By Peter Young, CHCP Director

Cherrywood Elementary School in the Berryessa District of San Jose held a free Lunar New Year Family Night Celebration Friday, February 7th in their Multi-Purpose Room. The celebration focused on keeping the Lunar New Year traditions alive and to showcase the talents of the school’s Mandarin Immersion students who hosted 15 cultural booths on Chinese culture and the Lunar New Year. The talents of the students were very much evident as one could see from the booths that evening. Most popular booth was the Candy Paint booth where students were able to create their own candy in a Chinese character. Most creative booth was the Finger Knit Snakes booth where the students knitted a snake on their fingers. Honorable Mention went to the Face Painting booth where students had their face and arms painted with Chinese characters. All of the booths showed creativity and planning. I was very much impressed.

Many of the 560 students attended the event along with their parents. Everyone was treated to samplings of Chinese dumpling, vegetarian dumpling, sticky rice, fried rice, and chow mein. The Fei Teng Lion Dance Group treated everyone to a dazzling lion dance performance and martial arts display. Cherrywood Elementary School Principal Tina Choy was the emcee and Emily Ho of the Cherrywood Home and School Association was instrumental in the planning and organization of the fun event. Cherrywood Elementary’s Home and School Association was a recipient of a CHCP HELP Grant to help cover costs for the event.

By Andrew Mo, CHCP Director

The Chinese Historical and Cultural Project (CHCP) partnered with the New Almaden Quicksilver Mining Museum to host a successful Lunar New Year celebration, drawing over 100 visitors. The event featured vibrant lion dancing, engaging Chinese paper crafts, and educational activities tailored for children, fostering cultural appreciation and community engagement. The collaboration provided an immersive experience, blending traditional festivities with historical education, making it a memorable and enriching event for attendees of all ages.

View the lion dance performance by the San Jose State University (SJSU) Lion Dance Club (in 2 parts):

By Willie Lou, CHCP Member

Hi, my name is Willie!

I had an amazing time cosplaying CoiSan 財神, the Cantonese God of Wealth, at CHCP’s outreach event during the San Jose Sharks game! It was a fantastic opportunity to share our culture and mythology with visitors, sparking curiosity and appreciation for Cantonese traditions. Seeing people engage, ask questions, and celebrate with us made the experience truly rewarding.

CHCP hosts many events that showcase Chinese heritage, folklore, and history, making learning fun and interactive. I encourage everyone to join and experience it firsthand!

CHCP's Chinese American Historical Museum was featured on ABC Channel 7 on Thursday January 23. Reporter Jason Beal interviewed CHCP Co-Founder/Trustee Gerrye Wong and CHCP Governing Trustee Anita Wong Kwock about the history of the museum, its contents and its exhibits of Chinese American history.

View the video clip and read the accompanying article:
https://abc7ny.com/videoClip/ng-shing-gung-history-san-jose-chinese-american-heritage-museum-new-year/15834040/#

The following is an excerpt from 01/26/25 Ding Ding TV:

By Gerrye Wong, CHCP Co-Founder and Trustee

The CHINESE HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL PROJECT kicked off Chinese New Year of the Snake on January 23 when it held its annual CHCP membership dinner at the China Stix Restaurant in Santa Clara. The dinner is a welcome gift to all 2025 members so it was a wonderful celebration for over 180 of the CHCP membership to renew their pledge to support this worthwhile organization.

Incoming Co-President Kimberly Eng Lee, as MC of the evening, proudly stood under the CHCP banner on stage and welcomed all to the happy crowd assembled for the banquet dinner. A rip-roaring Lion Dance team, led by Liz Chew and Alan Fong at the drums, strolled through the tables in proper Chinese New Year fashion to the delight of the audience. As the Lion came to the stage and stood 12 feet tall, one member on top of the other’s shoulders, they displayed their Happy New Year Banner, while Board Treasurer Elizabeth Lee and Co-Founder/Trustee Gerrye Wong placed in its mouth, red li see envelopes in appreciation for their coming to bless the CHCP membership.

CHCP’s Student Docent Cultural Ambassador Program members came on stage to explain Year of the Snake traditions and showed off a beautiful Happy Lunar New Year of the Snake brochure presented by SDCAP members Sada Gill, Zacharee Ho and Jessica Li.

MC Kimberly announced to the audience that Gerrye Wong had received an Award of Excellence from the American Association for State and Local History for her decades of preserving and sharing Chinese American history in California.

2024 President David Yick came to the stage next to call to order his last membership meeting and recalled all of the CHCP’s events and projects that happened during his many years’ reign.  He led the Installation of new members of the governing Board of Directors, Trustees, and Advisory Board members, assisted by Advisory Board member Connie Young Yu. Outgoing President Dave was praised by Vice President Ingrid Lai and presented with a framed poster signed by all of his 2024 Board members.

Keynote Speaker Asst. Professor of Anthropology, Dartmouth University, Dr. Jiajing (JJ) Wang gave an interesting slide show presentation on her findings on “Uncovering Chinese Food Practices Under the Microscope.”

This was followed by exciting news from Brenda Hee Wong, Teddy Sue, Beatrice Lee and Phil Sexton who announced that their drive to petition the California Summit Tunnels to become a national historical landmark site was approved by the National Parks Service. The Summit Tunnel was part of the Transcontinental Railroad feat near Donner Summit completed with the help of Chinese railroad workers.

Musical entertainment came with Emily Zhang playing the beautiful Chinese melody, “Fighting with the Typhoon,” on her guzheng instrument.

