By Samantha Lee, CHCP Member

The Dutch Flat Fourth of July Parade is one of California’s oldest Independence Day celebrations. Originating in the mid-19th century during the Gold Rush era, the parade emerged from both patriotic fervor and a need for community cohesion among the Sierra foothill’s diverse population, including miners, railroad workers, and settlers, notably a significant Chinese immigrant community. During the late 1800s, Chinese immigrants played a central role in constructing the Transcontinental Railroad and in developing Dutch Flat’s infrastructure, despite facing systemic racism and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Their contributions, enduring spirit, and resilience in the face of these injustices are inspiring. The Fourth of July celebration emerged as a way to unify a rugged and often transient population through a shared nationality. Yet paradoxically, it also highlighted the inequities and exclusions inherent in that identity. 

The 2025 Parade saw a significant and symbolic turnout with CHCP joining the Chinese American Pioneer Heritage Committee, the Locke Foundation, Chinese Railroad Workers Descendants Assoc, ChiAm and more. The positive response from the community is a testament to the collective effort in shifting the parade from celebration to active remembrance. This evolution mirrors a broader trend in American memory, where the Fourth of July is no longer only about fireworks and flags, but about asking whose freedom was celebrated then, and how we can expand that representation.

This year’s standout was a long snake puppet reminiscent of traditional dragon dance, and adorned with scale-like fabric that reflected the sunlight. It was a living metaphor: both playful and powerful. The snake, with its history in Chinese culture, symbolizes wisdom, power, and good luck. Some participants wore wooden hats—a nod to early Chinese laborers—and one marcher carried a papier mâché golden spike, referencing the ceremonial final spike driven into the Transcontinental Railroad tracks in 1869, a moment that symbolized completion but failed to fully acknowledge the Chinese laborers who made it possible until 2019.

Spectators reacted with applause and curiosity, many stopping afterward to speak with parade members about their participation. This community engagement is a nod to the past, where storytelling and cultural survival go hand in hand. The response from the community was overwhelmingly positive, with many expressing appreciation for the opportunity to honor the contributions of Chinese Americans to Dutch Flat's history.

The parade itself remains delightfully old-school in other ways: tractors pulling flower-covered floats, children on bicycles festooned with flags, vintage fire trucks, dogs in patriotic kerchiefs—it’s a Norman Rockwell scene filtered through a Gold Rush lens. But Chinese American presence completes that image, necessarily and beautifully. The march was both homage and intervention, reminding attendees that the American story, and especially California’s story, is more complete by honoring the Chinese lives that shaped its soil, tracks, and spirit.

In Dutch Flat, under the July sun, history walked—and danced—in the streets. And the parade, like the town itself, breathed a little deeper because of it.

The following are excerpts from 06/23/25 Alta Journal's "California's Lost Chinatowns: A Hidden History":

By Robert Ito and Photos by Carolyn Fong

The United States is dotted with towns and cities that decimated their Chinese communities, whose residents were forced to leave, or worse. How did people later remember these places, if at all? Did they even want to remember them? Did the locals feel shame for what had happened, or build anything to memorialize these lost places? Last summer, I embarked on a road trip from Los Angeles to Northern California to find out.

Anita Wong Kwock, governing trustee of the Chinese American Historical Museum in San Jose.

I'm at San Jose’s Signia by Hilton, a luxury hotel in the heart of downtown with a day spa and a rooftop pool. Out the door are the city’s art museum and performing arts center; across the street, a grand park where kids in swim trunks horse around in a fountain’s water jets. There’s a lot to see, so one might be forgiven for missing the tiny plaque on the hotel’s side that reads, “In Memory of the Burning of San Jose Chinatown.” The inscription describes a “mysterious fire, deliberately set” on this site, which destroyed “the largest Chinatown south of San Francisco.” Similar fires were set in Chinatowns across the West, from Antioch to Sacramento to Pasadena in California, from Tacoma, Washington, to Denver, Colorado.

In the America of the late 1800s, terrorism against Chinese communities was commonplace and not limited to arson. In Los Angeles, 18 Chinese people were massacred in 1871 in what has been called the largest mass lynching in U.S. history. In Rock Springs, Wyoming, in 1885, at least 28 Chinese miners (some bodies were never recovered) were killed by white miners in a preplanned, well-organized massacre; over the course of an afternoon, Chinese people were scalped, branded, decapitated, dismembered, and burned alive.

