CHINESE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

NEWS ‘n NOTES

May, 2003

Contents:

President’s Pen  June Program  Announcements  Around CHSSC  Upcoming Events  Health & Wellness 


* * * PRESIDENT'S PEN * * *

CHSSC President, Cy Wong

I express my sincere thanks to all those who supported me and my administration for the past ten months. We have accomplished much of importance during this short period.

First on our agenda was completing interior painting of our Chinatown Heritage and Visitors Center last September. We also refurbished the floors in both of the two Victorian houses, consisting of sanding and staining them, and applying a polyurethane finish. All who have seen the work marvel at the beauty of the newly-exposed softwood floorboards. Another addition to the houses was the donation of a lovely new Frigidaire refrigerator to replace our old unit.

Next in line for the year's improvements was clearing the Bernard Street garage of over 400 copies of "Wong Ho Luen," a two volume set on Riverside's historic Chinatown. Moving the boxes into the small storage shed in the rear of our property was carried out by yours truly.

Eugene Moy, Gilbert Hom and several volunteers recently relocated several boxes of the Society's Old Chinatown artifact collections - and additional material from excavations in Santa Barbara - to our Office storage facility. The artifacts were moved from our temporary storage facility in Santa Monica, California. Additional collections relevant to local Chinese American history were also relocated to Bernard Street.

At our March 8, 2003 Board meeting, Vice-President Ann Lau, was asked to evaluate the possible extension of a lapsed $5,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The grant was originally awarded in 2002. Ann's diligence and persistence paid off; within three weeks of contacting NEA, we were informed the grant is extended to December 31, 2003! The grant will allow us to create new storage facilities for our artifact and historical holdings, to catalogue and digitally photograph them (possibly uploading certain images to our website), and to purchase museum-grade archival storage media. The work is scheduled to begin this May and will last several months. It is my hope the project will be nearly complete when I leave office on July 1, 2003.

We are very proud of, and hope you appreciate, our new, classy News 'n Notes, which debuted in February. New features include the monthly President's Pen and the Health and Wellness medical commentary by Dr. Betty Gaw. I hope you also enjoy the slick, magazine newsprint and two-color format. The glossy format does not, of course, come without a cost increase.

Later this Summer, my wife, Betty, and I will move to Natchitoches, Louisiana where we have purchased a comfortable home. I am, of course, a life member of this wonderful organization, and you may plan to see me at any time.

My words for the month are: "A small beginning can produce a great result" and "The hardest thing to know in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn."

Cy Wong, President

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* * * JUNE PROGRAM * * *

Guest Speaker:

PROFESSOR SUSIE LING

"CHINESE PIONEERS IN THE SAN GABRIEL VALLEY"

Wednesday, June 4, 2003, 7:00 p.m.

Multipurpose Room
Castelar Elementary School
840 Yale Street
Los Angeles, Chinatown
(Park on playground, enter on College Street between Hill and Yale Streets)

Over one hundred years ago, Ah Sam, Ah Show, Ah Sing and others worked and lived in Alhambra. Chinese squashed grapes at the largest winery in the world, the San Gabriel Winery. A small Chinatown thrived in Pasadena as well as San Gabriel City. As Alhambra and Arcadia celebrate their centennial in 2003, it behooves us to learn about the Chinese Americans who have been part of the Valley’s history as well as its present.

Join us as Professor Susie Ling shares the fruit of a year of research on Chinese Americans in the San Gabriel Valley before World War II. This will be the last monthly program before our two-month Summer hiatus.

A longtime CHSSC member, Susie Ling was a contributor to Linking Our Lives (our first title) and Editor of Bridging the Centuries (our most recent publication). She is Associate Professor of Asian American Studies and History at Pasadena City College. For the last twenty years she has lived (where else?) in the San Gabriel Valley.

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* * * ANNOUNCEMENTS * * *

 MAY MEETING REFRESHMENTS

Thank you very much to Mary Yee Kwok, Winnie Lee, Dorothy Lew, Winnie Lew, Ruth Lung, Sylvia Soo Hoo, Martha Yee and Donna Young for the delicious refreshments at the May General Meeting. Thank you also to Gilbert Hom, Marji Lee, Winifred Lew, Ella Quan, Cy Wong and Randy Bloch for their help at Ch'ing Ming.

