【VIP Recap】

Dr. John Liu

Professor Emeritus, Social Sciences and Asian American Studies, UCI

Thank you for inviting me to speak tonight. It is nice to be back in a place that my family and I called home for more than thirty years. Nonetheless, I got lost coming to this event even though we only moved away three years ago!
When I wrote the Introduction in the book, it was to place the Irvine Chinese American experience within a much longer history of the Chinese in America which began in the early 1800s. Tonight I want to do something different. I would like you to look at the book from a community perspective. This means looking at the various accounts in this book not as individual stories, but rather as intersecting and interlocking narratives.
To borrow an image from the Dalai Lama, each of the stories is like an individual pebble. When thrown into a pond, each pebble creates its own ripples. As the ripples extend outward they begin to intersect with the ripples caused by the other pebbles. This is where community begins to emerge. A community does not come about from people merely moving into a shared space. It comes from people interacting and in the organizations they create. Community organizing is hard and it takes committed action by many people.
Now I haven’t seen yet everything that has been written, but I have seen some of the stories that put the Chinese in a very positive light. This is good. We need to hear stories about what is possible. We also need a fuller story about the struggles people have faced-- even those who worked on this particular volume. These struggles may not be readily apparent in the book, which is why this volume cannot be seen as a finished product. Instead. the book is an invitation to continue the efforts to broaden an understanding of how the Chinese in Irvine have come to define their place in American society. This means going beyond the individual and organizational successes captured in this book.
Let me use Linda Lau, one of the people covered in the book, as an example. Gloria Dahlberg wrote a beautiful tribute to her. Yet it offers only a glimpse of what Linda did. When I came to UC Irvine in 1985, I had only been on campus a few weeks when I received a phone call. The caller asked if I was the distinguished professor from Harvard. I replied, “No, I am the undistinguished professor from UCLA.” This didn’t stop Linda at all. Instead, she asked what I taught. When I said that I was hired to teach about Asian Americans, she insisted that I meet her for lunch, which I did.
After meeting, she convinced me to become a member of the Chinese Historical Society of Orange County. Linda had recruited many of the people in the Society so I dubbed her fondly as the Headhunter. It was also where I met some of the other community activists, such as Rose Cheung and her husband, Max. Linda really worked me. For an initial project, she had me assemble a photo exhibit of the early Chinese in Orange County. It now resides in the Special Collections in the UC Irvine Library.
Linda wasn’t only concerned with the Chinese. She also wanted to highlight the diversity of Orange County, so Linda helped organize the Multicultural Art Council. One of the activities was to assemble Ethnic Treasure Chests that circulated among public schools in Orange County. It told the stories of eight ethnic groups through their histories and cultural artifacts. The Treasure Chests have been given to the Children’s Museum at the Bowers. Linda also attracted my wife, Ann, to help compile and coedit the written material that accompanied the Treasure Chests. I told you Linda was a Headhunter! Linda also helped organize what may have been the first Multicultural Festival in Orange County, “Kaleidoscope”, which took place in Irvine. Later, Linda was critical in creating community support for the establishment of Asian American Studies at UCI. While public attention focused on the hunger strike that students organized on campus, Linda was crucial in getting community support by getting people like the Cheungs, Gloria Dahlberg, and Mitsuye Yamada involved.
Similar stories of creativity and resilience surround the lives of Tom Yuen, who started AST because he and his partners realized that they would never get beyond middle management if they stayed at Hewitt Packard. Also, Dr. Chang Lin Tien, who in his short-stay as UCI Executive Vice-Chancellor, did more to change the campus than any other previous administrator. He was dedicated to creating a well-rounded university, so he redirected funds from the Schools of Sciences and Engineering to the Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts Schools. At the same time, he greatly increased the hiring of women and minorities.
All our stories are important. As the president of the South Coast Chinese Cultural Center said earlier, we need elders to come out and talk to the younger people because they may not know enough of their heritage. When I taught Introduction to Asian American Studies class, I had my students interview their parents. They frequently said, “I already know everything there is to know about them.” But when they started pressing their parents, they found out many things that they didn’t know. Some stories were secrets and others were what the parents had thought their children wouldn’t understand or care about.
So your stories are necessary to connect the past to the present and into the future. When you think of this book, think of it as an invitation to continue participating in the building of this community. Like what I used to say to my students when my Asian American courses ended, “If you do not define yourselves, others will and I can guarantee you won't like the results.” We have a past president who negatively defined the Chinese and none of us like what we saw or heard. So in order to preserve not only your identity and your history, you need to participate. You need to tell your story, our story. We need to control the narrative.
The final thing I want to say is that the community here in Irvine is going to be constantly changing. What you see in the book now may or may not be here in the next 50 years. I think many of you as parents have experienced this. Many of us have come to realize that the youth are never going to be the same type of Chinese that we are. I have four children. When they were going to college, I hoped all of them would marry Chinese. None of them did. And now they're raising kids who are dealing with their mixed racial identities but the grandchildren still feel part of the Chinese/Asian American community. Those are the kinds of changes that we're going to be facing and that's why projects like this one cannot come to an end just with the publication of a book. The effort that went into making this publication needs to persist. Hopefully you as the elders of this community will drive that process along by telling your stories. So you are not only of the past, you are also the future.
John M. Liu, Professor Emeritus
Departments of Asian American Studies and Sociology
May 4, 2022

