The Chinese American Museum of Chicago (CAMOC) sponsors frequent lectures in local venues, often in the Chinatown Branch of the Chicago Public Library but also in the Chicago Cultural Center and several suburban locations. To read about other CMF activities please click on Activities or Events
June 17, 2004 lecture:Richard Blitstein (Pacific College of Oriental Medicine), Enrico Zamaro (My Place for Tea), and Chuimei Ho (Chinatown Museum Foundation), "Tea for Three -- Taste, Health and Trade in Chicagoland," presented at the Skokie Public Library, Skokie, Illinois
For 2,000 years, tea has been a medicinal as well as social drink among the Chinese and their neighbors. The plant has stimulated thousands of essays and poems during its long history.
Tea became one of the popular causes that led to American independence when the citizens of Boston decided to dump British chests of Chinese tea into the Atlantic Ocean in 1775. Japanese sent spies to China to smuggle tea plants back to the island, and the British sent a charming botanist to smuggle tea plants to India. There are endless stories that underline the significance of tea. Today there are probably more tea than coffee drinkers in the world: even regular coffee houses in America carry the drink. Most peoples call it "cha," "tea," "dteh," or "chai."
Blitstein spoke about the health benefits of tea as seen by modern and traditional East Asian medicine. Zamaro spoke about the many types of tea now available on the market in the U.S. Ho moderated the discussion.
For a few good books on tea, see the June 18 "Newsletter"
May 29, 2004 lecture:Elinor Pearlstein (Associate Curator, Art Institute of Chicago),"Collectors as Ambassadors -- How Asian Art Came to Chicago," presented at the Chinatown Branch, Chicago Public Library.
Early 20th century Chicagoans were among the earliest Americans to appreciate cultural significance and beauty in the arts of China, Korea, and Japan. Their sensibility, scholarship, and foresight in collecting is reflected in bronzes, jades, ceramics, sculptures, paintings, and prints exhibited at the Art Institute and the Field Musesum.
Together spanning prehistoric times through the early 20th century, these early acquisitions form the foundation of the museums' collections of East Asian art. They continue to reflect the knowledge, taste, and opportunities of Chicago's scholars and cosmopolitan citizens who recognized both cultural significance and beauty in arts of then-remote countries. In a period that brings East Asia much closer to Chicago, the travels and academic and diplomatic activities of earliest curators, collectors, and donors will be explored through their purchases and gifts for the Art Institute as well as the Field Museum.
CURRENT AND PREVIOUS TOPICS
July 31, 2004 lecture:Mr. Stephen Yeh (Chinese Christian Union Church), Mrs. Margaret Larson (United Church of Christ), Rev. Ronnie Kaan (Lutheran Church), and Mr. Paul Poy (Chinese Christian Union Church), "Church. Missionary, and Chinese Immigrant," presented at the Chinatown Branch, Chicago Public Library.
Not every early immigrant from China came here to work in restaurants or laundries. A surprising number of Chinese came to the Midwest through religious connections. The Foundation will organize a series of three lectures on the relationship between religions and early Chinese immigrants to Chicago. The focus of the July lecture is the role of Protestant Christian organizations in facilitating immigration. Our lecture In August will discuss immigration and Buddhism. Our September lecture will focus on immigration and the Catholic Church.
The many denominations of Protestantism played a central role in Chinese immigration. They encouraged and often financed young converts to come and study in the U.S. Many such converts decided to stay. Some became spiritual leaders. Others became businessmen or professionals, in Chinatown and in numerous non-Chinese city and suburban communities, their religious connections making it easier to merge with the American way of life.
Protestantism was providing social as well as spiritual services to Chinese immigrants right from the beginning. The first known Chinese church in Chicago, dating to the 1890s, was the store-front Mission Church on Clark Street in the original Chinatown at Clark and Van Buren. Its non-denominational heritage survives in the present-day Chinese Christian Union Church (CCUC) on Wentworth Avenue. The CCUC has other branches in Chicago and the suburbs and owns several major properties on Wentworth, including the landmark building formerly owned by the On Leong Association.
