By Gerrye Wong, CHCP Co-Founder and Trustee

At the May 2nd Asian American Stories (AAS) Award Ceremony attended by 450 supporters, awards were given to 20 of the 70 people who composed and submitted videos on the theme ALL OF US BELONG HERE. Snippets of all submissions were shown in a summary video as well as those composed by the first to third prize winners. CHCP supported this fine program, hosted by the non-profit Silicon Valley Community Media, by being a sponsor hosting one table for its Board members in attendance.  This event kicked off the Asian Pacific Heritage Month of May, with many of the 70 contestants brought on stage to win specific awards chosen by a team of 15 judges. The 2024 entries came from all over the world, with one entrant from Alaska who was introduced on stage. To support the AAS fundraising effort, CHCP President Dave Yick and Director Edith Gong were high bidders for the auction prize of a private tour and reception for 20 guests at the famed Flintstone House seen off Hwy 280 in Hillsborough. 

This first-time award ceremony was well received by supporters, such as CHCP, who share the desire to encourage more Asian American stories to be told, as CHCP plans to do with its upcoming Oral Histories Project. 

Advisory Board Member Dr. Arthur Jue was awarded an Excellence Award at the dinner for his one-minute video submission of former ABC Reporter David Louie’s speech at CHCP's January membership meeting.

CHCP Co-Founder Gerrye Wong was honored with the 2024 Legendary Story Teller Award for her 40 years of writing about Chinese community and history past and present in newspapers (Chinese Press and Asian Week), magazines (Vancouver's Chinatown news and Gentry), and websites (dingdingtv).  She spoke of the pride she felt telling the thousands of school children, who visited CHCP's Chinese American Historical Museum, of the stories of the early Chinese communities who settled in the San Jose area, as well as her proudest moment when she and CHCP Advisory Member Connie Young Yu, together with CHCP support, encouraged the City of San Jose to draft and issue a Resolution of Apology to the Chinese citizens who were unfairly discriminated against in their past Chinatowns in the 1800s and at the turn of the century. 

By Gerrye Wong, CHCP Co-Founder and Trustee

On April 21, 2024, KTSF (Digital Channel 26/Cable Channel 8) spotlighted an interview by Mina Li with CHCP Co-Founder Gerrye Wong and Board Member Dr. Arthur Jue at its Chinese American Historical Museum in a half-hour show centered on the museum.  At the museum itself, Gerrye and Arthur were able to tell how CHCP first began due to artifacts from an original Chinatown being found in a downtown San Jose digging site in 1985.

Leading reporter Mina through the museum, they demonstrated CHCP's Timeline Display which shows what was occurring in China, United States and San Jose during the 1850-2000 period which is of historical interest to the Chinese. When queried about how CHCP tries to combat the current anti-Asian hate atmosphere still prevailing, they proudly pointed out that the museum has hosted trips by thousands of school children to the museum to tell of Chinese contributions to the history of America, and how Asians of any ethnicity should be treated fairly so they can also contribute to the American economy and society today.  We thank KTSF and Mina Li for enabling more viewers and citizens to know about CHCP’s museum so they can visit in the future when the museum is open on Saturdays each month.

By Dave Yick, 2024 CHCP President

CHCP'S April Board Meeting was held at the recently renovated Los Altos History Museum. We were treated to an excellent tour of their historic farmhouse and their museum, equipped with modern screens that encompassed three whole walls. This was followed by a reception, where we met with members of their Executive Committee. Thanks to the Los Altos History Museum for their generous hospitality!

By Brenda Hee Wong, 2024 CHCP Director and SDCAP Chair

For Women's Heritage Day at History Park, CHCP screened several short videos celebrating contributions and accomplishments of Chinese women from the past and the present. The videos were created by members of CHCP's Student Docent Cultural Ambassador Program (SDCAP).

Everyone in attendance said they learned something new or learned more about the notable, trailblazing Chinese women of historical or contemporary influence. Very personable and animated interactions by SDCAP Members Sophia Zhang (project leader) and Vanessa Lam were made with the rapt audience.

