The following is an excerpt from 02/17/25 Ding Ding TV:

By Gerrye Wong, CHCP Co-Founder and Trustee

The quiet little town of Alviso came to life this week when over 140 people descended upon the South Bay Yacht Club under a beautiful winter sky to attend a celebration of the life of one of its early pioneers, Thomas Foon Chew. Presented by a duo of non-profit organizations, the Chinese Historical and Cultural Project (CHCP) and CompassPoint Mentorship (CPM), the program honored Alviso’s most illustrious son, Thomas Foon Chew, who was the town’s most successful businessman as he founded the Bayside Canning Company which had its flagship facility in the heart of Alviso.

The day’s event was named Thomas Foon Chew Celebration and tours were given of the portion of the Bayside Cannery still standing and the surrounding levee. Then attendees gathered inside the South Bay Yacht Club to hear Chew’s granddaughter (and CHCP Advisory Board Member) Gloria Hom tell about her grandfather’s legacy. During its heyday in the 1920s-40s Bayside Canning Company was the third largest cannery in the United States. No doubt Alviso’s economy was dependent on Chew’s cannery, for as Valley Water District 3 Director Dick Santos recalled, it was said Mr. Chew had over 6000 workers in his biggest plant in Alviso, together with Palo Alto and Isleton facilities.

When queried how this little-known information of Thomas Foon Chew was uncovered after so many years, CHCP Co-President Kimberly Lee said it was a student, Grant Han, who became fascinated with the thought of a Chinese owning such a large canning factory. Grant himself told how he began interviewing people about Mr. Chew and then wrote to San Jose Councilmember David Cohen suggesting they name a day for Thomas Foon Chew, appropriately on February 25, the last day of his life in 1931.

When Grant received the good news about San Jose proclaiming a Thomas Foon Chew Day, the wheels moved when CHCP contacted Gloria Hom to be the guest speaker at an event co-hosted by the two organizations, and what a wonderful culmination of historians, families, and friends of Thomas Foon Chew were brought together to learn more about the life of this Chinese American businessman. As Dick Santos recalled, his family always worked alongside Chew and remembered him as a kind and generous employer who always fed and treated his employees well. They all looked forward to the Chinese New Year's Day when he would transport them all to San Francisco for a grand banquet meal. CPM Executive Director Catherine Liu appreciated the history of the life of Thomas and was a major leader in presenting this celebratory occasion.

Gloria Hom admitted that unfortunately her grandfather died before she was born, but she had always heard about his active work ethic and being a kind father to his 7 children, one of which was her mother. She showed slides of Bayside Canning Company labels from his canned foods. He was most famous as the first person who canned asparagus, thus earning the name the Asparagus King. The food offerings at this festive event reflected what fruits and vegetables were canned at the Bayside Cannery. They had a peach and pear punch, an asparagus bread, and a tomato caprese to remember the crops that were canned right on Alviso land.

Commemorating this true Chinese American pioneer were local officials: Councilmember David Cohen District 4, Palo Alto Councilmember and former Mayor Lydia Kou, Cupertino Vice Mayor Kitty Moore, former Santa Clara County Supervisor Rod Diridon, and former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Gloria Duffy. Victoria Low presented a California State Proclamation from the office of Assemblyman Patrick Ahren.

Tuesday February 25 will officially be proclaimed by the San Jose City Council as Thomas Foon Chew Day at San Jose’s City Hall Chambers to commemorate this Chinese American pioneer business hero in our Alviso and Palo Alto history.

For more information:  Read the full 02/17/25 Ding Ding TV press release.

Nathan Louie shows off his bobblehead figure in front of the California Theatre in downtown San Jose on March 3, 2020. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group)

The following is an excerpt from the 02/08/25 SJ Mercury News:

By Sal Pizarro, Bay Area News Group

Everyone who knew Nathan Louie probably has a dozen stories they could tell about him. I’ve been thinking about many of mine this week since I learned that the retired teacher — a San Francisco native and longtime San Jose resident — died last week at age 84. I don’t know that I’ve ever met anyone who radiated joy quite the same way.

Louie — who had a long career teaching at Briarwood and Monticello elementary schools — wasn’t one to take retirement sitting down, though you could sometimes find him relaxing on the porch of his gorgeous museum-like home on South 15th Street in San Jose’s Naglee Park neighborhood. It was easy to tell which house was his when he wasn’t there, too: A marble bust of Louie held a place of honor in the front yard, along with Chinese foo dog statues and an ornate lamppost.

