2016 Newsletter
HAWAII CHINESE HISTORY CENTER
111 N. King Street #307, Hon. Hawaii 96817
Phone 808-521-5948 ----- Hours: Wed. 10 – 12 noon
NEWSLETTER - MAY 2016
The Hawaii Chinese History Center, a 501 C3 non-profit organization was founded in 1971. Its goals are:
to stimulate interest & research among the Chinese in their own history and family genealogies in Hawaii
to assist and guide them to make their experiences available to the larger community through research, writing and publishing
to inventory, collect, record and preserve historical materials, documents and photographs related to the Chinese in Hawaii.
Throughout our forty-five years, the HCHC has been a leader in the United Sates for:
1) producing numerous publications on the Chinese in Hawaii and
2) guiding individuals and organizations in their efforts to research, write and publish their histories.
Membership: open to all
- $ 5.00 Student
- $10.00 Individual
- $20.00 Family
- $20.00 Educational organization
- $500.00 Life membership
Send membership application to the address at the top. Donations from individuals, organizations and corporations are gratefully accepted. All contributions are tax deductible.
ANNUAL MEETING: ALL MEMBERS ARE INVITED TO ATTEND on June 26, SUNDAY 1:00 PM EAST WEST CENTER, BURNS HALL, CONFERENCE ROOM
This year’s meeting is in conjunction with the East West Center Arts Program’s exhibition “China Through the Lens of John Thomson 1869-1872”. Sixty rare photographs taken on glass plates throughout imperial China makes its debut here from June 6th through September 11th. At 2pm on June26 in the Art Gallery, HCHC will present a lecture “Reflections of The Early Chinese in Hawaii, Images from Traditional to Transitional” dealing with early 1900 photographs of Hawaii’s Chinese.
On July 31st HCHC will present another lecture “Sun Yat Sen in Hawaii, Supporters and Their Activities Which Shaped the Revolution”. It will also be held at 2 pm in the East West Center Art Gallery.
The Hawaii Chinese Center (HCHC) is alive & flourishing! We continue to serve the community through lectures, presentations & assisting individuals, families & organizations in documenting their history and heritage.
Hawaii Chinese History Center will be taking part in Sun Yat-Sen’s 150 Anniversary Commemorative Forum taking place in Honolulu from August 4-7. The purpose of this conference is to explore Sun Yat-Sen’s historic footsteps in Hawaii and California and to reveal previously unknown stories of other loyal supporters of the Chinese revolution. HCHC will lead one of the historic field trips and present a lecture on Sun’s supporters in rural Hawaii. Contact sunyatsencenter@163.com for more information and registration.
On April 2nd, at the annual See Dai Doo Society banquet, HCHC was delightfully surprised to be presented with a $5,000 donation for our continued dedication to preserving our Chinese history. We are extremely grateful to President Wesley Fong, Vice President Leonard Kam and the members of See Dai Doo Society for selecting our organization for this much needed contribution.
"HCHC receives a VERY generous donation from See Dai Doo Society on April 2, 2016. This contribution will help HCHC to continue their operation for years to come."
Last year’s HCHC genealogy in-service with the See Dai Doo Society was a huge success with over eighty participants learning how to research their family background. HCHC will conduct the second advanced session on August 20th, 1 pm at the See Dai Doo hall for See Dai Doo members and HCHC members who meet the pre-requisites. Please consult our website for the pre-requisites and registration. This advanced session will center on writing up family history based on research material which students have collected and compiled.
We are very grateful to Luther Chong who coordinates HCHC’s comprehensive website https://sites.google.com/site/hawaiichinesehistorycenter or tinyurl.com/hichinesehistory
On May 14 Luther, on behalf of the Tsung Tsin Association, conducted a very comprehensive workshop on the “Fundamentals of Digital Photo Enhancement with emphasis on the Recovery of Photos and Documents”. HCHC found it to be extremely useful for our work.
Visitors to the HCHC include individuals from the mainland whose Chinese roots are here in Hawaii. We have assisted them as well as many local clans to re-establish contact with extended kinfolk and helped them to create their family history. Recently HCHC helped a number of families re-connect with their families, roots and geographic origins in China.
HCHC has been busy doing community outreach work by serving organizations with help in genealogy, history and culture. Among groups served were Kung Sheong Doo Society, Military Officers Association of America, Hawaii Aloha Chapter, & Gook Doo Society.
We have also had the pleasure of working with a youth group consisting of high school students who were researching their origins. HCHC has conducted two very productive sessions which not only discussed their heritage but revealed issues which shaped their lives as Chinese Americans.
Many thanks to Mrs. Michele Ching Choy, veteran Narcissus Contest Coordinator, and daughter of HCHC volunteer from the old days, Wah Chan Ching, for gifting HCHC with her valuable collection of Narcissus annuals. With her gift, we have filled out many years of missing volumes to complete our set, which so many members wish to research. We are still needing annuals from the years 1951-54, 58-59, 61, 63, 82, 89, 95-99, 2000, 2012 and 2014. For Miss Chinatown Hawaii we need annuals from 1986-91, 2002-2010, 2012, 2014 & 2015.
Some new publications that grace our shelves and are selling well are Dr. Russell Loo’s new books, The Eight Chinese Brothers, an excellent well-researched historical account of his grandfather, the late Loo Goon. His second volume, Popo and Her Children, details the saga of his Popo, Mrs. Loo Luke Sun, who single-handedly raised her ten children after her husband’s early passing, producing some of the most prominent professionals in the islands.
We are also selling two Chinese cookbooks, Lynette Lo Tom’s A Chinese Kitchen and rare copies of the Associated Chinese University Women’s ACUW Family Favorite Cookbook.
We welcome the donation of books, documents, hard copies or cds of family histories and old photographs dealing with the early Chinese in Hawaii. Such donated materials may be of great help to your descendants in their future research. After nearly five decades, many ensuing generations have come to us seeking their ancestor’s roots.
We would like to acknowledge our two loyal volunteers, Lorene Leong and Leonard Look for faithfully serving HCHC for years with their dedicated efforts in helping the president keep HCHC alive to serve the community. We also welcome Constance Mark of the Oo Shek Gee Lu Society and LaVerne Tam of Kung Sheong Doo Society, our new volunteers who are helping us inventory our vast collection. The five of us need more help, funding and volunteers to help preserve Hawaii’s precious Chinese history and heritage.
HCHC OFFICERS
President: Douglas D.L. Chong
Vice President: Lorene T. Leong
Secretary: Allynne Tom
Treasurer: Leonard Look
Directors:
Norma Au Lum, Wing Tek Lum,
Diane Mark, Robert W.C. Wong
Sherman Wong, Paul Yuen
MAHALO TO OUR GENEROUS DONORS
See Dai Doo Society
Mr. Joe Lee, Hilo
Mr. and Mrs. Wilbert Chee
Louise and Y.T. Lum Foundation
Lung Kong Kung Shaw Society
Yee Hop Realty
Tsung Tsin Association
Mr. and Mrs. Harold Aloiau
Mr. and Mrs. Teddy Chong
Mr. and Mrs. Norman Jong
Publications
-Various other rare out-of-print books on the Chinese of Hawaii are also available for sale.