Currently, one of the more active Protestant denominations is the Lutheran Church, which has strong bases in Hong Kong and Taiwan and has been working with Chinese-Americans since the 1970s. There are no fewer than six Lutheran churches in the Chicago area that have Cantonese and Mandarin speaking pastors. The area also has Baptist, Evangelical, Methodist, Full Gospel, Presbyterian, Christian Reformed, and various other churches with Chinese pastors, Chinese-language services, and mainly Chinese congregations.
The speakers represent part of this spectrum of religious activity and experience.
Stephen Yeh was a Shanghai citizen, a former captain in the Chinese army, and a devout Methodist who in 1944 came to study at Moody Bible Institute with a $8,000 scholarship. He has been sitting on the CCUC’s Board of Deacons since 1945. “Cantonese pastors were hard to come by in those days,” Mr. Yeh says, “the Church couldn’t even afford a salary of $100.” Later running a successful shoe business, his executive skill helped spearheaded the expansion of the Church. Now in his 90s and an Evanston resident, Mr. Yeh is living history of Chinese Protestantism in the Chicago area.
Margaret Larson’s passage to American was unique. Born to a missionary American father and a Chinese medical doctor mother, she has had a lifelong relationship with different churches. Her father went to China to teach and preach, and married Larson’s mother in 1929. Their marriage cost him his missionary job with the Presbyterian Church but he maintained a strong link with the Quakers in China. Ms. Larson’s brother came to study in the Quaker School in Pennsylvania through a Quaker scholarship, and Ms. Larson followed in 1948. She is now a member of the United Church of Christ.
Rev. Ronnie Kaan came from Hong Kong in recent years and is based in one of the Lutheran churches in Chicago, serving the Cantonese-speaking community in this area. Rev. Kaan believes that the rapid growth of the Midwestern Chinese-American community in the last thirty years has brought not only problems and success but also a growth in spiritual needs.
Paul Poy was born in Chicago to Chinese parents who were members of the CCUC. His call to serve the community goes beyond the religious world. Mr. Poy volunteers his skills as a banker and manager to several organizations in Chinatown, including the Chinatown Museum Foundation.
Larson's mother with Miss Hill, the dean of her missionary medical college, in Guangzhou in 1926 and in Chicago in 1980
[Click on photo to enlarge]
Matt Eng introduces (l to r) Mr. Paul Poy, Mr. Stephen Yeh, Ms. Margaret Larson, and Rev. Ronnie Kaan
August 28, 2004 lecture:Venerable Ji Ru (International Buddhism Friendship Association), Ms. Amy Choy (Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation), and Loong Yan Wong (Facilitator, Chinatown Museum Foundation) "Buddhism and Chinese Americans in Chicago: the Immigration of a Religion," held at the Chinatown Branch, Chicago Public Library. About 70 people attended.
Chicago saw its first public Buddhist religious organization in 1944. The Buddhist Temple of Chicago on Leland Avenue, managed by Japanese-Americans, was not only the earliest Buddhist temple in Chicago, but also the earliest in the Midwest. Today the northern part of Illinois hosts more than 80 Buddhist temples and organizations. About 50 of them are located in Chicago.
Roughly speaking, Japanese-related temples are most numerous. There are about 23 of them. The next most numerous are Tibetan Buddhist temples – about 13 of them. These are followed by 11 Thai and 10 Vietnamese speaking Buddhist temples. However, there are only four dedicated to Chinese-Americans. While these statistics give us some idea of how widely accepted Buddhism is among Americans, we must keep in mind that some temples are multi-ethnic. Take Tibetan temples for example; many of their followers are European-Americans.
Buddhist temples made a late start among Chinese-Americans in the Chicago area, even though many Chinese immigrants must have been Buddhists when they came, starting in the 1870s or before. The first formally organized Chinese Buddhist temple was founded only twelve years ago.
