Chinese Historical Society of Southern California

Five Chinatowns Community History Project - September 2022 Program
2022-09-07 06:30 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Eventbrite
CHSSC has been excited to host nine interns for the 2022 Summer Internship in Chinese American Community History for the Five Chinatowns project, which documents the five Chinese American communities that existed in Los Angeles during the period before 1965. Over the past ten weeks, our summer interns worked as a cohort, learning from community elders under the guidance of Dr. William Gow (CSU Sacramento), Dr. Isa Quintana (UC Irvine), Dr. Kelly Fong (UCLA) with expertise in Asian American history. Interns conducted interviews, transcribed interviews, cleared existing transcripts, and produced edited transcripts for publication. This paid internship was made possible based on the generous donations of our members, without whom this project would not be possible. For more information about the Five Chinatowns project, please visit https://chssc.org/five-chinatowns/.
Join us at our September meeting to learn more about our interns’ experiences, to hear stories of the various Chinese American communities in Los Angeles before the passage of the 1965 Immigration Act and to learn how you can support our project. To allow enough time for all of our interns to present on their internship, this meeting will run from 6:30-8:00 PM PT.
Project co-directors
Will Gow is an Assistant Professor of Asian American Studies at Sacramento State. Entering his 20th year as a volunteer with the CHSSC, he previously oversaw the Chinatown Remembered Project in 2007-2008 and co-produced the CHSSC documentary Revisiting East Adams in 2004.
Kelly Fong is a Continuing Lecturer in the Asian American Studies Department at UCLA. She has been involved with CHSSC since 2005, and has served as CHSSC Board Member, Golden Spike Gala co-organizer, and member of the archives committee.
Isabela Seong Leong Quintana is an Assistant Professor of Asian American Studies at UC Irvine, where she researches and teaches about Asian American and Latinx women’s histories. She has been an author for the Gum Saan Journal and has participated in various CHSSC events over the years.

CHSSC Summer Picnic
2022-08-27 11:00 - 14:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | CHSSC, 411-415 Bernard St, Los Angeles, CA, 90012, United States

The Legend of Auntie Po
2022-08-24 16:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Webinar
Historians Sue Fawn Chung, Will Gow, and Archaeologist Stacey L. Camp join in discussion with author Shing Yin Khor. Set in an 1880s logging camp in the Sierras, Khor’s graphic novel weaves together stories of thirteen-year old Mei and her friends and family – including the mythical Auntie Po, camp life, and Chinese American community-building during the Chinese Exclusion Era.
Wednesday, August 24th, 2022
4-5pm (PT)
Register by visiting https://bit.ly/auntiepo
Shing Yin Khor is the author-illustrator of The Legend of Auntie Po, the Eisner-winning and National Book Award finalist graphic novel about a young Chinese logging camp cook in the Sierra Nevada telling Paul Bunyan tales, and of The American Dream?, a graphic novel memoir about driving Route 66. They tell stories about nostalgic Americana, immigration, and new rituals. They live in Los Angeles with a small dog and a cargo van.
Sue Fawn Chung, Professor Emerita, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, received her master’s from Harvard and her doctorate from UC Berkeley. She is the author of numerous articles on Chinese Americans and has published four books on the subject: The Chinese in the Woods: Logging and Lumbering in the American West. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2015; In Pursuit of Gold: Chinese American Miners and Merchants in the American West, Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2011. Caroline Bancroft History Honor Award, 2013. Paperback Edition, 2014. The Chinese in Nevada, Charleston, SC: Arcadia Press in their “Images of America” Series, 2011. Chinese American Death Rituals: Respecting the Ancestors eds. Sue Fawn Chung and Priscilla Wegars, Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira, 2005. She is currently working on a book manuscript on Chinese railroad labor contractors in the 19th century as a continuation of her work on the Stanford University Chinese Railroad Workers’ Project.
Stacey L. Camp is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of the MSU Campus Archaeology Program at Michigan State University. She is an historical archaeologist who examines migrant and diasporic communities living in the 19th and 20th century Western United States. Her publications explore how different facets of people’s identities – race, class, gender, and citizenship – shape their perceptions of consumerism and material culture. She has conducted ethnography and archaeological research in the Midwestern and Western United States, China, and Ireland.
Will Gow is a California-based community historian, educator, and documentary filmmaker. A fourth-generation Chinese American and a proud graduate of the San Francisco Unified School District, he holds an M.A. in Asian American Studies from UCLA and a Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies with a designated emphasis in Film Studies from UC Berkeley. Before joining the faculty at Sacramento State, he taught Asian American Studies courses at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and UCLA. His first documentary, More to the Chinese Side, co-directed with Sharon Heijin Lee, was nominated for the Golden Reel Award at the Los Angeles Asian American Film Festival in 2003. The documentary is a first-person examination of Dr. Gow’s biracial identity and his parents’ interracial marriage. Driven by an interest in his family history, he served as a volunteer historian and board member at the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California (CHSSC). At the CHSSC, he founded and directed the Chinatown Remembered Project. This project paired youth interns with community elders to document the history of Los Angeles Chinatown in the 1930s and 1940s through oral history and digital video. He is currently co-editing a book for the CHSSC about the five Chinatowns of mid-twentieth century Los Angeles.