The following is an excerpt from 01/29/24 Education Week:

By Sarah Elia

Sarah Elia is an English-as-a-new-language teacher in the Saugerties, N.Y., school district. She sometimes also teaches Chinese enrichment classes to elementary students.

New York announced last fall that all its public schools will have a day off for Lunar New Year starting in the coming school year. Schools in the Empire State will thus be joining those in districts in California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia, and elsewhere that already officially recognize the holiday. The day off for students is part of growing school attention to a celebration important in many Asian nations and among people of Asian descent in the United States.

For more information: Read the full 01/29/24 Education Week opinion piece.

The following is an excerpt from the 01/28/24 San Jose Mercury News:

By Sal Pizarro, Bay Area News Group

The Chinese Historical and Cultural Project had a lot to celebrate at its anniversary dinner Wednesday night at China Stix restaurant in Santa Clara, an event that doubled as an early Chinese New Year party. Co-founder Gerrye Wong said that membership in the group dropped dramatically during the pandemic to less than 70 people, but President David Yick made bumping those numbers up a priority — and the membership rolls now top 300. Nearly all of them seemed to have packed the restaurant, where they heard a keynote from retired KGO-TV newsman David Louie.

Yick says the next goal is to recruit enough docents to allow the CHCP’s museum, housed in a replica of the Ng Shing Gung temple at San Jose’s History Park, to open to visitors every weekend. Go to www.chcp.org to find out more.

By Gerrye Wong, CHCP Co-Founder and Trustee

The CHINESE HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL PROJECT had a grand celebration honoring the new 2024 Board of Directors and Advisory Board installed at the China Stix Restaurant. Around 200 members and guests renewed their support of CHCP that evening. A fine banquet meal was served to all, with dinner being complimentary for membership renewals and new enrollees that evening. 

Guest Speaker of the evening was retired ABC Reporter David Louie who spoke of his journey from age 5 to his retirement with 50 years in the television industry. He recalled the lack of Asian reporters in media as far back as the 1970s, and the difficulties so many of the Asian industry pioneers faced to get recognized and on the air.  Louie recalled that of his many stories, the one interview that stands out in his mind was being the first to interview Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta following the 9/11 airplane attacks and covering Mineta’s public declaration of the grounding of all planes on that fateful day. He recalled being in the center of so many Bay Area happenings, such as the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, and having the experience of being one of the first newsmen to enter China after President Richard Nixon’s China visit which opened that country to the United States and the outside world.

Members of the media acknowledged that evening for their media coverage and active support of CHCP were: ABC reporter Dion Lim, NBC reporter Robert Handa, and Bay Area News SJ Mercury columnist Sal Pizarro.

KTSF reporter Christina Chow, Ding Ding TV CEO Diana Ding, and former US Congressman Mike Honda were also in the audience to show support of all the works CHCP has done for over 35 years in San Jose.

CHCP’s new dragon had its inaugural appearance led with much fanfare by Board member Mike Mak. Following Chinese tradition, the body and especially the eye of the dragon were dotted in red to bring good fortune, health and blessings to CHCP supporting members in 2024 Year of the Dragon. The eye dotting ceremony was followed by 50 raffle prizes awarded to many happy members by Board member Peter Young and Advisory Board member Joshua Zhang.

It took a team of a complete board and dedicated SDCAP student volunteers to produce a wonderful program telling of our own history and encouraging the audience to support the Preservation of the Summit Tunnels Site which was constructed by Chinese railroad workers and is an important part of California's history.

It was a grand start to a good year for CHCP in continued sharing of Chinese American history and culture to its Santa Clara Valley citizens. The goal of the group is to open their wonderful Chinese American Historical Museum every Saturday of the year so more people can view the historic 1800s altar used by Chinese immigrants as their temple of worship, Chinese school and hostel. The CHCP museum is located in History Park San Jose and welcomes all to come and learn about the proud history of our forefathers in Santa Clara Valley.

View a short video of the Membership Dinner (courtesy of Ding Ding TV):