He volunteered for many causes, including the Cinequest film festival, the Chinese Historical and Cultural Project and the Silicon Valley Asian Pacific Film Festival. And he was always dressed to impress. Sometimes he’d be in a Chinese opera costume or imperial robes greeting Cinequest audiences at the California Theatre or he might be in a sparkling tuxedo for National Night Out in St. James Park. He even had his own bobblehead figure.

Longtime friend Gerrye Wong and a number of his other friends visited Louie for his 84th birthday party during the Year of the Dragon last June at Sunrise of Cupertino, an assisted living facility where Louie had moved after his health began to take a downturn. She recalled his immense generosity and indefatigable spirit.

He was born in the year of the dragon and once gifted her with a large wooden statue of a dragon from his home collection when she visited him. Another time, he gave her a glass dragon pendant necklace to remember him. “A true gentlemen dragon friend,” she said. “Never to be forgotten for his love of life, glamor and glitz which is just what his personality was like.”

While I would see Louie at various events, it was always a treat to see him on opening night of Cinequest. I was initially embarrassed whenever he would stand with me and proudly announce my arrival to the crowd waiting in line, but that was Nathan being Nathan and I learned to lean into his world. He was one of a kind, and he will be missed.

By Peter Young, CHCP Director

Cherrywood Elementary School in the Berryessa District of San Jose held a free Lunar New Year Family Night Celebration Friday, February 7th in their Multi-Purpose Room. The celebration focused on keeping the Lunar New Year traditions alive and to showcase the talents of the school’s Mandarin Immersion students who hosted 15 cultural booths on Chinese culture and the Lunar New Year. The talents of the students were very much evident as one could see from the booths that evening. Most popular booth was the Candy Paint booth where students were able to create their own candy in a Chinese character. Most creative booth was the Finger Knit Snakes booth where the students knitted a snake on their fingers. Honorable Mention went to the Face Painting booth where students had their face and arms painted with Chinese characters. All of the booths showed creativity and planning. I was very much impressed.

Many of the 560 students attended the event along with their parents. Everyone was treated to samplings of Chinese dumpling, vegetarian dumpling, sticky rice, fried rice, and chow mein. The Fei Teng Lion Dance Group treated everyone to a dazzling lion dance performance and martial arts display. Cherrywood Elementary School Principal Tina Choy was the emcee and Emily Ho of the Cherrywood Home and School Association was instrumental in the planning and organization of the fun event. Cherrywood Elementary’s Home and School Association was a recipient of a CHCP HELP Grant to help cover costs for the event.

By Andrew Mo, CHCP Director

The Chinese Historical and Cultural Project (CHCP) partnered with the New Almaden Quicksilver Mining Museum to host a successful Lunar New Year celebration, drawing over 100 visitors. The event featured vibrant lion dancing, engaging Chinese paper crafts, and educational activities tailored for children, fostering cultural appreciation and community engagement. The collaboration provided an immersive experience, blending traditional festivities with historical education, making it a memorable and enriching event for attendees of all ages.

View the lion dance performance by the San Jose State University (SJSU) Lion Dance Club (in 2 parts):

By Willie Lou, CHCP Member

Hi, my name is Willie!

I had an amazing time cosplaying CoiSan 財神, the Cantonese God of Wealth, at CHCP’s outreach event during the San Jose Sharks game! It was a fantastic opportunity to share our culture and mythology with visitors, sparking curiosity and appreciation for Cantonese traditions. Seeing people engage, ask questions, and celebrate with us made the experience truly rewarding.

CHCP hosts many events that showcase Chinese heritage, folklore, and history, making learning fun and interactive. I encourage everyone to join and experience it firsthand!

CHCP's Chinese American Historical Museum was featured on ABC Channel 7 on Thursday January 23. Reporter Jason Beal interviewed CHCP Co-Founder/Trustee Gerrye Wong and CHCP Governing Trustee Anita Wong Kwock about the history of the museum, its contents and its exhibits of Chinese American history.

View the video clip and read the accompanying article:
https://abc7ny.com/videoClip/ng-shing-gung-history-san-jose-chinese-american-heritage-museum-new-year/15834040/#

The following is an excerpt from 01/26/25 Ding Ding TV:

By Gerrye Wong, CHCP Co-Founder and Trustee

The CHINESE HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL PROJECT kicked off Chinese New Year of the Snake on January 23 when it held its annual CHCP membership dinner at the China Stix Restaurant in Santa Clara. The dinner is a welcome gift to all 2025 members so it was a wonderful celebration for over 180 of the CHCP membership to renew their pledge to support this worthwhile organization.

