AIG's roots go deep here, all the way back to 1919 when a young and restless Californian arrived in a booming semi-colonial city that was teeming with bankers, industrialists and opium merchants.
Cornelius Vander Starr had sold auto insurance in San Francisco before serving as an infantry sergeant during the Great War. But the Fort Bragg native wasn't commissioned overseas, so when the war ended, he ventured off by himself to Asia's commercial hub at age 26.
Before long, he opened an office on Nanking Road with two Chinese clerks, underwriting ordinary life insurance policies as well as coverage for cargo ships carrying refugees from Russia's Vladivostok to Europe.
And so was born the company that would become American International Group Inc., the biggest insurance firm in the world.
Since then, AIG has had a special place in the hearts of many Chinese, who regarded the company as among the best of international brands. But after the U.S. government's $85-billion rescue of the troubled conglomerate last week, its stellar reputation has been tarnished, and at least a few customers are canceling their policies.
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