A photo taken during the 80th birthday celebration for Bill Kee, (pictured third from top right) was featured on the cover of a pamphlet about his life. Photo courtesy of the Kee family.

The following are excerpts from the 04/29/26 San Jose Spotlight:

By Keith Menconi

San Jose’s newest park will bear the name of a pioneering Chinese American business leader.

Councilmembers unanimously approved a plan Tuesday to transform an undeveloped 1.2-acre parcel of land in southwest San Jose into a new park, named in honor of the late Bill Kee, who led a fight in the 1940s to preserve San Jose’s longest standing Chinatown.

As councilmembers prepared to vote on the park plan, which supporters said will bring sorely needed open space to a densely populated residential area just west of Highway 87, they heard from two of Kee’s descendants, who spoke in support of the name selection.

“This was such a wonderful culmination of a long time,” Gerrye Wong, Kee’s 93-year-old daughter, told San José Spotlight directly after the vote. “This is showing San Jose is recognizing the impact and the importance of the Chinese community.”

The planned park site sits at the terminus of Rinconada Drive, not far from the Almaden Expressway and Curtner Avenue off-ramp. San Jose acquired the land in 2013 as part of a development agreement that paved the way for the construction of the neighboring Latitude 37 apartment complex.

[...]

The name Bill Kee Park won out in a recent community poll.

Kee, who died in 1989 at 86, rose to local prominence in San Jose during a time when the city’s Chinese American community faced broad discrimination. The manager of a well-known San Jose department store, Kee broke the color barriers at a number of local organizations, becoming the first Chinese American admitted to the San Jose Rotary Club, the Scottish Rite fraternity and the San Jose Merchants Association, according to a pamphlet on his life distributed by his family.

“He worked doubly hard knowing that he needed to be a role model for a Chinese man to assimilate in a not so welcoming period of time for Asians during the Depression and World War II,” Kelly Matsuura, Kee’s granddaughter, said during Tuesday’s meeting.

Kee spoke before the City Council in 1945, imploring San Jose’s elected leaders not to demolish the Ng Shing Gung Temple in the city’s downtown. Originally built in 1888, by the 1940s the structure was the last remaining building from a historic Chinese enclave known as Heinlenville.

While Kee’s efforts only granted the building a temporary reprieve from the wrecking ball — it was demolished in 1949 — he is credited with bringing public attention to the temple’s importance. Decades later in 1991, San Jose incorporated a recreation of the temple into History Park, and today the structure houses a museum of South Bay Chinese American history.

Read the full SJ Spotlight news article: 04/29/26 San Jose Spotlight

By Samantha Lee, CHCP Member

CHCP and Christ Episcopal Church of Los Altos welcomed the forty-voice Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir and conductor and composer Eric Tuan to perform this seven-part choral opera, rooted in historical research and supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, which swept the sanctuary back to the docks and redwoods of 1885 Humboldt County. The performance bridged eras, delving into belonging, solidarity, and the longing for inclusion. "Echoes of Eureka" tells the true story of “Charley” Wei Lum, an 18-year-old Chinese immigrant living in Eureka in the 1880s, when the Chinese community was thriving. As anti-Chinese sentiment grew in the West, fueled by economic concerns and scapegoating, Chinese workers in Humboldt County became vital to the logging, fishing, and farming industries. On February 6, 1885, everything changed. After a deadly conflict involving a City Councilman, a mob of over 600 people forced the entire Chinese community to leave. More than 300 fled to San Francisco, unable to return for decades. Charley escaped lynching with help from a caring clergyman. Those expelled faced hardship and new prejudice, and many descendants lost their Humboldt roots. Few returned, and Eureka’s once lively Chinatown faded away.

The choir navigated the opera’s demanding score with grace, animating history through song. The program continued with "Many Moons," a 21-minute film by Chisato Hughes, featuring haunting landscapes that evoke Eureka’s emotional and historical ghosts. Hughes, who grew up in Humboldt County, did not learn about the expulsions until adulthood and described her childhood as "the profound silence that comes from erasure." The film examines Charlie Moon, the "last Chinese Man of Humboldt County," and his descendants, who are connected to Indigenous tribes, exploring how kinship can endure even amid violence. Hughes asks an important question: Were there survivors? The children’s voices alongside the film’s quiet images prompted a strong conversation about loss and remembrance, answering poet Daryl Ngee Chinn’s question—"Does the land forget?"—with a clear "no."