Steeve Kay (郭忠信)

Founder & Chairman of Kay Family Foundation

50 years ago, the City of Irvine was incorporated.
50 years ago, I immigrated to America from Burma ̶ thanks to President Johnson’s immigration reform of 1965. Many of us present here this evening are the beneficiaries of this act; and I am one of us.
America is a nation of immigrants. This publication is filled with the life stories of the 1st gen Chinese American immigrants in Irvine. How we uprooted our daily routines, our way of life, relocated to a new land and further studied or learned how to make a living – either by employment or starting a business.
The publication also documented how we adapt and adopt the culture of the new land, how we preserved our own culture and how these two cultures blended together.
In my case, back in Burma – My father was a textile merchant. In 1962, Burma was plunged into a socialist country. Overnight, our family business was nationalized. All schools were nationalized. We were subject to outright discrimination and occasional racial violence. So, I immigrated to America.
My port of entry was San Francisco. There I married Helen – an attractive and lively girl from Peking with a perfect Mandarin accent. Ten Years later, in 1980, we moved our young family to a young city called Irvine, where the young University of California was undergoing construction indefinitely (UCI).
We settled and raised our three children in a beautiful village called Woodbridge where they attended school. As they schooled, I learned the American culture with them. I recall learning the 21 Franciscan Missions in California, 3 times in fact. I learned to be a referee of AYSO games during weekends. I also learned how to work with the school - it’s called PTA.
These new cultural experiences had enriched my life. They, in turn, sowed the seed for the founding of Kay Family Foundation later on. It’s gratifying to see that all my three children and son-in-law are actively involved with the Foundation serving as Board Members.
America is a land of freedom, guaranteed by the constitution. Here in America, immigrants are given an equal opportunity to compete with the more established local enterprise.
When I moved to live in Irvine, I pioneered a brand-new disability evaluation business named QTC with my sister, Dr. Lay Kay. Together, we developed software solutions to solve the problems plaguing the massive and chaotic social disability benefit program in America.
With integrity, hard work and innovation, QTC became phenomenally successful, thanks to the American free enterprise system.
During our earlier years in Irvine, Helen and I befriended Gen Fan Chung, the Founding President of Evergreen Senior Association.
I met General Fan at Sunday school class. He told me he was fundraising for Lakeview Senior Center. I made the initial donation. One day, I visited his home in Woodbridge. Among other matters, he told me he still needed to raise $20,000. I then made a second donation to fill the gap. For that, a computer room was named after Kay Family at the Lakeview Senior Center.
In the meantime, Helen – my Peking girl – set aside a regular schedule to help the wives of several retired generals from Taiwan – they were the founding members of Evergreen Senior Association – driving them to do errands at banks, grocery shopping and having lunch together. They developed deep and meaningful friendships in and out of church. We fondly remember them to this day.
Time flies, 50 years have passed. Culturally, America has become a more diversified country. The City of Irvine has become a microcosm of multi-culturalism. The acronym of UCI can be changed to “Ultimate Culture Internationism” – UCI.
On a more serious note, the pioneering spirit exhibited is deeply rooted in the Freedom Spirit of the traditional American value. It’s important for the 1st gen Chinese Americans in Irvine to pass the baton of this pioneering spirit to the 2nd generation Chinese Americans in Irvine.
This pioneering spirit is captured and documented in this magnificent, sumptuous publication thanks to the tireless efforts of Rose, Esther and the entire editorial team members of SCCCA. Let’s give them a round of applause!

Dr. Adeline Mah

Founder & President of Falling Leaves Foundation

May 4th, 2022. 5pm to 7pm

Thank you for inviting me to speak at this memorable event. I am honored and humbled to see this remarkable book being published after months of hard work by Rose Cheung, Esther Hsiao and their dedicated Editorial Committee.