Why were such temples so late here? How does this fact relate to patterns of immigration? What difficulties did Buddhists face when so many Chinese-Americans were Christians? What do Buddhist temples do for the community apart from offering religious activities? Where did earlier Buddhist immigrants turn for spiritual comfort in the years before Buddhist temples existed here? A panel discussed these and related issues.
The panel included representatives of two of the three major Chinese-speaking Buddhist groups in he Chicago area: the Tzu Chi Foundation (Buddhist Compassion Relief) and the International Buddhism Friendship Association (Chanh Giac Temple). The Ling Shen Ching Tze temple was unable to participate.
The International Buddhism Friendship Association was represented by its abbot, the Venerable Ji Ru, and the Buddhist Compassion Relief was represented by its executive director, Ms. Amy Choy.
Venerable Ji Ru is Malaysian Chinese but was ordained in Thailand. He is trained in both Mahayana and Hinayana doctrines. He began working in America in 1992, when he was invited to be in charge of the Great Enlightenment Temple of the Buddhist Association in New York. He joined St. Louis’ Mid-American Buddhist Association in 1995 and became abbot there in 1999. The International Buddhism Friendship Association, located on Broadway in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood, lost its abbot in 2000. The Association was relieved when Venerable Ji Ru agreed to take up that post. Earlier this year, the Association moved to Wentworth Avenue, Chinatown.
Our second speaker, Ms. Choy, a native of Taiwan, works for the Tzu Chi Foundation. As a devout Christian, she came to America to study. However, after marriage she followed her husband and began to practice Buddhism.
The Foundation was established in 1966 by a woman, Venerable Master Cheng Yen, together with a few other nuns. She brought the Tzu Chi Foundation to California in 1985, and began to set up branches in several major American cities. In 1993 Tzu Chi set one up in Downers Grove. Ms. Choy became the executive director for that branch. The Foundation promotes modernized and internationalized Buddhism. They proactively engage in social and medical services. Ms. Choy gave up her own career to serve full-time for Tzu Chi.
The facilitator of the program was Mr. Loong Yan Wong, a director of the Chinatown Museum Foundation.
Ms. Rosita Chan gives certificates to the speakers: (l to r) Ms. Amy Choy, Ven. Ji Ru, Mr. Loong Yan Wong
September 25, 2004 (Saturday) Lecture:Catholicism, Chinese-Americans, and Immigration. Panel discussion, with Mr. Richard May (St. Therese Church, Chinatown), Dr. Al Chen, M.D. (from an old Catholic family in Tianjin), and Sister Barbara Doherty, Ph.D. (Sisters of Providence). Organized with the advice of Father Michael Davitti, St. Therese Church. The facilitator was Ms. Jean Vondriska, an active Catholic and a Board Committee member of the Chinatown Museum Foundation. At the Chinatown Branch, Chicago Public Library.
One of the challenges faced by the famed Italian missionary Matteo Ricci, when he arrived in Beijing in 1601, was to convince his superiors in Rome that the Chinese custom of ancestor “worship” did not contradict the theology of the Catholic Church. His belief has al last prevailed in today's Chinatown in Chicago. St. Therese Church on Alexander Street near Wentworth Avenue, the hub for local Chinese-American Catholics, keeps at its altar a Chinese-language tablet to honor ancestors, guarded by a pair of Chinese stone lions at its front gate. The Church’s services, first for Italian and then for Chinese congregations, illustrate the history of the two ethnic populations in the neighborhood. Richard May, a church member who grew up in and still lives in Chinatown, described the relationship between the community and St. Therese Church.
The Catholic Church in China ran schools, orphanages, and hospitals. Changes in regime and ideology in China during the past century have often interrupted those services. How Catholics overcame, or failed to overcome, such interruptions is one of the subjects discussed by Sister Barbara Doherty. She spoke on the role of the Sisters of Providence in mainland China, Taiwan, and the Midwest.