10th Annual Yosemite Sing Peak Pilgrimage 2022
2022-07-29 08:00 - 2022-08-03 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Yosemite National Park, CA, United States
Our first pilgrimage began on August 4, 2013 with a small group who, inspired by presentations and research by Yosemite Ranger Yenyen Chan, organized our first trip to Yosemite National Park. Led by state park superintendent/environmental educator Jack Shu, we gathered at Wawona to plan trips to discover the Chinese American heritage of Yosemite and to honor Tie Sing, the legendary mountain chef whose culinary skills contributed in no small way to the establishment of the National Park Service in 1916.
Since 2013, our pilgrimages have led us to many paths of discovery, and have increased the public awareness of the important role of early Chinese Americans in the mountains. Chinese workers built long access roads (sometimes in the winter), worked in timber operations, grew food for the hotels and local population, ran the kitchens in the hotels, and washed the hotel and restaurant linens. In later bulletins, we’ll discuss more of the progress made, such as the October 2021 ribbon cutting for the Chinese Laundry Building, in recognizing Chinese Americans in Yosemite.
This years pilgrimage will be centered at the Lee Vining Community Center. On Friday morning, July 29, we will meet Ranger Yenyen Chan at Tuolumne Meadows Visitor Center for a history walk along an easy trail through Yosemite’s scenic high country and across the Tuolumne River. On Friday afternoon, choose from one of the following options: Easy: John Muir Trail to Twin Bridges from Dog Lake Parking lot – 1 hour roundtrip; Moderate: Bennettville Trail from across Tioga Lake Overlook parking area – 2.5 hours roundtrip; More strenuous: Hike to the top of Lembert Dome from the Dog Lake Parking lot – 2.5 hours roundtrip. Join us for a campfire gathering hosted by Bak and Karen Jong at Lee Vining Community Center at 5:30pm.
On Saturday morning, July 30, we will meet at Olmsted Point, located past Tuolumne Meadows to take in the glacially carved lake, valleys, and domes, and a view of Half Dome and Clouds Rest in the distance. We will leave Olmsted Point and carpool to the May Lake trailhead parking lot for history of the original Tioga Road (aka “The Great Sierra Wagon Road”). Hike to May Lake and back. 3 miles roundtrip, moderately strenuous. Bring lunch to eat at May Lake. (3.5 hours). At 3:30pm at the Lee Vining Community Center, illustrator Rich Lo will give a talk about his artwork for the book “Mountain Chef” about Tie Sing and the Mather Mountain Party, and about his personal journey as a Chinese American artist. At 4:30 PM, Chef David SooHoo will give a cooking demo and history of Cantonese cuisine cooking. At 5:30 PM, we will have a potluck, sharing “Something I learned to cook from someone older than me”, such as a parent, older family member or neighbor.
On Sunday morning, we will meet in front of Yosemite Valley Visitor Center for an easy walk led by Ranger Chan and learn about the Chinese who contributed to Yosemite’s early park history in Yosemite Valley. Saturday afternoon, we will drive to Wawona to visit Yosemite’s Chinese Laundry Exhibit before heading home or out of the park for another evening of accommodations.
The hike to Sing Peak will begin on Monday, August 1 and return on Wednesday, August 3.

