Chao C. Chien

Trained as a scientist (University of Michigan engineering), Chao, Mr. Chien, Chao C. Chien, the writer, researcher, and thinker, excels in reasoned and logical thinking. When complemented by his natural affinity for details, and a proclivity to question everything until all kinks are resolved, he has become a preeminent tenderer of a wide range of esoteric subjects, mostly centered about history. The results are a series of treatises questioning the validity of long-established “facts” and offer highly credible alternative explanations. Examples of these include The Chinese Origin of the Age of Discovery, Platinum Edition (that is correct, Columbus did not have divine inspiration, and did not discover the Caribbean); The Hunt for the Dragon (the likely explanation for the disappearance of the Chinese Emperor Jianwen of early 15th century); In Search of Troy, 2nd Edition (a reconstruction of the sojourns of the Proto-Greeks, 13th century BCE), and others.

In 2000 Years of World History, he took the position of a world citizen and looked at the events from a position removed and saw the development of the world's civilization as one continuous piece. In the accompanying volume, 2000 Years of World History BCE, he traced the budding of human settlements all the way until the early world powers were formed.

Surprising, Chao is not a pedantic historian. He is in fact a fine writer. Therefore, instead of being dry as do other history research reports, his works are interesting to read, and even exciting. He has a way of drawing you in while delineating the facts, which have often been ignored or discarded by other scholars because they could not explain them. Well, facts are facts. They exist. By disregarding them a researcher risks invalidating his own theory.

The classic example is The Origin of the Age of Discovery, Platinum Edition. The evidence from the era exists. Yet, scholars had ignored it and embraced a fantasy history. See it for yourself. There are hundreds of documents, reports, and maps that speak to the contrary.

In fact, Chao’s writing can be full of imagination. When not researching serious subjects, he writes novels; crime and detective novels, such a Double Helix; The DA, Toe Tag, Once Upon a Time in Hong Kong, among others. With his attention to fine points, and obsession with logic, his novels are well-spun, intriguing, complex and convoluted. They also touch upon timely topics, such as climate change. His novels measure up well against the opuses put out by the more distinguished authors of the genre.

During his off time he writes about his thoughts on politics, philosophy, and even science.

His A New World Order cuts through the propagandas and offers us what the world could be like in truth.

In A History of China, Chao livens up an often stodgy and dodgy narrative by highlighting certain aspects that are traditionally shunned, such as the country was once ravaged by outsiders, who were not all of East Asian stock.

In Algebra Done Right, he laid out the fundamentals of algebra, and it turned out to be super reasonable and easy. You can literally read te book in one night. Of course, to be able to ply it, to develop a skill for it, you need to practice and do exercises.

Thus, it appears that Chao has a full plate. Where does he find time for leisure; for other “extracurricular” activities? Chao was the Hong Kong Music Festival trumpet solo champion in 1963 and 1964, with Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto and Eugene Bozza’s Badinage for trumpet and piano. If you have access to Facebook, you can reach his page with “Chao C. Chien” and enjoy his many paintings. Oh, he was once escorted out of Las Vegas casinos for the sin of not losing at the blackjack tables.

In short, Chao C. Chien is the quintessential researcher/writer and the archetypal écrivain extraordinaire. He is an extraordinary individual.