Past Events

05/16/21 CHCP LGGM Scholarship Awards Ceremony

By Allan Low and Debbie Gong-Guy, 2021 Scholarship Committee Co-Chairs

For the seventh year, the Chinese Historical & Cultural Project (CHCP) is honored to recognize the recipients of the Lillian Gong-Guy Memorial Scholarship (LGGMS) awards on Sunday, May 16th, during a virtual Awards Ceremony held on Zoom.

The Lillian Gong-Guy Memorial Scholarship was established in 2014 in tribute to CHCPʼs late co-founder, Lillian Gong-Guy, to recognize exemplary seniors who have demonstrated academic achievement balanced with strong community service and involvement. Our six scholarship award recipients this year truly represent the future leaders of our community.

Our scholarship winners are:

• Kylie Sullivan of Ann Sobrato High School
• Christina Yao of Evergreen Valley High School
• Cindy Chen of Lynbrook High School
• Mingyuan Song of Branham High School
• Isaac Sun of Saratoga High School
• Catherine Tong of Notre Dame High School

In addition to the Co-Chairs, Allan Low and Debbie Gong-Guy, this yearʼs Scholarship Committee members are Anita Wong Kwock, Bozena Teo, Brenda Wong, Judy Wong, and Karyn Wong. We would like to thank all the donors to the LGGMS program for their continued generosity and support. For more information, please contact us at scholarship@chcp.org.

05/11/21 CHCP Speaker Series: “Pre-WWII Poetry of Chinese, Japanese, & Korean Immigrants with Comparison”

View the recording of the CHCP Speaker Series webinar: “Pre-WWII Poetry of Chinese, Japanese, & Korean Immigrants with Comparison,” a lecture and Q&A with Dr. Charles Egan, Professor and Chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, San Francisco State University.  He is the author of “Voices of Angel Island: Inscriptions and Immigrant Poetry, 1910-1945,” a historical and literary anthology of the writings of immigrants detained at Angel Island.

04/10/21 SDCAP “Protect SJ” Project @ History Park SJ

By Brenda Hee Wong, 2021 CHCP Director

CHCP Student Docent Cultural Ambassador Program (SDCAP) families were happy to help the City of San Jose with the assembly of  “Protect SJ” kits to help protect members of the Yu-Ai Kai Senior Center, a fellow Asian service group.

03/27/21 Hidden Histories Webinar: “Hidden Histories of Gambling in SJ Japantown”

Hidden Histories of San Jose Japantown presented the hidden histories of gambling in the Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino communities of San Jose Japantown in this Zoom/Facebook event. CHCP Advisory Board Member and Historian Connie Young Yu presented the history of gambling in the Chinese community, Heinlenville Chinatown. The show also featured a special guest, Ted Ramos, author of “San Jose Gambling” and a San Jose Police Department officer.

03/07/21 Webinar: “From Foundations to Frontiers”

CHCP’s webinar titled “From Foundations to Frontiers,” covered a new landmark study commissioned by the Committee of 100 on the enduring contributions of Chinese Americans to American society over the past 175 years.

This study was completed by the Economist Intelligence Unit (Research Division for the Economist Magazine). You may access the study here (click on each of the 7 sections for details) and the press release here.

This virtual presentation offered a new perspective and hopefully furthered understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by highlighting Chinese American experiences and contributions.

Table of Contents for the webinar recording:

02/02/21 CHCP Annual Membership Meeting (Virtual/Online)

By Dave Yick, 2021 CHCP President

Take some Dim Sum and Boba Tea, mix in some nightclub dance routines and songs, add a dash of meet-and-greet of old and new friends, and you will have a recipe for a new cocktail party treat that is called…CHCP’s First Annual Lunar New Year Celebration and Annual Membership Meeting courtesy of the Zoom app and the CHCP Tech Team.

Program featured:

• 2020 Highlights and Plans for 2021 and Beyond
• Entertainment including the Grant Ave. Follies and also a song about…Dim Sum!
• Education – Short Intro of next month’s Speaker Series event about US Chinese American Contributions
• Election of 2021 Officers, Trustees, Board of Directors, and Advisory Board
• Small Breakouts to allow an opportunity to socialize with old and new friends

01/17/21 Hidden Histories Webinar: “New Year’s Traditions”

Hidden Histories of San Jose Japantown explored New Year’s celebration stories and traditions as told by local Heinlenville, Japantown, and Pinoytown collaborators at this Zoom/Facebook event.  They learned about the stories behind the food and festive activities held in Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino American homes to celebrate the New Year!

CHCP Advisory Board Member/Historian Connie Young Yu participated by sharing Chinese New Year traditions.

View the presentation below:

12/09/20 Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony

During World War II, Chinese Americans served in all branches of the military and fought in every theater of operation. They served with distinction, earning many military honors for their service and heroism. The number of Chinese nationals and Chinese Americans living in the U.S. at the start of World War II was limited because of discriminatory policies. Despite their small number, however, approximately 20,000 served in the Armed Forces, and of these, approximately 40 percent were not U.S. citizens.

The United States Congress is honored to present the Congressional Gold Medal (CGM) to the Chinese American veterans of World War II.  Our Nation is forever indebted to these veterans for their bravery, valor, dedication, commitment, and sacrifice, particularly in the face of discrimination.

View the virtual Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony held in honor of the Chinese American World War II Veterans below:

NOTE: The decision has been made to discontinue the awarding of a “no-cost” Medal for applications received after February 28, 2021. Applications received after that date may still be reviewed (and if approved) for the purpose of having a veteran’s name listed on the website, but the veteran and/or family must make their own arrangements to purchase their Chinese American WWII Congressional Gold Medal directly from the U.S. Mint.

To register a Chinese American WWII veteran, please visit the Congressional Gold Medal Veteran Registry webpage.

To purchase a replica of the Congressional Gold Medal, visit the U.S. Mint webpage.

11/11/20 Chinese American G.I. Project’s Veterans Day Retrospective: “Warriors in Our Midst”

Join our men and women veterans from all branches of service and conflicts as they tell us in their own words about their experiences on this Veterans Day.

American Legion Cathay Post 384, the Chinese American G.I. Project, and the Chinese American Citizens Alliance are proud to present a retrospective program by Montgomery Hom, Executive Producer, honoring Chinese American Veterans from the battlefields of WWII to the mountains of Afghanistan.

View the recording of the Veterans Day program below.

Ming-Na Wen, celebrated actress and narrator for Montgomery Hom’s Emmy-nominated PBS documentary film, “We Served with Pride”, shares her family’s legacy of service at time 22:30 of the video recording.

10/10/20 Speaker Series Webinar: “Chinese Cannery Workers in the 19th & 20th Centuries”

Watch the recording of the Zoom webinar below: