday in 1922, he never looked back. Yang joined the Xiamen School of Excellence, where he trained to be a chef, graduating three years later with honours.

In 1932, he opened his first restaurant, which in English translates to ‘The Good Belly’, 34 more restaurants followed. The menu was simple; stir-fries, noodles, and rice dishes.

In the same year, he found love, marrying Choi and together they have twelve children. Yang now lives in Shanghai, where he shares an apartment in the city with his great, great, great granddaughter, Ling. He spends most of his time writing and cooking.

In June 2008, Yang was approached to appear in a series of TV commercials for Amoy. Yang has a special relationship with the brand, given that he has used the products nearly all his life. Indeed, his mum worked in the original Amoy factory canteen back in Xiamen.

Trademark(s) owned by Ajinomoto Co., Inc, Tokyo, Japan, used under licence by HP Foods Limited * The characters and names featured in this advertising are all fictitious, and any resemblance between them and actual persons is unintentional and purely coincidental