For Chinese Canadians

From the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of British Columbia:

Past ExplorAsians, Present Explorations:
Chinese Canadian Genealogy
The next CCHS event will be an in-depth family history workshop at the Vancouver Public Library. Learn the basic tools and techniques for researching your Canadian roots. This Asian Heritage Month workshop includes an in-depth look at various documentary sources, including the General Register of Chinese immigration, vital event records, census records, directories, and more.

When: Saturday, May 21st, 9:30 am to 4:00 pm
Where: Alma Van Dusen Room, Vancouver Public Library, Library Square
Who: Facilitated by Janet Tomkins, VPL and Eleanor Yuen, UBC.

A free event conducted in English.
Space is limited. Call 604-331-3711 to pre-register after April 25th.

Asian Heritage Month's Asian Canadian History Fair

explorASIAN will be presenting the ASIAN CANADIAN HISTORY FAIR at the Vancouver Public Library - Main Branch on Sunday, May 1, 2005.

The ASIAN CANADIAN HISTORY FAIR will offer a sampling of the various kinds of research on Pan Asian Canadian History currently being done in this province. Subjects will include genealogies, family histories, artifacts, etc.

Rene Yung's "...nges & disappearances"

Rene Yung's ...nges & disappearances
An Installation about Memory and Displacement Travels the Intermountain West

SALT LAKE ART CENTER
20 South West Temple
Salt Lake City, UT
Tel. 801 328 4201
www.slartcenter.org

Open February 4 - Apr 3, 2005

"...nges & disappearances was commissioned by the Sun Valley Center for the Arts in Ketchum, Idaho, for the traveling exhibition "The Vanishing," exploring the lost history of the 19th century Chinese immigrants to the region. An estimated 15,000 Chinese worked on building the Transcontinental Railroad, and many others worked in the mines of the American West. At the height of the labor boom, Chinese comprised nearly 30% of Idaho Territory's population, yet 'vanished' from the area after the completion of the railroad and the closure of the mines.

"Struck by the paucity of information about the immigrants themselves, Yung focused on memory as a communal and individual process in ...nges & disappearances. 'Memory informs identity. Memory is also the only thing that an immigrant can bring with certainty to a new land,' an immigrant herself, the artist writes in her exhibition statement. 'Yet with time, memory shifts and changes--and so too, the person who remembers.' For the mine- and railroad-workers, the loss of personal memories parallels their erasure from the region¹s communal memory, after they were no longer needed for local industries."

The Vanishing: Re-presenting the American West was organized by the Sun Valley Center for the Arts, and in addition to Yung's ...nges & disappearances, includes historical photographs, and paintings by Hung Liu. The exhibition will travel to venues in the Intermountain West, including Prichard Art Gallery at the University of Idaho, Moscow, ID.

Asian American Theatre Company's F.O.B./F.O.P.

Asian American Theatre Company presents
A Revival of David Henry Hwang's F.O.B. (Fresh Off the Boat)
paired with
Sean Lim's F.O.P. (Fresh Off the Plane)

Running March 24-April 10, 2005 at the Magic Theatre (Building D, Fort Mason) in San Francisco.

On F.O.B.: "Grace, Dale, and Steve, three twenty-something year olds in 1978 explore this Chinese and Chinese American identities among the Bee Gees, Chinese food, and ancient Chinese ghosts. In this revival, Mitzie Abe directs three actors in their 40s and 50s who revisit this moment in Asian American history through the characters in this play. Starring Randall Nakano, Dennis Yen and Vicki Zabarte."

On F.O.P.: "Three twenty-something year olds battle the quarterlife crisis and explore their Korean and Korean American identities on a plane ride to Korea. Hoping to reclaim the baggage their parents lost on their way to America, these characters discover that traveling begins with what you must leave behind. Written and directed by AATC Artistic Director Sean Lim. Starring Karla Acosta, Leon Goertzen and Daniel Lee."

The plays run simultaneously on each performance date. CHSA members can receive a "friends of" discount on tickets. Please email events@chsa.org for more information.

Chinese Opera for All

Kids from all walks of life sing from the same page. And it's in Mandarin.
Carolyne Zinko, Chronicle Staff Writer

(Article from the San Francisco Chronicle 3/1/2005)


At home, he sings along with songs on the movie "Space Jam," an intergalactic cartoon caper featuring Bugs Bunny and Michael Jordan; Elton John's "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" from Disney's "The Lion King;" and Disney's "Tarzan," rewinding the videotape until he learns the songs.
But onstage, Tyler Thompson, an African American fourth-grader from Oakland sings Chinese opera better than almost any other kid in the Bay Area. Yet sometimes he gets nervous when performing for a crowd, but not because he doesn't speak Mandarin. No, that's not the problem. He has an uncanny ear for diction and pitch, say native speakers, as well as melody. By his account, memorizing songs in a foreign language, even a difficult tonal one, is a breeze.

See the full article on sfgate

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The expression on Tyler's classmates resonates all too familiar with those of us that felt punished to attend Saturday morning Chinese School or Chinese dance recitals. They resemble that look of reluctant compliance when we'd rather be sitting at home watching cartoons.

For most of us, our culture and history are aspects of our identities that we don't realize are a part of us until our older years that we "search" for ourselves. Of course being forced into doing things we may not seem to enjoy at the time perhaps represents more of a battle with our parents at the time.

David Lei's comments that, "if I want to pass this on to my descendants, my culture has to be acceptable to mainstream America, or it will be an exotic novelty," really touch upon this idea of how we are to try to stake out our identities in a multicultural America. How much of the old world will be passed on? How much will be hyphenated into a hybridized identity that looks towards the future?