On August 10, 2026, Professor Selia Tan, from Wuyi University in China, gave a fascinating lecture entitled “Echoes Across the Ocean” at the Chinatown Branch Library in Los Angeles. Dr. Tan is a leading expert on the history and impact of Cantonese migrants – on their home villages.

Dr. Tan explains that the Cantonese pioneers not only built the American railroads and developed agriculture and commerce in California, they also impacted the development of Southern China. The remittances migrants sent back not only eased family and regional poverty, it also helped modernize China and fund the War of Resistance against Japan (1931-45). Dr. Tan shows several slides of huge high schools (or translated as “middle school” 中学) built in Guangdong in the early 20th century. Dr. Tan claims that Kaiping alone built 17 libraries. There were also newspapers, aviation, road systems, and other modernization made possible by the surge of funds from overseas Chinese. Dr. Tan insists that ¾ of the funds for the War of Resistance came from overseas Chinese. In Kaiping, a collection of some 50,000 qiaopi (remittance letters) show a tangible trail of the impact of Chinese Americans on their home villages. These letters that date back to 1883 have been recognized by UNESCO Memory of the World Register.