July Program with China Society of Southern California
2022-07-15 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Where are the hairpins that your grandmother and great grandmother used and loved? They might be in our speaker’s virtual museum collection of over a thousand pins. Through the efforts of Cheri Hunter of Textile Museum Associates of Southern California, we have a summer bonus program.
Often it takes an enthusiastic collector who takes the next step to do research and then write and publish. During the second half of the twentieth century, Lilla Perry (snuff bottles), Raymond Bushell (neutske), and Beverly Jackson (Kingfisher feather, Chinese slippers, and rank badges) were enthusiastic collectors who did research, and wrote books which brought attention to these minor arts and revolutionized the collection of them.
Our speaker, Yi Shiuan Wu, is such an enthusiastic collector. She has and is doing research on hairpins. However, she is in the digital world of the 21th Century. Instead of writing books and exhibiting in museums, she has created a virtual museum, www.hairpinmuseum.org, to spread knowledge of her love of hairpins. Her program will cover not just hairpins and ornaments, but how they were used. How they were used has been a real mystery to me over the years. Those shaped like a foot long ruler or like a squat, flatten archer’s bow have always stumped me.
Optional no host dinner on Saturday July 16 @6:30 at the Golden Dragon, then to Jin Hing Co. (412 Bamboo Lane) one block away, to see a display of hairpins.
If you are interested in attending the dinner please e-mail yvonnechang8@gmail.com. If you want to see the exhibit of pins but not attend the dinner, please also let her know.

History of Asian Americans in Riverside, California
2022-06-01 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Eventbrite
Click to register

May Meeting - Anti-Asian Violence and America-China Relations
2022-05-04 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Eventbrite
Gordon H. Chang is a professor of History at Stanford University and the Olive H. Palmer Professor of Humanities. He is currently serving the University as the Senior Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and is the Stanford Alumni Association Fellow in Undergraduate Education. He is the former director of the Center for East Asian Studies and of the Asian American Studies Program. He has been on the Stanford faculty since 1991.
In 2019, he published Ghosts of Gold Mountain: The Epic History of the Chinese Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad and, as co-editor, The Chinese and the Iron Road: Building the Transcontinental. These books draw from more than seven years of work conducted by the Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford, which he has co-directed. His other books include Friends and Enemies: The United States, China, and the Soviet Union, 1948-1972; Morning Glory, Evening Shadow: Yamato Ichihashi and His Internment Writings, 1942-1945; and Fateful Ties: A History of America’s Preoccupation with China. He teaches courses in American history, trans-Pacific history, U.S-China relations, and Asian American history.

Do It Yourself: How to Find Your 2600 Year-Old Written Chinese Family Roots
2022-04-23 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom
On Saturday, April 23rd@10:00 a.m. PDT, we are honored to host Ambassador Elena Wachong, who will provide a talk focused on the global barriers to finding Chinese diaspora family roots for non-Chinese speakers. Ambassador Wachong will be joined by discussant, Dr. Lai Sai Acon (University of Costa Rica). Dr. Judith Rubenstein (Granite Hills Press) will offer a special introduction, and Dr. Bob Stein will moderate. Please register to attend@https://SDSU.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwoce2upj8oEtMQaSjpbygDJYMXPvpaJP9U

An Untold Past: Chinese in Canada
2022-04-19 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Eventbrite
Our community partner, the Chinese American Museum, is bringing back their series, “An Untold Past.” They’ve partnered with the new Chinese Canadian Museum of British Columbia (CCM) to explore the history and changing population of Chinese in Canada!
Join the conversation on Tuesday, April 19th from 5 – 6:30pm PDT.
The discussion features Henry Yu, PhD of the University of British Colombia, Imogene L. Lim, PhD, of Vancouver Island University, and Paul Yee, acclaimed writer and historian. It is moderated by Dorothy Fujita-Rony, PhD, of UC Irvine. The conversation reflects on family and community history as collective memory and how it is preserved and shared in the new Chinese Canadian Museum.
Click to register
“An Untold Past” is a series developed by the Chinese American Museum to tell the often-unknown history of Chinese diasporas in the US and around the world.