San Jose has had five Chinatowns. The Signia has only a plaque, so I jump in my car and head across town to the Chinese American Historical Museum. On the drive over, the skyscrapers of the city center are soon replaced by tire shops, drive-through restaurants, and lavanderías.

The museum holds artifacts that used to be at the hotel’s location, from the beautiful (ornate Chinese opera costumes) to the mundane (children’s toys, medicine vials). On the second floor is a gorgeous ... altar that once stood within the Temple of the Five Gods in Heinlenville, San Jose’s final Chinatown. A note tells museumgoers that two of the temple’s five gods—Kwan Yin, the goddess of mercy, and the Canton City God—went missing years ago and have since been replaced by replicas.

Connie Young Yu in Heinlenville Park, which she helped create to commemorate San Jose’s final Chinatown.

John Heinlen, a German immigrant who moved to California in 1852, created Heinlenville. A victim of anti-German discrimination in Ohio, he sympathized with the plight of the San Jose Chinese. After three of the city’s Chinatowns were destroyed by fire, Heinlen decided to build his own, leasing his land to Chinese residents. “The whole population was against him, ruined his reputation, and ostracized his family,” says Connie Young Yu, a writer, historian, and activist. White residents threatened Heinlen’s life and derisively gave the settlement its name. To protect the community, he built an eight-foot fence topped with barbed wire around it. “People over the years said that the wall was to keep out gamblers and criminals,” Yu says. “But that’s not true. It was for protection! So they wouldn’t get burned down again.”

We’re talking in Heinlenville Park, which features a stainless steel sculpture called Sheltering Wing, which nods to Chinese and Japanese traditions, and a “historical memory walk” with stone tiles dedicated to the city’s five Chinatowns, labeled in English and Chinese. Yu worked for years to make the park a reality, and she doesn’t mince words when she talks about what occurred in San Jose. “The U.S. should be ashamed,” she says. “People talk about how the Chinese are the model minority. But look at what happened to them. They suffered terrorism.”

“They were not silent people,” she continues. “They were silenced.”

For more Lost Chinatowns: Read the full Alta Journal article, "California’s Lost Chinatowns: A Hidden History."

By Gerrye Wong, CHCP Co-Founder and Trustee

Chinese Historical and Cultural Project (CHCP) started off the week with a bang – its first annual BBQ picnic in History Park exclusively for its CHCP members and their personal guests. There were favorite picnic foods – hamburgers and hot dogs done on the History Park grills by masters: CHCP Director Liz Chew, CHCP Member Willy Wong, and CHCP Director Peter Young, set up and served by Director Edith Gong and Treasurer Liz Lee. CHCP had badminton for young athletes, mah jong for the more sedate members, Bluegrass and piano music for music lovers, and door prizes for everyone. See from the happy faces caught on camera what a great day it was…and a special perk for being a CHCP member. Many guests enjoyed the group so much, they hastened to join as members and docent volunteers for the CHCP museum at the park. Thanks to Chair and Outreach Vice-President Ingrid Lai, photo guy - Director Bill Shu, Bluegrass musician and CHCP Co-President Arthur Jue, and door prize guy - Director Erwin Wong, for showing us all what fun-loving times CHCP members can have when they join up. Membership always open for all.

How proud Emily Yue, Jeff Lee, Michael Chan, Anita Kwock and I were, as founding board members there, to see how wonderfully the group is thriving since we began in 1987...38 years ago. Congratulations CHCP members past and present!!

By Kimberly Eng Lee, CHCP Co-President

The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) and Chinese Historical and Cultural Project (CHCP) proudly announce that Connie Young Yu is the recipient of an Award of Excellence for Individual Lifetime Achievement. The AASLH Leadership in History Awards, now in its 80th year, is the most prestigious recognition for achievement in the preservation and interpretation of state and local history. 