The Catholic Church in China helped many to leave China for the West. Those immigrants were often given good opportunities to succeed. Al Chen, a seven-generation Catholic from Tianjin, North China, came to Chicago as a young man in the 1950s through arrangements made by Tianjin’s St. Joseph Cathedral. A few years ago, Dr. Chen, now a cardiac surgeon, took his family back to Tianjin for the first time. They of course visited the Cathedral. “The place is different now. But the emotional ties are stronger than ever.” Dr. Chen spoke about his experiences as a Chinese Catholic in China and Chicago.
October 21, 2004 (Thursday) Lecture: Some Like It Hot, Some Like It Cold: Ways of Making Tea. Panel Discussion, with Ms. Hong Wu, Mr. Bill Todd, and Ms. Luyang Yang. At the Skokie Public Library
Some also like it metal, some like it clay, and others even prefer glass. When it comes to brewing tea the world has no consensus on the choice of tea utensils, water temperature, serving manner, and yes, taste too. As a follow-up to the June 2004 lecture at the Skokie Public Library, the Chinatown Museum Foundation and the Library hosted a discussion of tea-brewing methods, in Asia and elsewhere.
Even though most brewing methods include infusion with hot water, the reasons for using a particular method vary deeply with the culture of each group of tea drinkers. In historical China, some people were willing to pay an ounce of gold for a clay teapot, whereas in parts of India clay tea cups were treated like today's disposable paper cups! In southeastern China, almost everyone uses complex tea making methods. In Chicago, most people just dunk their tea bags in their cups. The discussions highlighted and explained these differences.
Ms. Luyang Yang, who is an engineer, a member of the Chinatown Museum Foundation, and a serious tea drinker, introduced the speakers and served as the facilitator.
Mr. William TODD spoke first. He has been running a tea business for more than a decade at Todd & Holland Tea Merchants in River Forest. He is a tea connoisseur, merchant, and philosopher who is interested in comparing teas from different cultures. While knowledgeable about Chinese teas, he devotes equal attention to teas from India and Sri Lanka. His lecture emphasized the importance of using good (note: non-distilled) water of the right temperature for each kind of tea -- 20-30 degrees F. below boiling for green teas and near-boiling for black teas. He also emphasized that the tea leaves must be removed from contact with the tea liquid immediately after brewing, and demonstrated several ingenious Asian and Western teapots that make removing the tea leaves easy.
Ms. Hong WU is the owner of the tea shop, Dream About Tea, in Evanston. Ms. Wu comes from eastern China, the heartland of green teas and the renowned purple-clay teapots of Yixing. Her talk focused on Chinese tea-making methods for two groups of teas that are particular favorites of hers: green teas (mostly from Zhejiang and double-fermented black pu-erh teas (from Yunnan). Emphasizing brewing temperature and controlling the number of infusions possible for each pot of tea leaves (3 for green teas but up to 7 or 8 for pu-erhs), she argued convincingly for the high quality of pu-erh tea when brewed with the same care (and in a similar way) as tea fanciers have traditionally given to the finest oolongs.
As an experiment, we have put the Chinese and English-language PowerPoint slides (as JPEGs) from a previous lecture on a separate page. With important historical images. Take a look --Chinese Protestant Pictures
The CMF/CAMOC monthly lecture series resumed on June 25th with a fresh look at two old problems -- where did the dishes served to other Americans in Chinese-American restaurants come from, and why are they so universally denounced? The Oxford English Dictionary dates the first use of "Chop Suey" to 1888. So much for the idea that it was invented by a Chinese ambassador's cook in 1896. The dish itself, which consists of vegetables (often including bean sprouts and celery) cooked with chopped-up meat in a sauce composed of oil, water, and cornstarch and eaten wth rice, seems normally, if rather unexcitingly, Chinese. Very similar dishes have been prepared millions of times by Chinese cooks over the centuries. So why the denunciations? How could chop suey and its close relative chow mein (with in America is pronouced chow main, not chow miyen) have earned such disdain? Why does everyone nowadays say they hated it?