The Qingming Festival and Respecting the Ancestors
2022-04-06 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Eventbrite
From South China to the American West the tradition of respecting the ancestors was carried out during the Qingming (Bright and Clear) Festival during which time the ancestors are remembered, the tomb is swept, and food offerings are made. The fourth century B.C. philosopher, Confucius, stressed the importance of performing the proper rituals. The preparation of the body for burial, the funeral procession, the burial itself, and the banquet were all part of the prescribed activities. Join us in this presentation by Professor Emerita Sue Fawn Chung on the Qingming Festival and respecting the ancestors from the distant past to the present on Wednesday, April 6th at 7 p.m. (PT).
Sue Fawn Chung was born, raised, and educated in Los Angeles. Her mother, Jane Chung, was an officer in China Society and her father, Walter Chung, was an early supporter of the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California. She received her doctorate from UC Berkeley in Asian History, Asian American History, and Chinese Art History. She taught for almost forty years at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She is currently writing a book on Chinese railroad labor contractors in the American West in the late 19th century.

Visualizing the Past: John Less' Depictions of his Holocaust Refuge in Shanghai
2022-03-20 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom
On Sunday, March 20th@10:00 a.m. PDT, we will welcome lecturers Steven Less and Hannah-Lea Wasserfuhr, who will give a talk as part of our Jewish People in China mini-series. Their lecture, titled Visualizing the Past: John Less’ Depictions of his Holocaust Refuge in Shanghai, will feature discussants Rachel Stern (Fritz Ascher Society) and Esther Benjamin Shifren (author). Bob Stein will moderate this talk.
You may register to attend@ https://SDSU.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMuc-mprj4jHdDBFpnkoX0-yPkLHTyOlQ8X

China Society: David Hugus on Chinese Rank Badges from the Daoguang Period
2022-03-07 19:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Eventbrite
China Society’s March Zoom program will be Chinese rank badges from the Daoguang period to post Imperial era. Badges from this period (1821-early twentieth century) are of great interest because they are the ones that form the majority of badges in private and most museum collections, and other than modern reproductions, the most likely to be on the market. They are the ones that can be both seen and purchased. This period in Chinese history is a very turbulent and trying period in Chinese history and the badges reflect these times.
Our speaker, David Hugus, is the author of Chinese Rank Badges-Symbols of Power, Wealth, and Intellect in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. This is his third and final program on the evolution of design in Chinese rank badges and his fifth program on badges and the “ladder to the clouds” where the badges represented the rungs of the ladder. One does not need to have been present to the previous four programs to enjoy this coming program. However, all four of the previous programs can be seen on China Society of Southern California’s You Tube site if interested.

CHSSC March Program
2022-03-02 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Eventbrite
Discover the depth and variety of the CHSSC archives.
In response to a growing need for access to our collections, CHSSC has introduced several digital initiatives that boost our online presence and make our library, archives, and other materials visible to a global audience. Through these efforts, we can present our histories in new, exciting ways and communicate knowledge of Chinese American heritage on a much wider scale.
Register on Eventbrite

David Hugus on the Evolution of Chinese Rank Badges
2022-01-10 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
This Zoom talk will be part 1 of a two part talk on the evolution and dating of Chinese rank badges and will feature some of finest examples of Chinese textile art. David Hugus’s past talks on the civil service examination process and how to identify the birds and animals can be seen of You Tube by visiting the China Society of Southern California site.

Jin Hing Co will be stocking David’s book. It is $65 plus sales tax. All profits from the sale of the book resulting from this announcement will be donated to the China Society.