After the show, CHCP hosted a post-show debrief in which Eric Tuan explained the responsibility for adapting Jean Pfaelzer’s book "Driven Out" for the stage. As the audience departed, the libretto’s final question—“When you carry it away into the world, who will you be?”—echoed in the air, urging each person to pause, reflect, and carry forward a deeper understanding and commitment to this shared past. While history risks fading into the pages of textbooks, the passion of young performers and the vision of filmmakers breathe new life into its stories. To discover upcoming performances, visit the choir’s website.

Listen to a short audio clip of the performance here.

By Kimberly Eng Lee, CHCP President

CHCP Advisory Board Member Gloria Hom shared this mosaic, a meaningful tribute to the legacy of her grandfather, Thomas Foon Chew, founder of Bay Side Cannery. The mosaic is located at 340 Portage Avenue in Palo Alto. Thomas Foon Chew purchased 4 acres to expand from Alviso to Mayfield (now Palo Alto) in 1918. The business grew to become one of the largest vegetable and fruit canneries in the nation. Over 100 years later, the building has been repurposed for commercial and public use, and was renovated so the community can view the former cannery building’s historic elements, such as its soaring monitor roofs.

On the outside, a glass mosaic mural depicts images of apricot blossoms, fruit, and packing and canning facilities showing the innovations that Bay Side was known for, like the patent drawing for an asparagus sorter. A stacked “totem” of cans shares details about Thomas Foon Chew, while interior elements will tell of the larger agricultural story of the Valley.

Click on a photo to enlarge.

By Kimberly Eng Lee, CHCP President

CHCP is a proud member of the Chinese American Heritage Network (CAHN), which promotes public interest in Chinese and Chinese American culture and history by building mutual support and collaboration among like-organizations in Northern CA.

CHCP hosted the 2026 CAHN Conference on April 11 at History Park in San Jose, welcoming representatives from:

• Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF), Tiburon
• Auburn Joss House, Auburn
• China Camp, San Rafael
• Chinese American Museum of Northern CA, Marysville
  
• Chinese Historical Society of America (CHSA), San Francisco
• Eureka Chinatown Project, Eureka
• Flex Kids Culture, Santa Cruz
  
• Friends of Chinatown, Sacramento
  
• Helen and Joe Chew Foundation, Red Bluff
  
• Kwan Tai Temple, Mendocino
  
• Locke Foundation, Locke
• Oroville Chinese Temple, Oroville
• Stockton Chinese Benevolent Association (CBA), Stockton
• Walk of Remembrance by Quock Mui Foundation, Pacific Grove/Monterey

Conference Workshops:

• CHCP Advisory Board Member Dr. Barbara Voss, Professor of Anthropology at Stanford University, spoke about Digital Futures for Chinese Diaspora Archaeology.
• Sam Dunham of CAHN and Auburn, led the hands-on workshop discussing the vision for CAHN.
• CHSA's Dr. Anna Eng, Professor of Women and Gender Studies at SF State University and UC Berkeley, led the workshop to discuss how organizations are recognizing America's 250th Anniversary.

Later that evening, a fellowship dinner was held at the China Stix Restaurant in Santa Clara.

By Kimberly Eng Lee, CHCP President

Over 800 visitors came to enjoy the festivities at our Lunar New Year of the Fire Horse Festival! A heartfelt shout-out to all the volunteers and performers. Highlights included the energetic Lion Dances by SJSU and THD Lion Dance Teams, the magnificent Yung Yee Tong Blue Dragon and Hoong the Dragon, K-Pop dancers Dalbit & KDCosmix, the beautiful voices of Crystal Children’s Choir, the graceful movements of Taijiquan Martial Arts, the marvelous Moon Light dancers, the wonderful sounds of the traditional Chinese instruments, the expert Chinese Yo-Yo performers from Fremont Chinese School, and the delightful appearance of Choi Sun and Fire Horse. Kudos to Master Calligrapher Robin Wang and the Chinese Brush Painting team of Vicki and Melvin. It was a colorful and festive occasion for all!