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Jacky Cheung - 每天愛你多一些 07:28 by ♭♫ [+-]

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Re: Brilliant Ideas to Bring Tourists Back to Chinatown 07:20 by ♭♫ [+-]

[www.khon2.com]
“FRIGHT NIGHTS: Halfway to Halloween,” promises an evening of thrills, scares, and devilish delights, with multiple restaurants in Chinatown collaborating to create a night to remember.

It’s not your typical spring event. Instead of blooming flowers and sunny days, attendees can expect to be immersed in a world of horror, complete with a bar crawl, horror movie screening, DJs, and sideshows.

[kymkemp.com]
May is Asian Pacific Heritage Month, honoring the achievements and contributions of Asians and Pacific Islanders (API) in the United States. Celebrate at this lively community event, free to the public. The street in front of the Clarke Historical Museum will be filled with Lion dancers, street performances by local Asian artists, Asian food trucks, artisan vendors, kid zone and more.

From 4- 6pm, is the Lion Blessing of Businesses. Starting at the Chinatown Mural at E Street and Charlie Moon Way, follow the Lion dancers through the streets of Old Town as they bless local businesses for good luck and prosperity.

Re: A Glimpse of Fresno Chinatown 04/25/2024 by ♭♫ [+-]

[www.kqed.org]
“When my great uncle opened the store, this was the downtown for communities of color,” Doizaki said. “Then, it became a ghost town.”

That’s because, in the 1960s, Fresno’s Chinatown was hit hard by urban renewal. A major highway cut through the once-vibrant neighborhood, resulting in demolished buildings and shuttered stores.

Re: A Glimpse of Taishan (台山) 04/25/2024 by ♭♫ [+-]

[www.taiwan-panorama.com]

For the past centuries, the five counties of Guangdong under the special administration of Jiangmen
City--Xinhui, Taishan, Kaiping, Enping and Heshan--have been the most famous overseas Chinese
hometowns. Their overseas relatives overall exceed three million (including Hong Kong and Macau),
spread in 95 different countries and areas all over the world, the US and Canada being the principal
locales.

Among the five counties, Taishan alone is renowned as the country's foremost overseas Chinese
homeland.

What's so special about Taishan? The answer is reflected on the omnipresent signs hung in front of
innumerable roadside stores:"International Telephone, Direct Calling Overseas." It is also revealed on
the many memorial plaques, of the same ilk as those seen in many Chinatowns, built of shiny yellow
stained glass. On the plaques are written the names of villagers or schools, or engraved "Filial Piety"
or "Grateful for Benevolence." What is also rather special about Taishan is the frequent "Okay" and
"Good" one hears peppered in the residents' speech.

Tracing back the history of emigration, Deputy Administrator of the Taishan Municipal Museum Mai
Xizhao points out that early on in the Ming Dynasty the Guanghai Bay situated to the south of Taishan
was an international trade port. Guanghai Bay has always been dubbed the "Silk Road of the Sea."
Another factor was that many people residing along the coast were constantly harassed by Japanese
pirates. They often fled to such places as Thailand, Burma and Vietnam. and some settled down
there. Also because of the shortage of farmland and overabundance of mountains in Taishan, it was
hard to make a living. So going overseas to work was perpetually in fashion. Many factors contributed
to Taishan's establishment as the country's great overseas springboard.

At the end of the Ching Dynasty, Chinese indentured servants sailed to the distant shores of America
to open up gold mines, build railroads and dig canals. They were crammed together in ship holds, not
seeing the light of day for months. After arriving in America, they suffered a whole new array of
cruelties at the hands of their masters. Because of hard labor and epidemic lung diseases, tens of
thousands of Chinese laborers died meaninglessly overseas. This most tragic page of overseas
Chinese history bore the blood of many a Taishanese.

Mai Xizhao, whose grandfather was also an indentured laborer back then, points to an old fashioned
big leather box displayed in the museum: "These kinds of boxes were brought back by Chinese
laborers from places like the United States and Cuba. Every family has one. It's called a 'Gold
Mountain Box.'"

Like the "Gold Mountain Boxes," the "Gold Mountain Dandies" also left a mark in the history of the
overseas Chinese.

