Charlie Zhang, who escaped Communist China 46 years ago, continues to show his appreciation for his adopted country, which has continued to honor him for his remarkable journey.
The City of Hope Orange County last May honored Charlie and his wife, Ling, with the dedication of the “Ling and Charlie Zhang Art Gallery” following their significant gift to the City of Hope Campus Transformation Fund.
“Charlie Zhang has lived the American dream—an against-the-odds journey that began in the hardship of a Chinese reeducation camp and has led to a life filled with family, purposeful days and the joy of giving back,” the hospital said in a statement. “Through it all, he has followed a few guiding principles: fierce ambition, a love of the arts and resounding hope.”
A year ago, after Zhang accepted his Business Journal award for Excellence in Entrepreneurship, he told the crowd, “God bless America.” It was a statement that combines two factors that Zhang believes helped him achieve success: the United States and God.
Zhang grew up in Shanghai, where his family ran a coffee roasting business until the communists threw his father in prison. His mother was a natural entrepreneur, teaching him that “if you screw it up, fix it.” Zhang himself was sent to work for seven years in the countryside’s rice paddies during the infamous Cultural Revolution.
He was able to get a visa to the U.S. as a student exchange musician. At 24, he arrived in Southern California in 1980 with $20 in his pocket and a clarinet, full of dreams of becoming a professional musician. For 12 to 14 hours a day, six days a week, he worked in the kitchen of a Chinese restaurant where a hand injury dashed his musical ambitions.
“Being a dishwasher wasn’t a waste of time—I studied what people didn’t eat because I had to throw it away,” Zhang wrote in a 2019 Leader Board for the Business Journal.
When he met his wife Ling, an immigrant from Taiwan, she insisted he go to church, or she wouldn’t marry him. Zhang became a Christian in 1985, the year he married Ling. The couple has two sons.
“Becoming a Christian was the right choice of my life,” Zhang said. “It’s been a great journey.”
From $20 to $50M
Zhang says his faith gave him confidence that he would survive as an entrepreneur. He started his own restaurant that eventually became known as Pick Up Stix. Zhang grew the chain to 85 restaurants before selling it to TGI Fridays in 2001.
“I came to America with $20, and they gave me $50 million!” he wrote in his Leader Board.
In the past year, he continued to actively oversee his Zion Enterprises, which has a real estate portfolio that includes the Country Club Medical Plaza, Alcoa Storage, Centerpointe at Market and the Haven Airport Centre. He also owns the building that houses Bank Irvine, which he helped launch in 2022 and serves as its chairman, serving recent Chinese immigrants.
In 2024, he founded Corona-based Gummy Maker, which provides a turnkey solution for making nutritional gummies, including white labels. Production has increased by 75%, Zhang said.
His company also includes property dear to his heart, such as a church in San Juan Capistrano. The company purchased a building in Irvine that is the headquarters of the Pacific Symphony.
They began OC Music & Dance to provide a “world-class facility” where people of all ages, experiences and cultures can enjoy the arts. Since Richard Nixon did so much to open U.S.-China relations, Zhang decided to honor the former president by serving as treasurer of the Nixon Foundation’s board of directors, which oversees the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.
When asked about his achievements in the past year, Zhang said in an email that he and his wife Ling “celebrated the joyful arrival of their third grandchild—an important personal milestone that underscores the family values that guide his professional philosophy.”
“We need to set an example and a pattern for the next generation,” Zhang told City of Hope. “Maybe someone will say, ‘Charlie contributed to that,’ and want to do the same. Everyone can give on some level—this is what I’ve taught my children and grandchildren.”
Zhang will be the keynote speaker at the Business Journal’s Excellence in Entrepreneurship awards event, scheduled for March 26 at the Irvine Marriott.