A highlight of the evening came with the honoring of two Chinese American World War II veterans Harry Lim and Wing Lai to celebrate their 100th birthdays. Both men had been featured in the CHCP film “Our Story of War and Remembrance” that had been dedicated to the veterans of the China-Burma-India Theatre in WWII.

2025 Co-President Kimberly Lee announced the upcoming activities CHCP will embark on in the coming year and encouraged more to contribute their volunteer time and services. Unable to attend, 2025 Co-President Arthur Jue spoke via video on his plans for the future of CHCP which showed this organization will never relax its mission to preserve and present Chinese American history to all. To close the program, Peter Young and Ingrid Lai presented door prizes to a wildly enthusiastic group of winners as a fond farewell for another year for CHCP members and supporters.

For more information: Read the full 1/26/25 Ding Ding TV press release.

On December 16, 2024, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced the designations of 19 new National Historic Landmarks (NHLs), reflecting the importance of the sites in sharing America’s diverse history. The announcement included the Summit Camp in California as one of the sites designated as a National Historic Landmark:

Summit Camp (Placer and Nevada Cos., Calif.) is the archeological remains of the largest and longest occupied Chinese railroad construction camp on the transcontinental railroad (1865-1869). It is also an influential “type site” in the emergence of Chinese diaspora studies in the field of historical archaeology in the mid-20th century.

Congratulations to CHCP's Student Docent Cultural Ambassador Program (SDCAP) for their successful yearlong Sierra Summit Tunnels Site letter-writing campaign to preserve this important site. SDCAP collected nearly 400 letters, mailing to 14 California legislators and the Deputy Assistant to the President and Asian American and NHPI Senior Liaison at the White House. In December 2024, a cover letter with 200 individual letters of support were sent to the NHL Committee for their final review meeting that month.

Included in congratulations are: CHCP Director/SDCAP Chair Brenda Hee Wong and CHCP Advisory Board Member Teddy Sue, leads of the letter-writing campaign. Brenda and Teddy gratefully thank the many members and friends of CHCP who participated and shared their empathy for recognition of a legacy and tribute to the Chinese Railroad Workers in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

CHCP's Student Docent Cultural Ambassador Program (SDCAP) members shared Chinese winter solstice traditions and children's holiday crafts (consisting of Origami Fan, Santa, and Elf ornaments) at the Chinese American Historical Museum (CAHM) for History Park's Children's Heritage Holiday event on December 14, 2024.

By Kimberly Eng Lee, CHCP Co-Vice President of Marketing/Outreach

This year, CHCP started researching and interviewing Chinese American Chrysanthemum growers in the Santa Clara Valley as part of its new Oral History Project. On November 22, CHCP, the Chinatown History and Culture Association (CHCA), the Bay Area Chrysanthemum Growers Association (BACGA), and Stanford University joined forces to honor the histories of Asian Chrysanthemum growers with a corsage-making workshop.

Sydney Kaminski, a Stanford student, recently discovered that floral corsages were popular fashion accessories worn to the “Big Game” a century ago. Corsages purchased on their way to the annual football matchup between Stanford and Cal were from local Asian American farmers on land leased from Stanford or nearby Bay Area family farms. Kaminski coordinated the workshop with posters about Stanford’s floral tradition; CHCA and BACGA arranged for all the large blooms, accessories, and corsage-making instructions; and CHCA donated a selection of Chinese pastries from San Francisco’s Chinatown. CHCP enriched the event by sharing historical documents, photos, and video from Chinese American Flower Grower families, offering a deeper connection to their legacy.

CHCA Co-Founder and CHCP Advisory Board Member Lee Liu Chin said that the florist tended hundreds of Chrysanthemums all week for the event. “They arrived in bunches as buds, and have been moved in and out of the walk-in coolers to maximize the size of every flower.” Members of BACGA excitedly identified their key founders in pictures; other attendees were amazed to see lush farms and learn more about Chinese Americans’ early contributions to Santa Clara Valley. Kaminski said, “I loved seeing everyone interact with your [CHCP] table." CHCA Co-Founder George Chin remarked, “What a great turnout yesterday at The Farm. We did well.” He added, “I’m glad we had the opportunity for the community to revisit this important chapter of the Chinese flower growers’ legacy within Stanford’s football culture and the University’s history.”

Chrysanthemums were first cultivated in China in 15th Century B.C., during the Shang Dynasty, primarily as a culinary herb. Flowers and leaves were brewed into teas, and roots were used as a remedy. But the Chrysanthemum's enduring influence is the result of its deep cultural significance, symbolizing longevity, rejuvenation, nobility, and the fleeting nature of life. Chrysanthemums were introduced to Japan during the Tong Dynasty (6th to 8th Century). Japan being greatly influenced by Chinese culture, was so taken with the flower that they assigned it a royal status. It is featured in artwork and clothing, and in some cultures used as a memorial flower to honor loved ones. Nowadays, Chrysanthemums, commonly known as "mums," are a key component of flower production in states like California, Florida, and Texas, with a strong focus on potted varieties. Even in 1968, Chrysanthemums were the single biggest crop in Santa Clara County – accounting for almost 15% of the agricultural industry. The majority of flower growers in Santa Clara Valley originated from the same region in southern China as the former workers of the Stanford Farm.  These workers played a pivotal role in commercializing the flower-growing industry in the Valley. Prolific during autumn, the Chrysanthemum generally symbolizes friendship, happiness, harvest, and goodwill.