Stories from those days record that those Chinese laborers who risked their very lives to work
overseas never failed to mail the money they accumulated back home, to improve the lives of their
family. When they had the rare opportunity to return and reunite with their families, inevitably they
brought some exotic curiosities, as well as tales of what they had seen and heard in the colorful world
abroad, bringing smiles to the faces of loved ones.

Fathers and brothers far away from home had their hearts attached to the family. Yet second generations didn't necessarily appreciate it. Xinning Magazine, which has had a long history (Xinning
was the original name of Taishan), published in the beginning of the 20th Century an article indicating
that many descendants of overseas Chinese depended on overseas remittances for their financial
expenses. They led comfortable and often quite crapulous lives. "They lived the parasitical existence
of 'Gold Mountain Dandies.'" The whole of Taishan county was permeated with an aura of pleasure,
merrymaking and luxury.

The saying "Duanfen women are as sweet as pure water" also bears witness to the wealth of the
overseas Chinese Hometowns. Duanfen Town in Taishan County, many of whose residents had gone
abroad, earned the nickname of "the hometown of hometowns." Duanfen women, reliant on their
fathers' and brothers' support, didn't have to work in the fields; their skin was therefore flawless like
pure water, and their faces pretty.

Luckily, besides the saturnine atmosphere permeating the place, the wealth of the overseas Chinese
hometowns was also reflected on the emphasis they placed on cultural education and their
enthusiasm for serving their country.

"Early on when Dr. Sun Yat-sen was busy fulminating revolution, the overseas Chinese from
Guangdong gave him a lot of support," says Mai Xizhao. Concentrated in the United States and
Canada, the overseas Chinese from Taishan engaged mostly in small business, and their financial
power and social status could not compare to overseas Chinese big businessmen in Southeast Asia
from Fujian, Chaozhou and Shantou. Nevertheless, bit by bit their contributions became a matter of
significance for the country.

"For instance, during the periods of the Republican revolution and war of resistance against Japan,
the overseas Chinese heeded the call to 'join the air force and save the country.' Most of the overseas
Chinese pilots coming back to the country were from Guangdong province, many of them
Taishanese," Mai observes. And the first privately run railway of China-the Xinning Railway--was also
planned and executed by the Taishanese Chen Yixi. Later on that railroad became financially
indebted due to troubles with local officials, opposition from the local gentry, and blackmail from
warlords. Yet it still served to spur on the Chinese transportation industry.

Taishanese overseas Chinese not only introduced new knowledge and ideas to save the country;
they also put an emphasis on their children's education. "Overseas Chinese who tried to make a
living outside were often tyrannized because of their illiteracy and lack of cultivation. Therefore, they
particularly hoped that their descendants would never suffer the same way," says Zhu Yojing,
supervisor of the Taiwan Affairs Office of Taishan.

As early as 1934, there were 1277 primary schools in Taishan county, the highest percentage in all of
Guangdong, perhaps in all of China. It was for this reason referred to as the "hometown of culture" in
the 1920s. Taishan City First High School, founded and funded by Taishan overseas Chinese from
Canada, was famous for its refined campus architecture. As for the origin of Taishan's being dubbed
the "hometown of volleyball," it was said that after Taishanese became wealthy they sent their
children to school in the capital Guangzhou, and volleyball was introduced from Guangzhou.
Interestingly, it was the infertility of the land that drove the overseas Chinese away from home; yet,
after overseas Chinese hometowns became wealthy, they attracted the envy of thieves and
hoodlums. On the outskirts of Taishan city along the highway leading to Duanfen, one catches sight of
a number of two-storey jade-green brick buildings tidily straddling the road, forming their own little
village. On both ends of the village, there are fortified towers rising four or five stories high.
Todd Ng, who works in the Taishan Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of Guangdong Province, points
out that in the 20s and 30s feuding between warlords had just ended when the war of resistance
against Japan took its place. Thieves became rampant; social order began to disintegrate.
Dependents of overseas Chinese were frequently robbed or kidnapped. In order to defend
themselves, they bought rifles of various sizes and organized militias of youths and adults, standing
guard at the forts day and night. Some overseas Chinese did not dare to stay at home during the
night, so they brought their basic necessities into the fortified towers, taking up residence there. In
this way the forts became one of the peculiar sights of the overseas Chinese hometowns.
The architecture of overseas Chinese hometowns has its own special ambience. According to
Chinese American scholar Him Mark Lai, overseas Chinese, being influenced by American
architecture, came back to build a series of structures that combined Western and Chinese
influences. Typically, the front half was a blue-gray brick western style building with a flat roof one or
two stories high, while the back half retained the traditional design of an "A" shaped roof composed
of fir wood and bricks. Zhu Yojing indicates that in order to protect themselves against gangsters, they
even added glutinous rice powder to the brick mixture in order to increase the adhesive nature of the
walls, so that bullets could not so easily penetrate.