Incoming Co-President Kimberly Eng Lee, as MC of the evening, proudly stood under the CHCP banner on stage and welcomed all to the happy crowd assembled for the banquet dinner. A rip-roaring Lion Dance team, led by Liz Chew and Alan Fong at the drums, strolled through the tables in proper Chinese New Year fashion to the delight of the audience. As the Lion came to the stage and stood 12 feet tall, one member on top of the other’s shoulders, they displayed their Happy New Year Banner, while Board Treasurer Elizabeth Lee and Co-Founder/Trustee Gerrye Wong placed in its mouth, red li see envelopes in appreciation for their coming to bless the CHCP membership.

CHCP’s Student Docent Cultural Ambassador Program members came on stage to explain Year of the Snake traditions and showed off a beautiful Happy Lunar New Year of the Snake brochure presented by SDCAP members Sada Gill, Zacharee Ho and Jessica Li.

MC Kimberly announced to the audience that Gerrye Wong had received an Award of Excellence from the American Association for State and Local History for her decades of preserving and sharing Chinese American history in California.

2024 President David Yick came to the stage next to call to order his last membership meeting and recalled all of the CHCP’s events and projects that happened during his many years’ reign.  He led the Installation of new members of the governing Board of Directors, Trustees, and Advisory Board members, assisted by Advisory Board member Connie Young Yu. Outgoing President Dave was praised by Vice President Ingrid Lai and presented with a framed poster signed by all of his 2024 Board members.

Keynote Speaker Asst. Professor of Anthropology, Dartmouth University, Dr. Jiajing (JJ) Wang gave an interesting slide show presentation on her findings on “Uncovering Chinese Food Practices Under the Microscope.”

This was followed by exciting news from Brenda Hee Wong, Teddy Sue, Beatrice Lee and Phil Sexton who announced that their drive to petition the California Summit Tunnels to become a national historical landmark site was approved by the National Parks Service. The Summit Tunnel was part of the Transcontinental Railroad feat near Donner Summit completed with the help of Chinese railroad workers.

Musical entertainment came with Emily Zhang playing the beautiful Chinese melody, “Fighting with the Typhoon,” on her guzheng instrument.

A highlight of the evening came with the honoring of two Chinese American World War II veterans Harry Lim and Wing Lai to celebrate their 100th birthdays. Both men had been featured in the CHCP film “Our Story of War and Remembrance” that had been dedicated to the veterans of the China-Burma-India Theatre in WWII.

2025 Co-President Kimberly Lee announced the upcoming activities CHCP will embark on in the coming year and encouraged more to contribute their volunteer time and services. Unable to attend, 2025 Co-President Arthur Jue spoke via video on his plans for the future of CHCP which showed this organization will never relax its mission to preserve and present Chinese American history to all. To close the program, Peter Young and Ingrid Lai presented door prizes to a wildly enthusiastic group of winners as a fond farewell for another year for CHCP members and supporters.

For more information: Read the full 1/26/25 Ding Ding TV press release.

On December 16, 2024, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced the designations of 19 new National Historic Landmarks (NHLs), reflecting the importance of the sites in sharing America’s diverse history. The announcement included the Summit Camp in California as one of the sites designated as a National Historic Landmark:

Summit Camp (Placer and Nevada Cos., Calif.) is the archeological remains of the largest and longest occupied Chinese railroad construction camp on the transcontinental railroad (1865-1869). It is also an influential “type site” in the emergence of Chinese diaspora studies in the field of historical archaeology in the mid-20th century.

Congratulations to CHCP's Student Docent Cultural Ambassador Program (SDCAP) for their successful yearlong Sierra Summit Tunnels Site letter-writing campaign to preserve this important site. SDCAP collected nearly 400 letters, mailing to 14 California legislators and the Deputy Assistant to the President and Asian American and NHPI Senior Liaison at the White House. In December 2024, a cover letter with 200 individual letters of support were sent to the NHL Committee for their final review meeting that month.

Included in congratulations are: CHCP Director/SDCAP Chair Brenda Hee Wong and CHCP Advisory Board Member Teddy Sue, leads of the letter-writing campaign. Brenda and Teddy gratefully thank the many members and friends of CHCP who participated and shared their empathy for recognition of a legacy and tribute to the Chinese Railroad Workers in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

CHCP's Student Docent Cultural Ambassador Program (SDCAP) members shared Chinese winter solstice traditions and children's holiday crafts (consisting of Origami Fan, Santa, and Elf ornaments) at the Chinese American Historical Museum (CAHM) for History Park's Children's Heritage Holiday event on December 14, 2024.