I was born in Tianjin, China and attended primary school in Shanghai and Hongkong. My mother died a few days after my birth and I had a miserable childhood.

I am sure everyone here tonight has traveled and experienced his or her own unique journey on the way to America. For myself, I came to Southern California when I was in my 20s. Unlike my husband Bob who was born in Fresno, I am an immigrant and am not a native of this great country. After the prejudice I experienced growing up in my own home in Shanghai and Hongkong, I was overwhelmed by the opportunities that America gave to me: a Chinese woman graduate of a foreign medical school. For the first time in my life, I stood on a level playing field and am proud to say that I received my residency training at Orange County Medical Center, later to become the hospital of the University of California, Irvine.

My father died in 1988 and my stepmother two years later. At their funerals, I experienced once more the horrors of my tormented childhood. Unable to eat or sleep, I set out to write myself out of my depression. The result was the book Falling Leaves which, to my astonishment, became an international best-seller and was translated into 22 languages.

Bob and I were embarrassed by the royalties pouring in and donated all the proceeds to a charitable foundation that we established. In 2021, we were honored to be given the opportunity to contribute towards UCI’s new state of the art medial research building: the Falling Leaves Foundation Medical Innovation Building.

As we approach our last remaining years, the weeks and months seem to go by with increasing speed. My husband Bob is the youngest of nine children. Bob was extremely close to his older brother Al with whom he corresponded every evening. For the last eighteen years, Uncle Al’s capable and intelligent son, Larry, has worked for us in our office. With Larry’s help, we were able to recruit young Aspyn who has amazing computer skills. I am glad to report that Bob, Larry, Aspyn and our good friend Shirley Feiwell are all here this evening. Thank you for coming.

Unfortunately, all of Bob’s siblings have passed away including Uncle Al who died last year. As the years roll on, a few of our close friends have also died.

So what is the answer? Perhaps the answer has already been given, indirectly, by two famous people. The first is the ancient Chinese writer Sima Qian and the second is the Chinese-American cellist, YoYo Ma.

China’s most renowned historian, Sima Qian, who lived during the Han Dynasty two thousand years ago, answered it this way:

人固有一死，或重於泰山，或輕於鴻毛，用之所趨異也

A person lives and dies but once: his life can be as monumental as the Tai Mountain, or as light as a goose feather. It all depends on him.

Put it another way: the answer is to continue to do whatever you enjoy doing as if your life will go on forever. Bob and I did not expect this but our donation to UCI has given our lives a renewed sense of purpose and commitment.

Commitment. What is commitment? Perhaps you have heard of this riddle. In a ham and eggs breakfast, what is the difference between the chicken and the pig? Well, the chicken is involved and has made a contribution of its eggs. But the pig, the pig is committed, fully committed.

At this late stage of our lives, Bob and I and our entire office staff wish to thank UCI and the City of Irvine for giving us the opportunity to contribute towards its future and repay the debt we feel we owe to America. Everyone working in our office (like the pig) is fully committed towards achieving this goal.

My friend Eleanor who walks with me on Sunday mornings told me this story about her husband. At the age of seventy, he attended a cello recital performed by YoYo Ma. Her husband was so moved by the music that he lined up to ask Yo Yo this question:

“Is it too late for me to start taking cello lessons?”

And Yo Yo looked at him and replied, “Of course not. It’s never too late!”

So please remember this. It’s never too late!

Ruth Ding

Founder of Orange County Chinese Culture Club

Good evening! 🤩 Congratulations to the Irvine Chinese School and the Irvine Cultural Center

We are so proud of you for your many accomplishments.

Thank you for inviting all of us here tonight to celebrate with you

I was invited to come here today to talk about what caused me to get involved with the Chinese Americans during the 1960's. At that time there were very few Chinese Americans in Orange County. I thought it would be great if we, Chinese Americans could get together to help give back to show our support of our community as well as share and promote our rich heritage, music, art, food, dance, and culture of being a Chinese American citizen.

My family was fortunate to be able to come to the United States in 1939 in the beginning of World War 2. At that time, because of the Chinese Exclusion Act, no Chinese were permitted to enter America with their wife or children

or become a US Citizen. To escape the war, in 1939 My father was fortunate to get our family out of China and come to America on a visitor visa. In 1941 China became an ally with the U.S. The war ended in 1945. At the same time, sensing a serious threat of a Communist takeover of China, our family did not wish to return to China. It was fortunate for our family that my father who knew Carl Hayden and Representative Richard Harless from Arizona. With their help, our visitor's pass was renewed a number of times. Then in 1948, a congressional bill was passed permitting our family members to stay and become US Citizens

My family and I were so grateful to be able to become citizens of this wonderful land of freedom and opportunity that I wanted to do whatever I could to help give back to this wonderful country!