With husbands and brothers away from home, no small number of familial tragedies took place.
During the latter half of World War II, the global situation was in a state of turmoil. Overseas
remittances were abruptly discontinued. As luck would have it, several natural disasters brought crop
failures in the early 1940s.

"Back then many people starved to death. Some wives of overseas Chinese, in order support their
parents-in-law and children, went to neighboring Yangjiang and Zhanjiang and fell into prostitution,"
states Wu Yongzhi. After China opened up, overseas Chinese were seen traveling to Yangjiang and
Zhanjiang in hope of finding their wives with whom they had lost contact for over 40 years.
World WarII had just ended when civil war between the Nationalists and Communists ensued. After
the Communists gained the upper hand in the mainland, they instigated a series of political
movements, such as land reform. Because the very words "overseas" and "connections abroad" were
the target of attack, overseas Chinese hometowns became anathema to the Communist party. In
order to eliminate this scourge, the party sent the families of overseas Chinese to far distant re-
education camps.

Whole families were separated. Because there was no hope of getting a hold of their remittances,they
were forced to support themselves and were often ridiculed as "polo players who now have to walk."
Fortunately, after bearing these hardships, Taishanese finally could again rely on the good name of
"hometown of overseas Chinese" to regain their smitten pride. After the reforms of the 1980s,
Chinese living abroad regained communication with their hometown. In order to make up for the
miseries their hometowns had suffered, overseas Chinese were particularly generous.

"Over the past ten years, Taishan City has been enlarged several times. Many returned overseas
Chinese could barely recognize it," says Wu Yongzhi.

A casual look about the city reveals many new buildings, including additions to the Taishan City First
High School, and the Cultural District, a recent startup in Taishan City, which includes a library, a
museum, a science institute, educational television station, television university and amusement
center. All of these are products of the donations of overseas Chinese. The couple that evokes the
greatest admiration are Wu Shun-tak and Ma Lan-fong, community leaders among the Hong Kong
overseas Chinese whose donations amount to more than HK$30 million.

Many overseas Chinese go out of their way to assist their relatives back home, from processing
applications for visits abroad or emigration, to mailing tickets back to them, to even going to fetch
them in person.

Wu Yongzhi, whose wife is in America, is himself planning to go to that country soon. He points out
that Chinese laborers have been going abroad for a long time. The pattern often followed that
relatives, friends and neighbors would embark one after another, the first one pulling the others
behind him. Today the fashion of new emigration is in the same mode. Generally speaking, if one has
spouses or immediate family filing from the US, it will take about half a year to receive permission to
immigrate. Limitations on the adult offspring over the age of 21 are relatively stricter; one must wait
about three or four years. If the application is filed by extended family members, the waiting period
may be as long as eight or ten years.

According to estimates, the yearly population emigrating from Taishan to America is about 5,000 to
6,000. That is a significant portion of the 20,000 visas which the United States grants mainland China
each year. For that reason, the American consul stationed in Guangzhou has to send personnel south
on inspection tours to Taishan. The People's Hospital in Taishan City is the only county-level hospital
which is allowed to undertake health examinations for emigration. The existence of the hospital
spares the Taishanese the trouble of journeying to Guangzhou for health certification. Taishan's
position as the foremost overseas Chinese hometown in the country should remain unchallenged for
the foreseeable future.