Connecting the Dots of a Chinese American Family
2022-01-05 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Lorraine Dong self-published her family’s history in 1976 as a Christmas present only for the eyes of her family. Six years later, she wrote a narration for her brother, Arthur Dong, who was finishing his senior film project that was based on their mother’s life. In 1984, that film, Sewing Woman, became the first Asian American film to be nominated for an Oscar®; it was in the category of Best Short Documentary.
It took another thirty-five years before Lorraine returned to her family history when the Square and Circle Club embarked on two service projects. One was to share their family histories for the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation’s “Immigrant Voices” website. The other was to share their families’ World War II veteran stories when Chinese American WWII veterans received the Congressional Gold Medal.
Lorraine Dong was born and raised in San Francisco Chinatown. She attended her local American and Chinese schools, including San Francisco State, until she ventured beyond to earn her PhD at the University of Washington in Seattle where she majored in Chinese language and literature. Lorraine’s current research is Asian American children’s literature, specifically picture books.

The Ningpo Legend - CHSSC December Program
2021-12-01 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Catalina Island has a nautical celebrity: the wreck of a traditional Chinese merchant ship from the 18th century, a vessel which survived the Opium Wars, the Taiping Rebellion, the Chinese Revolution, and ended up as a speak-easy anchored off California’s southern coastline. This presentation will look at the origins, history and context of the Ningpo (“Peaceful Wave”), and what we might learn from the site in the future.
Hans Van Tilburg is a historian and maritime archaeologist for NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries in the Pacific Hawaii to Jamaica and elsewhere. Chinese maritime history and nautical technology are some of his specialty interests in the in the field of underwater cultural preservation in the Asia Pacific area.

November Meeting – Ladder to the Clouds – A Presentation on Chinese Civil Service
2021-11-03 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
David Hugus is an expert collector of Mandarin Squares. These are the rank badges used during the Ming and Qing Dynasties that prominently adorned Chinese robes of civil and military officials. He is the co-author with Beverly Jackson of the book Ladder to the Clouds which featured the examination process to enter Dynastic civil service and the rank badges themselves. He is also the author of a new book on Rank Badges that should be available in the coming months.

David will talk about the examination process which was the “Ladder to the Clouds” for centuries in China. By passing the exam anyone, not just the rich, could become a government official which was like achieving the “American Dream” only much better. It meant social and economic wellbeing. It was a society based on meritocracy. The Chinese diplomats who came to America had passed the exam. The early Chinese scholars who taught in American schools as well as any literate Chinese who came to America had studied the same Chinese classics that were the basis for the exam. Even today in China and for Chinese in America the emphasis on education and passing exams such as the SAT are a legacy of the examination process of Dynastic China.

Is the examination process inherent in Chinese DNA or is a characteristic that makes Chinese Chinese?

Highlights from “Weaving Splendor: Treasures of Asian Textiles”
2021-10-30 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
ZOOM VIRTUAL PROGRAM
10 am Pacific Daylight Time, Saturday, October 30, 2021
with
Ling-en Lu, Ph.D., Curator of East Asian Art
Kimberly Masteller, Ph.D., Jeanne McCray Beals
Curator of South and Southeast Asian Art
&
Yayoi Shinoda, Assistant Curator of East Asian Art
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Kansas City, Missouri
For the first time in decades, rarely seen Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Persian, and Turkish clothing and textiles from the collection of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art are assembled for an extraordinary exhibition. Made with fine materials, exemplary techniques, and superb artistry, Asian luxury textiles were prized domestically and were central to global trade.
The exhibition traces the journeys of key works of art and the people who owned them and carried them across the world. Luxurious costumes of the court performed power, while striking theater robes brought stage characters to life. Sturdy wall hangings and furniture covers transformed palaces, temples, and homes, while shimmering tapestry-woven carpets were created as diplomatic gifts for foreign rulers.
Artists borrowed techniques from near and far to appeal to the latest fashions in the developing global market. The extraordinary stories of these treasures of the collection take visitors on a journey across continents, from the 1500s to today. Included in this talk will be two outstanding and historically important classical Persian carpets; velvet tent hunting fragments and some Kashmir shawls and hangings; several Chinese court robes and interior furnishings; and Japanese theatre robes and Meiji-era tapestries.
Please join our presenters, curators Dr. Kimberly Masteller, Dr. Ling-en Lu, and Yayoi Shinoda in Kansas City as they present some of the textile masterworks in this special exhibition.
Admission is free for this program.
Registration: https://tinyurl.com/TmaSplendorFnC