A group of 19 Chinese American family members got together in 1968 forming the Orange County Chinese cultural club which I created with the goal of preserving and keeping the Chinese culture and heritage alive for us and our younger generation as well.

To help give back to our community. We enjoyed working with other nonprofit organization as well. For over 20 years I have had the privilege of working with other amazing OC Chinese Americans such as Dr. Nelson Mar, the founding president of AASCSC. Sarah Mar and May Hsu founding co-chairs for the AASCSC Chinese American Debutant Ball, Josephine Yang Founding Chair of AASCSC Young Ambassador Guild. When we have amazing talented people such as them to work together, it is an exciting, enjoyable, honor and a privilege to help give back to our community.

Thank you again for inviting me to spend this wonderful evening with you. May God bless every one of you.

The following speech, Translation from google

晚上好！祝賀爾灣中文學校和爾灣文化中心我們為你們的許多成就感到驕傲。感謝你們今晚邀請我們所有人來這裡與你們一起慶祝今天我被邀請來這裡談談是什麼讓我參與其中1960年代的華裔美國人。那時，橙縣的華裔美國人很少。我認為，如果我們華裔美國人能夠聚在一起回饋社會，以表達我們對社區的支持，並分享和推廣我們作為華裔美國人的豐富遺產、音樂、藝術、食物、舞蹈和文化，那就太好了公民。

我的家人很幸運能夠在 1939 年第二次世界大戰初期來到美國。當時，由於《排華法案》，任何中國人都不得攜妻兒進入美國或成為一名公民。美國公民。為了躲避戰爭，1939年我父親有幸把我們全家帶出中國，持旅遊簽證來到美國。 1941 年，中國成為美國的盟友。戰爭於 1945 年結束。與此同時，我們一家人感受到共產黨接管中國的嚴重威脅，不願返回中國。我的父親認識來自亞利桑那州的卡爾·海登和眾議員理查德·哈勒斯，這對我們家來說是幸運的。在他們的幫助下，我們的訪客通行證多次更新。然後在 1948 年，國會通過了一項法案，允許我們的家人留下並成為美國公民回到這個美好的國家！

1968 年，19 位華裔美國家庭成員齊聚一堂，組成了我創建的奧蘭治縣華人文化俱樂部，其目標是為我們和我們的年輕一代保存和保持中國文化和遺產。幫助回饋我們的社區。我們也喜歡與其他非營利組織合作。 20 多年來，我有幸與其他令人驚嘆的 OC 華裔美國人合作，例如 AASCSC 的創始主席 Nelson Mar 博士。 Sarah Mar 和 May Hsu 是 AASCSC Chinese American Debutant Guild 的聯合主席，Josephine Yang 是 AASCSC 青年大使協會的創始主席。當我們有像他們這樣才華橫溢的人一起工作時，能夠幫助回饋我們的社區是一種令人興奮、愉快、榮幸和榮幸。再次感謝您邀請我與您共度這個美好的夜晚。願上帝保佑你們每一個人。 

【編輯委員篇】

編輯委員會主席方光梅

親愛的爾灣讀書會 朋友們早安！

盼星星盼月亮，5/4/2022《爾灣華裔紀實》的新書發表會，終於圓滿完成；有賀詞進來說，我們這是Herculean efforts! 站在編輯團隊的立場，我們衷心期盼，有了這次的拋磚引玉，今後華裔們寶貴的《紀實》將源源不絕！

《紀實》一書，經過一年多的搜尋、收集、翻譯、編纂、校閲…. 等等的過程與努力，團隊以有限資源盡最大能力，將美國南加州大爾灣區華裔 1971-2021年間的史料，付梓成冊, 今日已然端坐在華裔歷史殿堂最新的一角。

一路以來，我們以為「我們」和19世紀，披荊斬棘受盡種族歧視煎熬的華人鐵路工截然不同；「我們」和經歷過1882 年美國國會通過的「排華法案」而備受凌辱的華裔不同….；但始料未及的是，正當《爾灣華裔紀實》編輯團隊才捲起袖子的當口，「瘟疫」舖天蓋地席捲全球，居然引發美國社會排華排亞裔的飛來橫禍. 所不同的是，這一次排華還參雜了因為過去50 年來，華裔在主流社會強勁崛起，而產生對華裔，幾分妒恨交加的怒火.