Clearly the answer is economic and cultural. From an economic point of view, the idea that one could make a good living running restaurants for non-Chinese emerged in Chicago about 1900 and seems to have caught local Chinese-Americans by surprise. Few were experienced restaurant cooks, and yet the sudden demand was great. They had to learn in a hurry. Experienced Chinese diners cannot have been pleased at these first fumbling attempts by self-taught cooks to produce foods that European-Americans ate happily and paid high prices for. Those diners may have fastened on dishes with alien names like chop suey for special criticism.
The cultural barriers to accepting chop suey were also great. For a people proud of their own cuisine, it must have been painful to see that all high-class Chinese restaurants in cities like Chicago were serving strange, often substandard, Chinese food. It must have been even more painful to hear that food, which they may have thought was awful, praised in glowing terms. So naturally they denounced that food, and European-Americans joined in that denunciation. They wanted "authentic" Chinese food. Because this happened at a time, the 1960s and 1970s, when trained Chinese cooks could, for the first time, enter the United States, the wants of these Chinese and non-Chinese diners could begin to be satisfied. The first authentic Chinese dishes appeared in restaurants, and the Chinese food revolution was under way.
The audience of 50 people was asked by the speakers to help them locate an authentic Chinese-American restaurant that has been in operation by the same family since the 1930s and still has much of its original decor intact. No one seemed to know of such a restaurant but CAMOC is still optimistic that one will be found, perhaps in a smaller town elsewhere in the Midwest. Suggestions by readers of this website will be gratefully received.
June 25, 2005 (Saturday) Lecture: The American Passion for Non-Chinese Chinese Food: The Vanishing World of Chop Suey, Egg Fuyong, and Chow Mein. Ms. Soo Lon Moy, MA, & Dr. Bennet Bronson, PhD. At the Chicago Cultural Center
Sept 24, 2005 (Saturday)Lecture: What Rich Chinese Ate at Home: Banquets and Snacks in the Dream of the Red Chamber. By Dr. Chuimei Ho (CAMOC) and Prof. John Rohsenow (Univ. of Illinois at Chicago). Chicago Cultural Center.
Style, not just food, counts. This famous 18th century novel, also called The Story of the Stone, provides an otherwise unavailable account of the fascinating day-to-day eating styles of a rich family whose kitchens blended the Manchu and Han Chinese cuisines and whose meals were often eaten outdoors in gardens like this one. The lecture, illustrated with slides and film clips, was attended by about 70 people.
Oct 29, 2005 Two public lectures in one day!
(1) Chop Suey: Americanized Chinese Food, by Ben Bronson and Soo Lon Moy, held at the museum at 10:30 AM.
(2) Women without a House to Return To: Stories of Early Chinese Immigrants, by Emily Chan and Chuimei Ho, held at the Glenbrook Public Library at 10:00 AM.
Both lectures were well attended, by serious audiences who asked many good questions.
Here are a few slides from the Chop Suey lecture, which represents a development of ideas since the June 25 lecture on the same topic. For related slides, click on Food
Tang Research Foundation Lecture Series, 2006 -- Future Programs
The Golden Pavilion at the 1933 Century of Progress World Fair, July 21 (Fri), 6 pm, at Chinese-American Museum. Speakers: Mr. Kinman Auyeung (Pro Architects) and Dr. Bennet Bronson (The Field Museum).
班臣, 歐陽建文: 回顧芝加哥1933 年百年進步展的 金頂 萬法歸一殿. 七月二十一日
Fusion or Traditional? The Chicago's Ping Tom Park Pavilion, Aug 28 (Mon), 6 pm, at Chinese-American Museum. Speakers: Mr. Robert Sit (Architect, Site Design Group Ltd.) and Mr. JosephFaruggia (Structural Engineer, GFGR Inc.)
