Abstract Wan Yinmei is a social science researcher. She discusses her personal experience during the pandemic and talks about how as a Chinese person she has been dealing with the ramifications of the virus since December. She talks more about how the pandemic is affecting her social science research and how she has had to adapt. As a researcher who focuses on education, she talks about some issues that students face due to remote learning. She concludes the oral history by sharing what she sees as...

Abstract This oral history focuses on Yvette Lee, a Chinese American home cook who was born and raised in Pauoa Valley, Honolulu, Hawaii. The daughter of two immigrants from Hong Kong, Yvette Lee learned to cook from watching her parents in the kitchen. A pescatarian, Lee derived inspiration for her homey, eclectic cooking style from the vegan dishes her mother made when she was a child, as well as from Hawaii’s rich cultural diversity. In this oral history, Lee discusses food as a means of...

Abstract This oral history focuses on the Chinese American academic Zehao Zhou, as he reflects on how he came to be a translator for the People of the Golden Vision, the challenges of this advocacy work, and how his relationship with the Golden Venture detainees in York County Prison developed. He reminds us of the full humanity of the detainees and gives insight to life in the prison and how the paper folding projects came about. He reflects on the idea of paying forward good deeds and the...

Scope and Contents

This collection consists entirely of paper documents, including a copy of Tan's proposal for the Chinatown program; a postcard for a photography exhibition; some handwritten notes about a 9 1/2 year old girl; an Asian Americans United fact sheet from 1993 or 1994; and a 1996 newsletter from the Coalition for Asian-American Children and Families.

Abstract This oral history is told by Alice Young, whose family’s multi-lingual, multi-cultural, academic, and diplomatic backgrounds and paths led her to become a pioneering, resilient, and globally oriented person. Her father and stepmother were linguists from diplomatic families and had formative impacts on East Asian languages and studies at so many academic institutions that Alice attended thirteen schools in twelve years. Sometimes, the Youngs were in places such as McLean, Virginia, where they...

Abstract Betty Lee Sung was an author, professor, and pioneering scholar in the field of Chinese American studies. Sung has written several books, including the seminal "Mountain of Gold," one of the first comprehensive histories on Chinese in America published in 1967. Sung holds an honorary doctorate from the State University of New York Old Westbury and has taught for many years at the City College of New York (CCNY), where she founded the first program in Asian American studies on the east coast....

Abstract Ms. Brenda Grosbard and Mr. Roger Yee are grandchildren of Reverend Yeung Kai Cheung, the second pastor of the first Chinese Presbyterian Church in Chinatown, New York City. In this interview, Ms. Grosbard and Mr. Yee provide a detailed description of their family tumultuous history and their grandfather journeys from Vancouver B.C., to Shanghai, before ending up in Chinatown, New York City, where he became a spiritual and cultural leader of the Chinese community in New York. They talk about...

Abstract Both Chester and Michael are extremely active in the Chinatown community. Michael heads the nonprofit group Apex and is a community leader in Chinatown. Chester has also worked with many nonprofits and believes it is important for people to share their gifts and help others. He views giving as a habit formed slowly over time that can have a large impact on various organizations. Michael attributes his inspiration in nonprofit work to witnessing his parents work in the community and his own...

Abstract Dr. Fred Hu is a renowned Chinese economist who obtained his PhD in Economics from Harvard University and now runs Primavera Capital Group, his own capital investment firm. Today, he speaks to us about his childhood in the 1970s during Mao culturally repressive programs of Mao, his ascension to university right after the reopening of the higher education system and studying abroad at Harvard University in the 1980s. He then expands on his career choice in Economics and talks about his time...

Abstract

In this interview, Tina and John Yuan share the journey of their families from China to Taiwan, where they were born, to the US, where they met and built their own family. They mention their parents’ experiences in China, their early childhood in Taiwan, culture shocks when migrating to the US during the 1970s, adolescent school years, the encounters of Chinese communities, and fostering their son as a Chinese American.