Talk Story Events – Bruce Lee
2021-10-24 11:00 - 12:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAsdu6pqTojGtPC8sHPadCRJh4_sAhoVAKZ?mc_cid=d4a2369fe3&mc_eid=59c487c545

The Chinese In Ventura County
2021-10-06 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Eventbrite
Dr. George Yu is a pulmonary specialist and is one of the founding members and current president of the Ventura County Chinese American Historical Society. The historical society has produced documentaries on the history of the Chinese in Ventura County and co-created the China Alley Mural with the City of Ventura to celebrate its early Chinese settlers.
After seeing the first patient with COVID19 in Ventura County in March, 2020, his focus has been on finding effective therapy to curb the pandemic. He will share what he learned from all of these experiences.

Chinatown Conversations - The Five Chinatowns: A Community History
2021-09-01 19:00 - 20:00 UTC | Eventbrite
The newly established CHSSC Five Chinatowns project documents the history of five historic Chinese American neighborhoods in Los Angeles: New Chinatown, Old Chinatown, China City, City Market, and East Adams. The project draws on oral histories, family collections, archival newspaper research and more. Project co-leads Dr. Kelly Fong of UCLA and Dr. William Gow of CSU Sacramento will discuss the project and then lead a conversation with our current group of CHSSC interns about their community research. Join us to find out about more about what has been completed and what still lies ahead.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/chinatown-conversations-the-five-chinatowns-a-community-history-tickets-167611852563

CAMLA Event - An Untold Past: Chinese Americans in the Midwest
2021-07-20 17:00 - 18:30 UTC | Eventbrite
An Untold Past: Chinese Americans in the Midwest

The History of the Chinese in Las Vegas
2021-05-26 19:00 - 20:00 UTC
Free to register. Dr. Sue Fawn Chung will be talking via Zoom about the history of Chinese people in Las Vegas on May 26 at 7 p.m. with the Neon Museum of Las Vegas.
https://youtu.be/qVbnMqYgIX0V

Chinese Family History Group of Southern California Webinar Series: Researching the World of Chinese Documents
2021-05-22 10:00 - 11:30 UTC
A CFHGSC webinar featuring Tony King
Saturday, May 22nd 10-11:30am PDT

Register Here

Documents commonly used in Chinese genealogy research are family records like the jiapu/zupu and local gazetteers. Tony King will address both of these critical tools but will also provide an introduction into the lesser known world of other documents and resource materials that originated in China. To name a few, this includes marriage agreements, property records, residential registrations, census records, examination rosters, and obituaries. He will discuss the possible value these have to our genealogical research as well as repositories such as archives, libraries, the internet, and search strategies.

Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Tony King is of Toisanese roots. His ancestors immigrated to the U.S. in the late 1800’s. Since entering retirement some ten years ago, he has concentrated on searching out his Chinese roots. He has conducted research during extended stays in China, as well as during trips to California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, New York, and Canada. Tony serves as a volunteer for FamilySearch, consulting with patrons seeking assistance.