傳统舆新潮: 建築師論譚繼平公園的凉亭 八月二十八日
Mr. Chan is one of America's best-known exponents of traditional Chinese furniture design and joinery techniques. Using modern power tools, he has developed methods for forming the full range of historic Chinese furniture joints, without nails, screws, or glue. His lecture included a demonstration that has become famous: assembling a complete, graceful Ming Dynasty chair like the one shown here from many precision-cut pieces without glue or metal fasteners, and then taking it apart again. Interestingly, his talk seemed to be as fascinating to women as to men One onlooker said that watching Chinese joinery is as much fun as putting together an enormoius, beautifully made jigsaw puzzle.
May 6, 2006. Making Chinese Furniture without Nails. 陳朝陽 三藩市傢具設計師在芝城示范表演: 傳统接榫技术 五月六日 The lecture was held at the Pui Tak Center on Wentworth Ave. in Chinatown. 55 people attended, including a number iof professional woodworkers who came in hopes that they would have a chance to discuss technical details with the speaker, Yeung Chan 陳朝陽 of Millbrae, California.
Establishment History, Community Accomplishment and 2007 Development Plan of CCBA, March 25, 2007 (Sunday), 3-5 pm, at the Chinese-American Museum of Chicago - Raymond B. and Jean T. Lee Center. Speakers: Mr. J. Gee, Present; Mr. G. Eng, former President and Mr. L. Wong, Executive Director of CCBA.
講題: 中華會館的歷史，成就，及發展計劃
講者: 中華會館梅國彬主席、伍祖志先生與黃宗焯先生 三月二十五日
A special lecture and demonstration of Chinese music by
Kerry Leung
Limited seating for this free event. Please call 312-949-1000.
CHINESE MUSIC
June 30, 2007 Saturday 3:00 pm at the Museum
Kerry Leung, music director of the Moon Festival, is a Chinese multi-instrumentalist. He is a member of the Chinese Music Society of North America. His musical studies began at the age of 12 in China. He has been actively involved in performing and the promotion of Chinese music to the West since 1981. He believes that music not only is a universal language, but also a powerful tool for building up the world civilizations. Some of his music performances here in the United States include: Pipa and bamboo flute in Yellow River Concerto with renowned pianist Yin Cheng Zhong and the Peoria Symphony; Magic jade flute recording in "Sound from the Vaults" with the Field Museum; Pipa and bamboo flute with the Silk and Bamboo Ensemble in the Ravinia Festival.
18 brownies from Indiana accompanied by their parents attended the 1:30 pm session.
48 people attended the 3:00 pm performance and 5 representatives from local medias.
Brownies and their parents
Kerry Leung 梁家駒
The Audience
六月三十日（星期六）下午三時在本博物館舉行梁家駒免費音樂欣賞會及現場介紹各種樂器
Special Presentation for Chinese New Year
Wood Block Print Workshop
Sponsored by: PARAGON BOOK GALLERY
February 16, 2008 (Saturday) 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. at the
CALLING (312) 949-1000. PLEASE LEAVE YOUR NAME, PHONE
NUMBER AND EMAIL ADDRESS.
In rural China, hanging wood block prints are a must for celebrating the Chinese New Year. They are placed on every important spot of the house, such as the gate, the living room, the kitchen, storage room, the well, and the stable. For average Chinese farmers, hanging these brightly colored prints brings festive joy and delight and is used to express wishes for peace and happiness.
Wuqiang Prints is noted as one of China’s seven major New Year Print genres, dating back 500 years. During its height of popularity, Wuqiang city annually produced some 100 million pieces of wood block prints, accounting for one-third of the country’s total. Traditional Wuqiang print creation includes three procedures – painting, carving, and printing, all handcrafted. The Wuqiang genre features vivid structures, bold brushwork, vibrant coloring, decorative patterns, and simple scenes with a single highlighted theme. Its lines are steady and natural, giving prominence to simplicity and antiquity. Its coloring, usually featuring one color, is minimal but full of varying shades. The passionate and harmonious coloring creates a joyful and festive atmosphere. Wuqiang New Year Printing Museum was established in 1985, the first of its kind in China. Since then they have hosted visitors from all over the world and have been praised as a world cultural heritage site.
