Here is the video of the groundbreaking for Heinlenville Park on May 19, a historic day!  The park is located on the site where John Heinlen helped the Chinese Americans rebuild San Jose's Chinatown after the Market Street Chinatown was suspiciously burned down in 1887.

Starting at time 7:40 of the video, CHCP Advisory Board Member/Historian Connie Young Yu spoke on the significance of the name of the park and that CHCP led the voting for the Heinlenville Park name, honoring both John Heinlen, the humanitarian, and the community of Heinlenville, the last Chinatown in San Jose.

The following is an excerpt from the 05/16/22 Monterey County Weekly:

By Daniel Dreifuss, Celia Jiménez

A historic moment in Pacific Grove’s history was written on Saturday, May 14 and it was witnessed by over 300 people who gathered to participate in it. The city apologized for the burning of a Chinese village at Point Alones 116 years ago. The village was located next to where Hopkins Marine Station is located today, and it burned amid suspicious circumstances. That property is the destination of the roughly one-mile Walk of Remembrance, which goes from the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History to the site of the former village; this was the 11th annual Walk of Remembrance but stood apart from previous years.

The turnout was the largest crowd ever since Gerry Low-Sabado started this annual walk over a decade ago. Low-Sabado was a Chinese American and fifth-generation descendant of Chinese who lost their homes in 1906. Low-Sabado, who for years waged a campaign to bring awareness to the true history of Pacific Grove's Chinese community, died in September of 2021, after battling cancer.

Participants on Saturday carried black and white photos of some of the villagers and signs with messages of inclusion, equity and unity.

For more information and a photo slideshow:  View the full 05/16/22 Monterey County Weekly article.

For the eighth year, the Chinese Historical & Cultural Project (CHCP) was honored to recognize the recipients of the Lillian Gong-Guy Memorial Scholarship (LGGMS) awarded during Student Recognition Day held on Sunday, May 15th at History Park San José. Scholarship Committee Co-Chairs Allan Low and Debbie Gong-Guy introduced each of the scholarship winners to an enthusiastic audience of family, friends, and fellow students.

The scholarship award recipients this year are (left to right above):

In addition, volunteer participants in CHCP's Student Docent Cultural Ambassador Program (SDCAP) were recognized by SDCAP Chair Brenda Hee Wong for their hard work, serving as docents in the Chinese American Historical Museum as well as volunteering for other CHCP activities.

Thanks to all the donors to the LGGMS and SDCAP programs for their continued generosity and support.

The Chinese American Heritage Foundation (CAHF) presented a virtual tour of the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) in New York City as part of their 2022 AAPI Talks Series. The tour was given by Nancy Yao Maasbach, President of MOCA.

CHCP had participated in MOCA's past exhibit, “Gathering: Collecting and Documenting Chinese American History,” by sending information and an artifact (altar vessel) representing CHCP's Chinese American Historical Museum (CAHM).

CHCP visited Iris Chang Park to clean and beautify the park, to honor the Chinese American journalist, author, and political activist Iris Chang, and to celebrate Earth Day.

The following is an excerpt from the April 2022 American Legion Cathay Post 384 Newsletter:

By Commander Helen Wong

Roger Dong, Chairman and Founder of the Chinese American Heroes Organization has recognized Ron Chan for his significant contributions in support of Chinese American Veterans and community service. “Ron has tirelessly been the advocate of our Veterans specifically, and generally a role model amplifying Chinese American history and their contributions to America. For that, he has been inducted as a Chinese American Hero”.

Ron, when asked about this honor, notes, “To be considered a “Chinese American Hero” is very humbling. Frank Wong, a Korean War Veteran, I think said it best, “What we do for ourselves is surely going to die with you. What you do for others is immortal.”

Ron founded two organizations. He is Founder and Executive Director of the Bay Area Chinese Genealogy Group, and Co-Founder, Chief Marketing Officer and Associate Producer of the Chinese American GI Project.

With the Chinese American GI Project, he was instrumental in launching Veteran focused webinars, the book “Fighting On All Fronts”, the upcoming museum exhibition for the San Francisco War Memorial Veterans Gallery, and other numerous multimedia programs - including the American Legion Cathay Post 384’s 90th Anniversary Celebration video.

Additionally, he is a lecturer, flight leader, and volunteer for Honor Flight focusing on recruiting Chinese American Vets so we may be equally recognized on flights to Washington DC to visit the memorials in their honor.

Ron is an Advisory Consultant to the Locke Foundation Oral History Project, and an Advisory Board member of the Chinese Historical and Cultural Project.

For more information: Read the full April 2022 Newsletter article.

The Bay Area Chinese Genealogy Group (BACGG) presented a discussion of the Chinese Lion Dance by David Lei, including its history, styles, and changes presented in America.

Visit CHCP's Virtual Library for more information on the Chinese Lion.

Researchers identified that these vertebrae belonged to giant snakeheads, freshwater fish native to Southeast Asia (Credit: Ryan Kennedy).

The following is an excerpt from the 02/24/22 Smithsonian Magazine:

By Bridget Alex, Contributing Writer

About 135 years ago, in a Chinatown in San Jose, California, the leftover bones from a luxurious fish landed in a communal trash pit. Perhaps a farmworker treated himself to the delicacy sold in a shop with specialty imports. Or a merchant may have savored the dried fish, after catching an opera in the local theater. What we know for sure: The bones remained in that trash pit, some months or years later, when an 1887 arson fire destroyed the immigrant enclave known as Market Street Chinatown.

More than a century after the fire, archaeologist Ryan Kennedy spotted the bones as he examined nearly 6,000 fish remains salvaged from the razed Chinatown. Distinct from the collection’s plentiful perch and other North American seafood, the specimens that caught Kennedy’s eye—pinky-sized discs with protruding spines—resembled the vertebrae of Asian fish.

DNA analysis narrowed the suspects to one species: The bitty backbones belonged to giant snakeheads, carnivorous fish that prowl the freshwaters of Southeast Asia. Fishers and traders likely dried, then ferried this catch from its native waters to Hong Kong, across the Pacific to the major port of San Francisco, and finally another 50 miles southeast to San Jose’s Market Street Chinatown. Kennedy and colleagues’ genetic detective work, published last month in American Antiquity, delivers the first material proof that prized food traveled all the way from Southeast Asia to the U.S. in the late 1800s. The fish’s multi-nation journey reveals the strength and complexity of trade ties, which connected the Chinese diaspora.

For more information:  Read the full Smithsonian Magazine article, which also mentions contributions by CHCP, History San Jose, and CHCP Advisory Board Members Connie Young Yu and Dr. Barbara Voss.