What makes one curious is if there is any difference between the "new emigrants" and the old
generation of overseas Chinese from Taishan. "In fact there is no big difference," says Wu Yongzhi.
New emigrants brought over by their relatives to the new land often work in the family's restaurant,
laundry or grocery store. Chinatown is their turf. Because of language barriers and long working
hours, they have no great chances to spend their money. So, they have mostly retained the old
traditions of diligence, frugality and sending money back home. They even have the custom of "going
back home to find their spouses." All these practices are identical to those of the older generation of
emigrants. What is different is the expectation that overseas Chinese parents have of their children.
In the past, seniors in the hometown would "bind you to your hometown by finding a wife for you
there" to ensure that the younger generation abroad would send back their money on time. But
customs have changed. Zhu Yojing, whose son settled in America using the pretext of visiting
relatives, thinks that the current parents of hometown overseas Chinese are more liberal. If their sons
want to marry foreign women, they have no objections.

Indeed, in recent years after overseas Chinese hometowns opened up, second generation overseas
Chinese for the first time have brought spouses with various colors of skin back to their hometowns.
"Whenever the Chinese Lunar New Year draws near, many Taishan families reunite in gatherings that
look like the United Nations," says Zhu Yojing. Once they get used to this change, they can accept it
with no great qualms.

Because their comings and goings are so thickly entangled, the daily greetings of Taishanese have
become, "What's your schedule like this month?" or "When are you leaving the country again?"
Despite the fact that after communications reopened many Taishanese discovered that some
relatives are not doing that well in America, that even some of them work as mere waiters or laundry
laborers in Chinatown, the inexpressible familiarity and beautiful fantasies that Taishanese cherish
toward America can never be shaken off.

From a different perspective, a large number of Taishanese have channels to go abroad, but in the
end they choose not to leave. Some who have gone abroad and have widened their vision can
sometimes hardly avoid coming home displaying the airs of "Gold Mountain Settlers," showing off to
their relatives. Those who cannot find their own channels outward, on the other hand, naturally stock
up some grudges. One day in front of Taishan's Overseas Chinese Hotel, a typical quarrel took place.
A young "new emigrant" who had returned home and was staying in the hotel, began to argue with
the ladies at the counter when he checked out. Both parties became enraged, screaming at each
other. Even the concierge joined the side of the counter help. The "new emigrant" was overheard
saying, "What lousy service! If you had any brains at all, you wouldn't still be stuck here!" He
immediately followed this up with a curse in a foreign tongue. The lady behind the counter was not
intimidated in the least. "What's so great about leaving the country? Who cares if you speak a foreign
language? You're probably just a wash boy in America!"

"There are two Taishans--one inside, one outside." Let's hope the two Taishans can work hand in
hand. Let's also hope that after the hometown gets wealthy, the Taishanese will not have to feel they
belong overseas, so that the "hometown of overseas Chinese" will never become just a romantic
phrase in history.

Re: A Glimpse of Taishanese (台山話) 04/25/2024 by ♭♫ [+-]

[www.stuff.co.nz]
Until the 1980s, Taishanese was the second most spoken Chinese language after Cantonese in Aotearoa.

But now, it’s much rarer to hear it spoken. “That generation that brought it over, they’ve all died,” says Foon.

Re: What it Meant to Be Cantonese in China and America, 1850–1900 04/25/2024 by ♭♫ [+-]

[www.nzherald.co.nz]
The exhibition explored the early Chinese settler experience through her mother and grandmother and the anti-Chinese laws that existed in New Zealand until the 1950s.

Born and raised in Wellington, Moon descended from Taishanese men who first arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand in the 1880s.

Due to New Zealand’s discriminatory ‘poll tax’ immigration policy, their wives had to remain in China.

Re: racism..experiences anyone who would like to share? 04/25/2024 by ♭♫ [+-]

Chinatown voters need to vote the DA out of office or start a recall effort.

[www.fox5ny.com]
Protestors outside Manhattan DA's office demand justice for 2 brothers charged in 2020 Little Italy brawl

Quote
♭♫
Podcast: [storycorps.org]

She liked to garden, but she didn’t believe in flowers. Like, there was no utility. So it was always vegetables and fruits. And she had some beautiful tomatoes growing in the back.