The Story of the Fabulous Fong Wan: Chinese Herbalist, Night Club Owner, and Showman
2021-05-14 19:00 - 20:30 UTC
https://artdecola.org/events-calendar/fong-wan-nightclubs-2021

“We are delighted to welcome former Art Deco Society of Los Angeles Board Member Randy Chong to the virtual stage to share some Art Deco era family history: The Story of the Fabulous Fong Wan: Chinese Herbalist, Night Club Owner, and Showman in a special program that will also feature a cocktail or two!
This is the story of Fong Wan (Randy’s great grandfather) and his empire in the San Francisco Bay Area. With $10 in his pocket and huge dreams, Fong Wan arrived in San Francisco at the age of 17 in 1900 to become an herbalist. Treating Chinese and Caucasians, he became the leading herbalist in the country. Fong Wan didn’t stop there. His nature as a promoter and keen business acumen helped grow his modest café to an empire of a department store, a shrimping fleet, multiple restaurants and nightclubs in Oakland and San Francisco. With exotic fan dancers, magicians, acrobats, and singers imported from China, he became the envy of fellow nightclubs in the 1930s to 50s, including his big rival, Charlie Low and the Forbidden City.”

This program is free to Art Deco Society of Los Angeles members. Members can use the button below to get to the ticketing page. When you log into your ADSLA account, you will have the option of ordering a free ticket.
General admission is $10.

TICKETS

Tea Talk: Exploring the History and Diversity of Indian Teas
2021-05-11 17:00 - 18:30 UTC
The much-anticipated return of Tea Talk is here! CAM is honored to welcome two Indian tea experts, Husna-Tara Prakash and Shalini Prakash Agarwal who are members of one of India’s pioneering tea-planting families at the Glenburn Tea Estate located high in the Himalayas. On May 11, 2021 from 5 – 6:30pm PDT for Tea Talk: Exploring the History and Diversity of Indian Teas.

Husna-Tara Prakash and Shalini Prakash Agarwal will share the history of tea in India as well as glimpses into the cultivation and rituals of tea production from their own tea estate. Accompanying the program will be Tea Talk host Lan Ong, FCAM board member and Managing Director of @winghopfung.

China Society: A Pebble in the Sand: Burma/Myanmar by Pierre Odier
2021-05-10 06:00 - 21:00 UTC
May Zoom meeting will be on May 10 th , the second Monday in May at 6:00P.M.
A Pebble in the Sand
Pierre Odier, one of my favorite speakers, will share his latest volume of his A Pebble the Sand series, Burma/Myanmar. His past programs have taken us to Tibet, the Orient Express, Mongolia, some minority tribes in China. He focuses on the minority ethnic tribes of the Golden Triangle of Burma. This rugged area which includes tribes of headhunters is within walking distance of the Chinese border. Many of the tribes had ties with areas in China. One of Pierre’s great gifts is his ability to communicate and quickly connect with all kinds of people and his love of ethnic arts and crafts. He is not the ordinary tourist. Experience Burma though the eyes and photographs of Pierre and gain insights on ethnic people you would never imagine.
Be sure to register for the Zoom program through Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-pebble-in-the-sand-burmamyanmar-by-pierre-odier-tickets-152423399491

Far East Deep South
2021-05-08 11:00 - 12:00 UTC
fareastdeepsouth.com
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/caca-presents-far-east-deep-south-film-discussion-registration-150279306451

Join director Larissa Lam, producer Baldwin Chiu and C.A.C.A. National past president, Carolyn Chan from Mississippi as they discuss the award winning documentary film Far East Deep South after the PBS/WORLD Channel premiere. Please check your local listings at http://bit.ly/ARF_FarEDeepS
This deeply moving story offers a poignant perspective on race relations, immigration and the deep roots of Chinese Americans in our national identity.
As America continues to deal with a rash of anti-Asian sentiment, we’ll discuss how understanding the history of Chinese in America has implications for not just Asians, but other communities today. We’ll also hear more about the experiences of the Chinese in the American South and how the effects of the Chinese Exclusion Act are still felt now.
Far East Deep South follows Charles Chiu and his family (including his son, producer Baldwin Chiu, and daughter-in-law, director Larissa Lam) as they travel from California to Mississippi to find answers about Charles’ father, K.C. Lou, and subsequently explore the history of the Chinese community in the Deep South during Segregation and the Chinese Exclusion era. To learn more about this documentary visit www.FarEastDeepSouth.com or see the trailer below.
After May 4, watch Far East Deep South online on the PBS App or at http://bit.ly/ARF_FarEDeepS

ASIAN AMERICAN RESISTANCE: 150 YEARS AND COUNTING
2021-05-06 16:30 - 18:00 UTC
ASIAN AMERICAN RESISTANCE: 150 YEARS AND COUNTING

Anti-Asian hate crimes in Atlanta, OC, Oakland, and New York are not new. As early as 1871, 19 Chinese Americans were lynched and killed in the Los Angeles Massacre. Asian Americans have been victims of racial profiling, scapegoating, and violence for over 150 years.
And we have resisted such systemic racism to claim our share of the American dream. Know our history; voice our resistance.