這份方興未艾的衝擊，使得新書出版的喜悅不再那麼單純；但是，也再次確認了南海岸文化中心起心動念出版《爾灣華裔紀實》的先見之明.

這一切顯示出，在一個多元種族的社會，避免成為邊緣化的族群，團結各種資源與文化力量，撰寫自己的歷史格外重要！尤其，逐步融入主流的奮鬥歷程與貢獻不容被遺忘或被埋沒。

「傳」與「承」一直就是人類一個偉大的特質；所以《紀實》一書很早就定調必須「中、英對照」，為的就是讓中、英文讀者們，今後在汗牛充棟的史料記載中，發掘到屬於自己族裔並自豪的文獻，因而更加激勵與自信.

爾灣市府在下一星期，即將分享5/4 慶祝新書發表會節目的錄影帶. 目前，我們取得Adeline Mah/馬嚴君玲的友人為她錄下其：「… 人固有一死，或重如泰山，或輕如鴻毛….」擲地有聲的演講。Download 時，可能需要半分鐘時間！隨後寄上.

《爾灣華裔紀實》編輯團隊，再次鄭重感謝各位一路的支持與祝福！

方光梅/ Rose Cheung
敬筆

編輯委員鄧含章

編輯委員黃少華

編輯委員李佳禾

讀 Rose 寫的後語, 心有戚戚.

2020年11月初, 接到 Rose 的電話, 談及2021年是爾灣建市50周年, 南海岸文化中心想要出一本紀錄爾灣華人成長歷史及耕耘奉獻的專書. Rose當時就說, 這將是一個從零到一, 從無到有的過程. 對於 Rose 願意接下這一艱鉅任務, 承擔這個吃力繁重的責任, 我至感佩服.

我從最初參與書寫邀請各個社團參加的邀請函, 然後幫忙撰寫書中幾位大德的介紹, 到編輯組討論如何做封面及內容設計, 如何編排, 一遍一遍的校稿以期糾正錯誤, 大小細節, 鉅細靡遺, 經過多方的討論, 透過電子郵件的反覆確認, 最終完成了這不可能的任務. 作為編輯組的一員, 完全能夠理解整個過程的不易, Rose 及迪玉的辛勞付出, 絕對是居功厥偉的. 而狄秀在最後不滿一個月的時間內, 製作一個包含超過百張照片的YouTube Video, 以動態的方式記錄了整本書的影像.

我雖在爾灣工作過14年, 也有許多爾灣的好朋友及同學, 但是對爾灣了解十分有限. 透過這次的編輯經驗, 讓我對大爾灣區的歷史人物, 那麼多華人的付出與貢獻, 無私胸懷深表感佩. 美籍華人, 在美已超過170, 無論在商業經濟, 公共服務, 文化交流及其他各個領域的成就, 都有非常多的表率. 參與這本書的編輯, 如同 Rose 所說, 讓我自豪地作為華裔一份子, 更期許自己對社區有更多付出.

新書發表會上, UCI emeritus Professor John Liu 說得好: 這正是一個開始, 不是一個結束. 感謝那麼多的華裔一代在這裡的努力紮根, 辛勤工作, 無私奉獻, 讓更多的二代, 三代能承續前人的步伐更穩健地向前行.

五月是亞裔傳統月, 這本爾灣華裔紀實雖然晚了幾個月出版 (2021 是爾灣50年), 但在 5/4 正式面世, 也正符合亞裔傳統月的精神.

衷心感謝有機會參與這本書的編輯, 希望更多的人購買並贈送到不同的學校及社區. 這是一顆生命力強的種子, 可以在各地生根發芽.

佳禾敬上

【來賓篇】

Michael Kent, Chief of Irvine Police 爾灣市警長Kent

What an amazing event! And the speakers were very touching and genuine. Thank you for having me there to be part of this special historical moment in our city.

Cyril Yu 余凱澤 (他的勵志故事在本書146-149頁）

Thank you for inviting us. It was an inspiring event and a wonderful opportunity for the Chinese community to come together.
Cyril

【News Report】

新書「爾灣華裔紀實」 寫下移民故事-世界日報

居民總數超過32萬人的爾灣市，亞裔比率已增至45%，市政府4日與南海岸中華文化中心合辦《爾灣華裔紀實》新書發表會，作為慶祝亞太裔傳統月的正式活動，並表彰50年來華裔對促進爾灣及周邊社區蓬勃發展的貢獻。　閱讀全文