Wei Yang Chao

Wei (“way”) Yang Chao was born in Guangzhou (“gwahng-joh”) in southeastern China and moved with his family to Beijing in 1965, on the eve of the Cultural Revolution.

In the aftermath he worked as a translator and tour guide, speaking Mandarin, Cantonese and English. In 1981 he came to America to study at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received both his Master's and Ph.D. degrees. He later obtained engineering training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He pursued a career in innovative business technology, and founded one of China's "Top 100" e-Business and Internet companies, serving as Chairman/CEO for sixteen years.

He now lives in both the San Francisco Bay Area and Beijing, working to promote cultural understanding and exchange between China and the United States.

The author of many books and articles in Chinese on the topics of technology and culture, Red Fire is his first major publication in English and tells the story of his years during the Cultural Revolution.