NEWS 'N NOTES SUBMISSIONS

News 'n Notes items: historical articles, announcements, etc. must be submitted to Randy Bloch, News 'n Notes Editor, by the FIRST of each month.

ELECTION OF CHSSC OFFICERS AND BOARD MEMBERS

Thus far, our slate is President, Linda Wong Smith; Vice-President, Pete Chinn; Financial Secretary, Franklin Mah; Membership Secretary, Ben Nakayama; and, Board Members: Al Der, Betty Gaw, Gilbert Hom, Wing Mar and Betty Yeow. Please contact Randy Bloch at 323-222-0856 with nominations for v.p. of programs, secretary, treasurer and board members (after receiving your candidates' prior consent).

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS GRANT RE-ACTIVATED

Our lapsed NEA grant is now reactivated. At this time, we are looking for good people who are interested in archival cataloging. Please email Ann Lau at alau@visual-artists-guild.org or phone the CHSSC Office.

ARCHITECTURE/GARDEN

During the CHSSC April General Meeting, the membership was given an opportunity to express its preference between four landscape architects who submitted a concept design for the CHSSC garden. We thank those attending for their comments and input. To view the concept designs or volunteer in any part of this project, please email Ann Lau at alau@visual-artists-guild.org or phone the CHSSC Office.

CHSSC SUMMER SCHEDULE

Please note News 'n Notes is not published in June and July and that there is no CHSSC monthly meeting in July and August. See you on September 3rd!

THE CHINESE BIOGRAPHICAL DATABASE WEB SITE IS NOW ONLINE AT HTTP://EXODUS.LCSC.EDU/CBIOUSER/

FIDDLETOWN RECEIVES GRANT

The town of Fiddletown, California received a matching grant of $203,200 from the Office of Historic Preservation California Heritage Fund to preserve two Gold Rush Chinese structures: the Chinese gambling hall and Chinese general store.

CONDOLENCES

The Society expresses its condolences to Winnie Lew and Gary Woo and family on the passing of their Mother, Marian L. Woo. The Society also expresses its condolences to Randy Bloch on the passing of his Mother, Sedelle, in Capitola, California.

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* * * AROUND CHSSC * * *
MAY GENERAL MEETING REPORT

by Randall Bloch

Our May guest speaker, Karen Huie, screened her documentary, "Chinatown: Out of the Ashes," which details the suffering wrought by September 11, 2001 on New York City's Chinatown. Ms. Huie grew up in that community and now divides her time between California and the East Coast. The film's interviews were conducted a year after the attacks.

The documentary provides stark detail of the devastation: while tourist-dependent Chinatown previously enjoyed over 2,000 visitors a day, this dropped to almost zero for at least a month after September 11th. There was no telephone service for two to three weeks and for six days no garbage was removed. Forty Chinatown garment factories closed, about twenty percent of the total of such closures. All Chinatown schools closed for about two weeks. Ten percent of New York's 7,685 job layoffs occasioned by 9/11 were in Chinatown.

Ms. Huie interviewed several shop and business owners and a film location scout for the documentary. A store owner facing near-ruin stated, "When you have an infection, the pain comes later." Another said, "We've been in business for 90 years, through recessions and wars. Hopefully, we'll make it to the 100th year."

Huie's film looked at how people eased their stress and pain in the post-9/11 period: songbird fanciers gathered each morning in local parks; one couple took up ballroom dancing; others got into Karaoke for the first time. New York's Chinatown pulled together, as it traditionally has, and in the midst of this decline and suffering, $2.5 million was raised within the community for Chinatown victims' families.

Some interviewees noted that the early morning of 9/11/01 was, ironically, among the most beautiful in memory. By days end, Chinatown was near what the film called a "village," with few non-Chinese seen on its streets for an extended period. Near the end of the film, one resident displays some hope with the sentiment: "Crisis has been turned into opportunity." Referring to her documentary, Karen Huie simply states: "I was so moved, I had to do it."