Thursday, 6 May 2021, 4:30 – 6 pm
Zoom ID: 957 7832 3103
Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://cccconfer.zoom.us/j/95778323103
Or iPhone one-tap (US Toll): +16699006833,95778323103# or +13462487799,95778323103#

Panelists:
Dr. Kari Bolen – Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer, Pasadena City College
Dr. Gay Q. Yuen – Friends of the Chinese American Museum and Asian Youth Center
Professor Marshall Wong – L.A. Commission on Human Relations
Q and A to follow
Sponsored by PCC Coalition of Asian Pacific Employees, Office of Student Life, and Office of Student Services.

A Vision of Justice: Tyrus Wong & The Cultural Continuum of New Chinatown
2021-05-05 19:00 - 20:00 UTC
A Conversation about Art & Equality
A Vision of Justice: Tyrus Wong & The Cultural Continuum of New Chinatown
Wednesday, May, 5, 2021
7:00 PM PST
Join us for a conversation with the curator of A Vision of Justice: Tyrus Wong & The Cultural Continuum of New Chinatown, Sonia Mak, as we learn about her discoveries in researching the relationship between Tyrus Wong and the painting’s patron, immigration lawyer Y.C. Hong. Special guests, performance artist Kristina Wong and attorney George Yin, will join the curator in considering the legacy of these pioneers against the ongoing struggle for equality.
RSVP HERE
Speakers:
Sonia Mak, curator of A Vision of Justice, is a curator, writer, and arts administrator. Ms. Mak was one of two founding curators at the Chinese American Museum and an NEH Summer Institute Fellow to advance Asian American Art History. She is co-founder and co-curator of Art Salon Chinatown, a showcase for contemporary Asian diasporic artists. She holds a BA in Art History from San Francisco State University and a MA from University of California, Riverside. Ms. Mak curated ’Round the Clock: Chinese American Artists Working in Los Angeles, as part of the Getty Foundation’s initiative, Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA, 1945-1980. She has worked at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Department of Arts & Culture, Morono Kiang Gallery, Craft Contemporary, and Vincent Price Art Museum and currently serves as Advancement Officer at the Institute of Contemporary Art Los Angeles.

Kristina Wong is a performance artist, comedian, writer, and elected representative of Koreatown Los Angeles whose work has been recognized through many grants, including Creative Capital, COLA Master Artist Fellowship from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and eight Los Angeles Artist-in-Residence awards. Her long-running show, Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, looked at the high rates of depression and suicide among Asian American women and is now a concert film. Her recent piece, Kristina Wong for Public Office, is a simultaneous real-life stint as the elected representative in Koreatown Los Angeles and campaign rally show. During the pandemic, she founded the Auntie Sewing Squad, a collective of volunteers sewing facemasks for vulnerable communities.

George Yin is an attorney, arts advocate, and Board Member of the Vincent Price Art Museum Foundation. As an attorney with Kaufman Legal Group, he advises candidates, elected officials, political committees, ballot measure committees, non-profit organizations, and public agencies on local, state, and federal laws. He has over a decade of experience representing public agencies in public, municipal, education, water, and administrative law. He has served on the boards of the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, the Organization of Chinese Americans (Greater LA Chapter), the Asian Professional Exchange (APEX), and the Pacific Asia Museum Chinese Arts Council. He holds a J.D. from UCLA Law School, an M.A. in Urban Planning from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, an M.Sc. in Public Administration/Public Policy from the London School of Economics, and a B.A. in Government from Cornell University
