Dr. James S. C. Chao cuts the ribbon opening up the Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Center. From left: May Chao; US Senator Elizabeth Warren; Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria; President of Harvard University Drew Faust; Dr. James S. C. Chao; 24th US Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao; US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell; Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker; Christine Chao; Angela Chao; Grace Chao; US Senator Ed Markey.

The couple met in 1948 in Shanghai, and it was "a love at first sight", said Dr Chao. "The very first time I set eyes on Mulan, my heart was aflutter, dazzled by both her beauty and her elegance."

Ambitious and hard-working, the future Dr Chao became one of the youngest sea captains in Taiwan at age 29. He subsequently scored the highest grade on the Maritime Master's Examination, an achievement that qualified him for government-sponsored study in the US.

Although Ruth Chao was seven months pregnant with their third child and didn't know how long the family would be apart, she encouraged her husband to take the opportunity. During their three years apart, the couple wrote to each other daily.

In 1961, after Chao saved enough money and filed all the paperwork, Ruth Chao and their three daughters boarded a cargo ship and came to America. In New York, the family was reunited, and Dr Chao met his 3-year-old third daughter, May, for the first time.