CH'ING MING 2003

by Randall Bloch

On Ch’ing Ming day, April 5th, CHSSC members gathered at the Evergreen Cemetery Chinese Memorial Shrine to honor Los Angeles’ Chinese pioneers and to remember traditional ceremonies practiced at the Shrine from the 1880's through the 1960's. Three pine saplings, planted by the Society at Ch’ing Ming five years ago, are now stately, young trees - this year displaying cones for the first time.

In front of the Shrine's entrance gate, a canopy and chairs were assembled, along with a magnificent presentation of dim sum and whole roast pig for all to enjoy. Promptly at noon, President Cy Wong started the informational program, featuring Marjorie Lee of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center. Marji's talk was informative and wide-ranging, focusing on Ch'ing Ming as practiced for centuries in China and by the 19th century Chinese forebears of Los Angeles, their descendants, more recent Chinese immigrants to Los Angeles and others. Marji explored two central principles of Chinese custom, tradition, and festivals: Ancestor Worship (honoring descendants' contributions); and, Filial Piety (respect for parents and elders). After Marji's address, CHSSC Vice-President, Ann Lau, closed the formal portion with a poem by Du Mu (Tu Mu) (A.D. 803-852):

Ching-ming

At the time of Ching-ming rain keeps falling,
Travelers on the road feel their heart wrenching.
Asking where the wine shop is to be,
The cow herd boy, faraway, points to the village of apricot blossom.


THE QING DYNASTY, HUANG FAMILY HOUSE COMES TO AMERICA

by Roberta Greenwood

One of the most dramatic displays of Chinese life, culture, and architecture will open in June 2003 at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. The entire late Qing dynasty house of the Huang family was disassembled with great care in the rural village of Huang Cun in Anui Province as part of a cultural exchange. It has been installed at the Museum with two additional new galleries dedicated to the family, the house, its history, Chinese architecture, and rotating exhibits of Chinese art.

The house was built about 175 to 200 years ago by the 28th or 29th generation of a merchant family. In the common practice of naming a house, it was called Yin Yu Tang, suggesting both the hope that it will shelter many future generations, and that their descendants will become high officials. Eight generations of the Huang family lived here for two centuries, often three generations at the same time. Built around a traditional courtyard, the complex contains two stories with 16 bedrooms, one storage space, and a reception hall on each floor. Excluding the kitchens, the footprint covers a space of 47 feet 6 inches by 52 feet 5 ½ inches.

By the mid-1980s, the house stood empty as family members have dispersed for work opportunities, and they voted to sell it. The Xiuning County Cultural Relics Administration was seeking an American cultural institution to increase international awareness of the region’s traditional architecture, and the Peabody Essex Museum agreed to conserve and interpret the house. As the house was disassembled for transit, its construction was carefully analyzed and documented, and Chinese stonemasons, carpenters, and other experts assisted in the reconstruction. The family was pleased that their ancestral home will not be lost, and generously contributed a wealth of household objects, documents, tools, and photographs for display in the adjacent galleries, adding an enriched perspective of the daily life of an average Chinese family.

For those of us who can’t get there in the near future, there is an incredibly detailed and informative web site to be enjoyed at: http://www.pem.org/yinyutang. In rich color and sound, the many links provide not only a comprehensive look at the architecture – for example, each bedroom is shown along with photos of its occupants, their possessions, examples of their correspondence, details of the rich lattices, etc. – but also the history of the family and the building. Details of the exterior and interior construction, joinery, and framing are provided in this highly recommended presentation.


CHINESE IN THE PHILIPPINES

by Susie Ling

Pancit, siao bao, lumpia, lugaw, hopia - such Pilipino cuisine standards are a reminder that there has been much cultural exchange with the Chinese over the last thousand years. These Chinese Filipino words are Fujian-based (Hokkienese), and not Cantonese.

