Moses Chang
Obituary

Moses was born in Henan Province, China, south of the Yellow River, during a time of profound historical change. At just fifteen years old, he left his family and childhood home to join the Kuomintang under Chiang Kai-shek, eventually following the Nationalist government to Taiwan. It was the first of many departures in a life marked by movement, independence, and an extraordinary ability to begin again.

Leaving home so young set a pattern that would follow Moses throughout his life. He traveled widely, crossing countries and continents and making a life wherever circumstances took him. He journeyed through Europe and worked a variety of jobs, including as a Chinese cook aboard a cruise ship. Travel became one of the defining threads of his life, exposing him to different people, cultures, foods, and ways of living and giving him the worldly outlook and strong individualism that those who knew him would later recognize so easily.

Cooking was more than an occupation for Moses; it was one of his natural gifts. He had a remarkable knack for food and could find his way around any kitchen. His travels eventually brought him to Washington, D.C., where he worked as a cook at the Kennedy Center and ultimately made the United States his home.

Entrepreneurial by nature, Moses went on to open several restaurants throughout the Washington metropolitan area. His talents were not confined to Chinese cooking. Over the course of his career, he opened both Chinese and American restaurants, drawing on the range of tastes, techniques, and experiences he had accumulated during his travels. Restaurants became another recurring theme in his life: places where his skill in the kitchen, instinct for business, and natural sociability came together.

Moses later made another great move, crossing the country to Southern California. There, true to form, he once again started anew, opening additional restaurants and building another chapter of his life. Southern California would remain his home for the rest of his years.

For all the distance Moses traveled, he maintained a deep connection to the traditions from which he came. He was Buddhist and held a profound reverence for his ancestors. His respect for those who came before him remained part of his understanding of family and identity, even as his own life carried him far from the place of his birth. In this way, his life contained a striking balance: he was deeply conscious of his roots, yet fiercely determined to follow his own path.

Moses was social by nature and made friends easily wherever he went. He enjoyed people and possessed the kind of personality that allowed him to enter a new place and quickly become part of it. He was always impeccably dressed and took unmistakable pride in how he presented himself. His years of travel and experience had given him confidence, strong opinions, and a pronounced individualistic streak. He had seen much of the world, formed his own ideas about it, and preferred to live life on his own terms.

Moses is survived by his children, Andrea, Jason, Wellington, Jennifer, and Robert. They carry forward the story of a man whose life spanned cultures, continents, and generations—he will be remembered for the extraordinary journey that was his life.