But I remember we came back once and all her tomatoes had been pulled off and thrown against our house.

And so I remember that was one time where she just really broke down. I know that for my mom, when we moved here to Philly, it was very isolating for her. There were kids that used to just ching chong and pull their eyes.

The Story of Rice 04/24/2024 by ♭♫ [+-]

[youtu.be]

Re: The rise and fall of Chinatown: The hidden history of displacement you were never told 04/23/2024 by ♭♫ [+-]

The purpose of the amplified cymbals and drumming sound of these San Franciscan time-honored lion dance ceremonies is to ward off evil spirits. Apparently, these evil spirits made their voices heard at the Board of Appeals.

[www.sfpublicpress.org]
The dispute came to a head when the merchants group got the Board of Appeals to intervene, temporarily suspending Lau’s amplified-sound permit. The two sides failed to reach a compromise ahead of the board hearing.

The board voted 4-1 to let LionDanceME temporarily retain a more limited version of the permit.

Quote
♭♫
It seams like the anti-lion dancers have non-Cantonese surnames. I wonder if their anti-lion dance stance is coming from a Christian point of view that has an international historic pattern of erasing pagan cultures rich in traditional heritage at all costs in order to appease their god and securing their personal spot pass the gates of heaven.

I would support a Gang of 4 boycott of Red Blossom Tea Co. and the 3 other merchants supporting this anti-time honored traditions of Chinatown. These business don't belong in Chinatown. Load and unload inventory usually doesn't happen on the busiest days in Chinatown and people with disabilities usually avoid coming to Chinatown during the most crowded days. It's really their bad attitude and lack of community spirit is why they don't have customers. Nobody goes to Chinatown just to purchase tea.

By Ko Lyn Cheang
April 18, 2024

Lion Dance ME founder Normal Lau addresses the Board of Appeals during a hearing Wednesday regarding a Chinatown entertainment permit in San Francisco. Several Chinatown restaurants accuse the organization of causing a disturbance in the streets of the city.

Ruby Cai’s daughter was just a baby when she first saw lion dancers in San Francisco’s Chinatown.

Cai remembered standing on Grant Avenue, baby in her arms, watching lion dancers from a local troupe, Lion Dance ME, perform stunts across 6-foot-high metal discs. Cai was inspired to sign up her daughter, Anthea Zhang, now 7, to learn lion dancing as soon as she was old enough.

But the famed troupe and its dancers, including Zhang, are now facing the biggest challenge to its street dancing since it was founded in 2012.

Last month, four Chinatown merchants asked the city to shut down the popular youth group’s weekend performances on Grant Avenue, alleging that the noise disturbed residents and drove customers away from businesses. The group said that the Chinatown community was not properly consulted before the group’s permit was approved and asked officials to revoke it.

Dragon dancers from Lion Dance ME prepare for a night market performance in San Francisco’s Chinatown on April 12.

Lion Dance ME (for “music” and “entertainment”) consists of about 100 full-time student dancers who perform hundreds of times a year across the Bay Area and country. They were recently crowned the best lion dancing group in the West.

Every weekend since 2020, the group has closed a block of Grant Avenue in Chinatown to rehearse and perform a 4 p.m. show. Initially the performances were part of a COVID-era revitalization effort to attract visitors to the neighborhood, led by the Chinatown Merchants’ Association.

The group had permission from two city agencies — the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and the Entertainment Commission — to perform, and both agencies said they had never heard community opposition to the lion dancers until last month. That was when the merchants appealed the renewal of the entertainment permit.

Vociferous debate has erupted since. A petition launched by the opponents to shut down the lion dancing garnered more than 1,600 signatures, while another petition launched by the lion dancers garnered more than 1,700 signatures.

Both sides say they want what’s best for Chinatown. But the heart of the conflict is whether the lion dancers, with thunderous drumming and the hours-long street closures, are a bane or a boon for the historic neighborhood.

On Wednesday night, over the course of an almost four-hour hearing at City Hall, the Chinatown merchants and the lion dancers pleaded their sides and reached a temporary resolution.