The artist will be available to demonstrate and work
with participants to make their own Chinese New
Year wood block prints.
Traditional Chinese Medical Treatments "Qigong and Acupuncture"
Sept. 8, 2007 (Sat), 3 pm, at Chinese-American Museum. Speakers: Mr. Dean Y. Deng and Mr.Yong Gao Wang. Lecture Moderator: Edmund Ing., Director of Chiropractic.
九月八日(星期六) 下午三時在本博物館舉行
"中國氣功與針灸治療術"免費講座.
講座主持人伍顯揀醫師；主講人：鄧況麟醫師、王永高醫師。
60 people attended.
2月16日(星期六) 下午二至四時在本博物館李秉樞中心舉行
由PARAGON BOOK GALLERY贊助
農曆新年特別推介 - 武強木板年畫作坊
座位有限，必須電話留座(312)949-1000
會員:免費 • 非會員:請付建議入場門券兩元,歡迎捐助!
武強年畫至今已有500多年的歷史,因其產地在河北武強而得名。
武強年畫是用杜木刻板、採用黑、紅、綠、黃、紫、粉幾套色水印
的木牌畫。手工刻板，手工拓印，繪、刻、印緊密結合，古樸而精
美。
武強年畫色彩鮮豔，構圖飽滿，線條粗獷，形象誇張。 有門畫、
窗畫、燈畫、斗方、貢箋、中堂畫、炕圍畫、頂棚畫、囤畫、對聯、
條屏等，甚至牛棚馬厩也有專門張貼的年畫。武強年畫以獨特的
藝術風格、豐富的藝術形式、廣泛的題材深受廣大群眾喜愛，500
多年來，在中國農村廣為流傳。
1985年，經河北省文物部門批准，這個久負盛名的“中國木版年畫
之鄉”建立了我國第一家年畫專題博物館——武強年畫博物館。
1992年和1994年舉辦了兩屆“中國武強年畫藝術節”。
1993年12月，文化部正式命名武強為全國的“民間木版
年畫之鄉”。
40 people attended
The Significance of CHINESE LAUNDRIES in American History and Book Signing
By John Jung, Ph.D., the author of CHINESE LAUNDRIES
JOHN JUNG is a retired psychology professor from California State University, Long Beach. He received his BA from U. C. Berkeley in 1959 and his Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Northwestern University in 1962. Over a long academic career, he balanced teaching and conducting research in diverse areas including memory, addiction, and health psychology. For 25 years, the National Institute of Mental Health funded his program for mentoring minority students to pursue doctoral training in psychology. Under a new grant from the same federal agency, he still directs a mentoring program to assist young faculty researchers in obtaining grants.
As he entered retirement, he reflected on how the lives of his immigrant parents and his siblings, the sole Chinese family in town, were influenced by operating a laundry in Macon, Georgia, from the 1920s to 1950s during the pre-civil rights era. These reflections about what it means to be “Chinese” when everyone else around you is either “black or white” led to the 2005 publication of “Southern Fried Rice: Life in A Chinese Laundry in the Deep South.”
Writing this memoir stimulated more extensive research and led to the 2007 publication of, “Chinese Laundries: Tickets to Survival on Gold Mountain.” It documents the significant role of the laundry in Chinese American history by blending the historical events and developments related to Chinese laundries with narratives of the personal experiences in the lives of laundrymen and their families. He is currently writing “Chopsticks in the Land of Cotton,” a social history of the immigrant Chinese who ran grocery stores in the Mississippi Delta during much of the past century.