When the Spanish conquistador, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, conquered Manila in the 1570s, there were approximately 150 Chinese already settled there. The Spaniards would connect the Chinese junk trade to Manila with international global commerce, establishing the infamous Manila-Acapulco galleon trade. But the indispensable Chinese junks were also a threat to European colonial powers. The Fujianese were excellent sailors connecting the Philippine archipelago with their traditional neighbors: Chinese and Muslims in Indonesia and Malaysia. The Spaniards also resented their own dependence on Chinese tailors, artisans, masons, and cooks in the Philippines.

The Chinese population in the Philippines always remained proportionally larger than the Spanish population. Chinatown in Binondo, a suburb of Manila, by the late 19th century had associations including Cantonese Association (est. 1850), Chinese Cemetery (est. 1879), Yu Family Association (est. circa 1880), Textile Merchant Association (est. 1888), Anglo-Chinese School (est. 1899), and Manila Chinese Chamber of Commerce (est. 1904). Because there has been so much intermarriage, Pilipinos ranging from National Hero Jose Rizal, General Emilio Aquinaldo, and President Corazon Aquino are prominent Chinese mestizos. Chinese mestizos often have Hispanized Chinese surnames like Cojuangco, Tanco, Ongpin.

Today, there has been much amalgamation between Chinese and Pilipino cultures. At a Pilipino market in West Covina, a red Buddhist-like shrine held tangerines in front of the Virgin Mary. Many Chinese in the Philippines speak English, Tagalog, Mandarin AND Fujian dialect. In the last decades, Chinese from Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, and Vietnam have diversified the Chinese Pilipino population.

(Susie Ling is Associate Professor of History and Asian American Studies at Pasadena City College.)

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* * * UPCOMING EVENTS * * *

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* * * HEALTH & WELLNESS * * *

 HYPERTENSION IS A SILENT DISEASE


        By Dr. Betty Gaw

Hypertension is an Arterial Disease

Imagine a muscular organ, the heart, pumping a fluid, blood, with adequate force through muscular pipes, on an average of 120,000 times per day; the thicker the blood, the harder the pump must work. This is what the heart does incessantly to keep the blood, nutrients, hormones, electrolytes and waste products, circulating to the various organs for nourishment, processing and excretion.

High blood pressure, or “hypertension,” means the heart is stressed or overworked in pumping against resistant or stiffened blood vessels which do not dilate and move blood along as it once was able to. This results in diminished circulation to the tissues and organs. Less nutrients and oxygen means less tissue repair and early breakdown or tissue death. Eventually, the overstressed heart muscle goes into heart failure.

Factors Contributing to Hypertension

How Blood Pressure is Measured

The initial pumping force of the contraction of the heart is the SYSTOLIC blood pressure, always of a higher number than the relaxation phase of the receding contraction, called the DIASTOLIC blood pressure. Stand on the beach and you’ll notice the forceful wave driven on the sand, whereas the receding wave is lower in force. So too, our blood pressure varies with each contraction and relaxation of the heart pump. Blood pressure is measured in millimeters of mercury/Hg. The ideal blood pressure for adults is 120’s over 60-70’s. Underweight people and athletes have lower blood pressures, as do people who are chronically dehydrated. A blood pressure of 130-140/80-90 is “high normal,” over 140/90 is hypertension when it is repeated three times in a quiet physical and emotional state. The “White coat syndrome” is factitious hypertension in the doctor’s office. Even high normal blood pressure, when persistent, is a risk for cardiovascular organ damage.

Organs Targeted by Hypertension

As always, hypertension is silent and insidious, until it robs us of our vital organ functions in the end stage. Hypertension is frequently the initial symptom, like the visible part of the iceberg, showing up after years of physiologic imbalance such as insulin resistance in diabetes, transient ischemic brain attack, or an overworked heart manifesting as left ventricular hypertrophy, followed by congestive heart failure. Having hypertension is a wake-up call to be proactive in reversing it at all costs, by diagnosing and treating the internal imbalance, gone awry.

Prevention and Treatment Good HEALTH is the most precious commodity in life. Without it, money is moot.

For more information, contact the American Heart Association: 800-242-8721 or the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Information Center: 800-575-WELL; supplemental information: www.lef.org or 1-800-544-4440.


Dr. Betty Gaw

(Dr. Gaw serves on the Society’s Board of Directors)

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