Connie Young Yu is a writer and independent historian dedicated to documenting America’s immigration history for over a half century. She was involved in the preservation of the immigration detention building that led to the Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco Bay becoming a national monument. She was a founding member of Asian Americans For Community Involvement (AACI) and is an Advisory Board Member and Historian for CHCP. Among her many works, she is the author of Chinatown, San Jose, USA, The Peoples Bicentennial Quilt Book and co-author of Hakone Estate and Gardens. She consulted on the archaeological excavations of three Chinatowns in San Jose and a railroad workers camp site in the Sierras. She conducted oral history interviews of descendants for the Stanford Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project, gave the commencement speech at the 150th Anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad at Promontory, UT, and accepted the City of San Jose’s formal Apology for past racial discrimination against Chinese immigrants and their descendants. Young Yu recently launched The Geary Act Project which endeavors to gather Certificates of Residence, the ‘yellow card’ required at the time of all Chinese in America by order of the 1892 Geary Act.

This year, AASLH confers 54 national awards honoring people, projects, exhibits, and publications. The winners represent the best in the field and provide leadership for the future of state and local history. Awards will be presented at AASLH’s annual conference in Cincinnati, OH, September 10-13, 2025.

The AASLH awards program was initiated in 1945 to establish and encourage standards of excellence in the collection, preservation, and interpretation of state and local history throughout the United States. The AASLH Leadership in History Awards not only honor significant achievement in the field of state and local history, but also bring public recognition of the opportunities for small and large organizations, institutions, and programs to make contributions in this arena. For more information about the Leadership in History Awards, contact AASLH at 615-320-3203 or go to www.aaslh.org.

For more on Connie Young Yu: View the 06/11/24 DeAnza interview "Connie Young Yu: Writing Untold Stories"

In 2024, CHCP Co-Founder and Trustee Gerrye Wong was selected by the AASLH to receive their 2024 Award of Excellence for Individual Lifetime Achievement for her decades of work in preserving and sharing Chinese American history in California.

In 1998, AASLH named CHCP the recipient of the Albert B. Corey Award, the most prestigious recognition for achievement in the preservation and interpretation of local, state, and regional history. The Albert B. Corey Award is reserved for very deserving, small, primarily volunteer-operated, historical organizations. This award is granted only when an organization meets the high standards of excellence set by Albert B. Corey, a founding member of the AASLH, and therefore, is not awarded annually.

By Ingrid Lai, CHCP Outreach Vice-President

Bill and I went to San Diego to attend a graduation ceremony, and as suggested by CHCP Director Brenda Wong, we found time to visit the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum. Luckily, we bumped into CHCP Advisory Board Member Pinki Fung in San Diego, who was there attending a conference. She very kindly agreed to visit the museum with us and all the great photos were taken by her. We met a very nice docent at the museum from whom we learned a lot.

The museum's newest exhibit, CBI Victory!, is an 80th Anniversary retrospective of the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater, a theater of battle to which many Chinese and Chinese Americans contributed. It is curated by the Chinese Historical Society of America (CHSA) and the Chinese American G.I. Project. The exhibit includes many historical photos, medals, and memorabilia, and will run until Sept. 7, 2025.

By Peter Young, CHCP Director and HELP Grant Chair

Rancho Milpitas Middle School held its annual Asian American Heritage Night Thursday, May 15th.  The event was held at the outdoor school quad and was partially funded by a CHCP HELP Grant that was used to purchase costumes, props, decorations, and cultural food items sold at the event.  Approximately 150 students, parents, and faculty members were treated to a variety of 11 ethnic Asian performances.  Performances included Bollywood, Vietnamese, K-Pop, Hawaiian, a Filipino Tinikling performance to a non-Filipino song, and a piano performance by the daughter of Rancho Milpitas Middle School faculty member Yen Mai.  Decorations included life-sized drawings of Asian costumes by the students.  CHCP Co-President Kimberly Eng Lee and Board Members Peter Young, Brenda Wong, and Edith Gong attended and shared information on CHCP and upcoming events with the attendees.

Dr. Kimberley Connor's talk on "Beer, Bitters, and Batteries: Glass from the Market Street Chinatown" presented the first results from a new analysis of glass containers and tablewares from the Market Street Chinatown in San Jose. Her presentation told us about everyday life in the Chinatown, technological changes in glassmaking, and the types of products consumed.