The troupe had a permit that allowed it to perform on three blocks of Grant Avenue all day on Saturdays and Sundays through March 2025. The opponents appealed the permit and wanted no street performances.

The city’s appeal board hoped for a compromise, voting 4-1 to allow the group to continue lion dancing on only the 700 block of Grant Avenue, between Sacramento and Clay streets, on Saturday afternoons until the end of June to allow planned Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month activities, including a high school lion dancing competition, to go forward

Lion Dance ME members enter the Board of Appeals room in solidarity during a hearing Wednesday regarding a Chinatown entertainment permit in San Francisco for public lion dance performances on Grant Avenue.

After that, the group will have to reapply for a new entertainment permit — which could once again be challenged by the opponents — if it wants to continue performing in Chinatown. Board members said they hoped this arrangement would incentivize the two parties to reach a deal before the end of June, while not penalizing the lion dancers, who haven’t been able to perform in Chinatown since the permit was appealed.

“My priority is to get kids back dancing on the street and let the culture be as dynamic as it has been in the history of the tradition,” said Commissioner Rick Swig, who voted with the majority.

The Chinatown performances provide the public with valuable free entertainment and draw visitors to boost the neighborhood’s economy, said Norman Lau, the group’s owner and master, or sifu. A veteran lion dancer and coach for the group, Tony Mo, also said that the street closure gives the group much-needed rehearsal space to practice stunts.

“We make no money. We actually lose money every time we do the street closure,” Lau told the Chronicle, citing costs of paying staff and feeding the lion dancers.

More than a dozen Chinatown community members spoke at the hearing in support of continuing lion dancing in Chinatown, including Steven Lee, owner of Sam Wo Restaurant and the Lion’s Den nightclub. Lee told the Chronicle that Lion Dance ME is a “proven draw to Chinatown” and is good for students.

“To eliminate (Lion Dance ME) … is going to be bad for the community,” Lee said during the hearing.

The four merchants, who have businesses on the 800 block of Grant Avenue, want the group gone from Grant Avenue.

One of the four, Jennifer Kwa, owner of Jen’s Gems, said at the hearing that weekend sales are important to small businesses facing a difficult post-pandemic recovery.

“We don’t wish to stymie lion dancing as a cultural art; that’s really not the concern,” Ben Marcus-Willers, the brand director of Red Blossom Tea Co. and one of the opponents, said at the hearing. He said he thinks the lion dancers should be performing in an indoor event space. “The concern here is the venue, and the duration and frequency.”

Chinatown merchant Ben Marcus-Willers addresses the San Francisco Board of Appeals during Wednesday’s hearing on a Chinatown entertainment permit. Several Chinatown restaurants are accusing the Lion Dance Me organization of causing a disturbance in the streets of the city.

Chinatown merchant Ben Marcus-Willers addresses the San Francisco Board of Appeals during Wednesday’s hearing on a Chinatown entertainment permit. Several Chinatown restaurants are accusing the Lion Dance Me organization of causing a disturbance in the streets of the city.

He played a recorded clip of loud lion dance drumming at the hearing to demonstrate what it sounds like.

Marcus-Willers told the Chronicle that the street closures would be a problem because the tea shop requires direct access to the street to load and unload inventory, as well as to invite customers, especially those with disabilities, into the store.

The opponents can’t appeal the SFMTA permit the troupe won in February because the appeal window has passed. They said they weren’t aware of it until after it was approved. They said one day they arrived at work to find a sign saying “no stopping” from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. had been erected by the agency.

Nick Chapman, the agency’s manager for street closures, said the organization had posted at least six multilingual public notices along the affected blocks of Grant Avenue, but the merchants said they did not see them.

Lau agreed to ask the agency to shorten the street closure permit to Saturday and limit it to one block instead of three.

Dozens of lion dancers stayed late to attend the entire hearing, telling the Chronicle they loved performing in Chinatown but didn’t want to harm the community they intended to serve.

“It’s a tough situation because we also don’t want businesses to lose money,” said Mo, 23. “We’re all together. We’re all the Chinese community.”

Reach Ko Lyn Cheang: kolyn.cheang@sfchronicle.com

Re: Cantonese Stand-Up Comedian 04/22/2024 by ♭♫ [+-]

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