Angel Island Imm.Sta.to reopen 2/15/09; roots pres

[grantdin]

From the Angel Island Immigration Station website. Visit it to find links on ferry schedules, etc.:

www.aiisf.org/?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=69&Itemid=94

U.S. Immigration Station at Angel Island Grand Re-Opening

We are pleased to announce the Grand Re-Opening of the U.S. Immigration Station, Angel Island on Sunday, February 15, 2009. The dedication ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m. with a blessing by the Federated Indians of the Graton Rancheria, the original inhabitants of the site, and short speeches by elected officials, state parks leaders, and AIISF and community leaders. The Marin Chinese Cultural Association Lion Dance Troupe will perform at 11:35 a.m. as officials cut the ribbon to re-open the Detention Barracks.

Public tours will begin at noon and end at 3 p.m. Cultural performers, historical re-enactors, and museum experts will also make presentations in some of rooms in the barracks. Among the presenters are Charlie Chin, storyteller; Melody Takata, performance artist/dancer; Silvia Lange, who will portray Deaconess Katherine Maurer; and museum designer Daniel Quan.

Also, February 21 will feature a terrific presentation. See below.

Dear one and all,

You are invited to the PRESENTATION by the 2008 In Search of Roots interns. This 18th annual event marks the culmination of a year-long journey by 13 courageous interns who searched for and discovered their family heritage through research and a journey to their ancestral villages in China. It promises to be powerful, moving, and inspiring.


It will be held on Saturday, February 21, 2009, begining at 1:00pm, at the Chinese Culture Center, 750 Kearny Street, Third Floor, San Francisco, CA 94108. Light food and refreshment will be served.


Come view the incredible exhibit if you have not done so. In addition to the Pearl River Delta region, we visited
1.the Chaozhou area,
2.Meiling/Meiguan - the Tang Dynasty passage way where majority of Cantonese speaking people migrated from the north to Guangdong Province, and
3.Zhujixiang - the early settlement of Cantonese speaking people before they suddenly mass migrated south to the Pearl Rive Delta region during the Song Dyansty...the Cantonese Mayflower story.


The In Search of Roots program is sponsored by the Chinese Culture Center and Cathay Pacific Airlines as well as the Chinese Historical Society of America and the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of Guangdong Province, China. The program began in 1991.


Please RSVP to the Chinese Cultural Center at 415-986-1822 if you are able to attend. Thanks. Happy Chinese New Year of the OX (4707).


Chinese Culture Foundation of San Francisco
750 Kearny Street, Third Floor
San Francisco, CA 94108-1809
415.986.1822
www.c-c-c.org

Details on the exhibit:

1/16/09 - 4/12/09: In Search of Roots Exhibit

Date: January 16, 2009 to April 12, 2009

Location: Chinese Culture Center Gallery
750 Kearny Street, 3rd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94108

Here in this exhibit 2008’s interns present to you their journey throughout San Francisco’s Chinatown, the National Archives, and the homes of their ancestral villages. Each brought to the program their own personal history – their own life experiences, and their own identities. Each was searching for something different and of course found distinctive answers. More often, however, they found more questions. You will see in this exhibit their journeys through the Pearl River Delta region of the Guangdong Province of China, and through the counties and municipalities of Guangzhou, Foshan, Doumen, Xinhui, Kaiping, and Taishan. Through this exhibit they attempt to express all that they have learned and so far understand through symbols, photographs, artifacts, and writing. To grasp their complex findings it is essential that you do as they have done this past year – stay flexible, suspend judgment, and keep an open mind.

[helen]

www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_14224527?nclick_check=1

With reflection and tears, Angel Island turns 100

Malin Tom is an "emotional man," which explains why he kept his journey through Angel Island mostly to himself for 60 years.

"I did not want to cry in front of people," says Tom, now 81 and living in Santa Clara. "It is a sad story. I was so scared and poor. I was ashamed, and Chinese don't talk about their shame."

But he could not resist a granddaughter's plea a few years ago. Would he talk to her classmates about passing through the "Ellis Island of the West"?

"My granddaughter gave me courage."

And when Tom finally spoke it was as if a dam holding back immigrant tears had cracked, replenishing the soil of American history with bittersweet truth.

[geoff]

Hello Helen,

Thanks for highlighting the article on Malin Tom & Angel Island. One must read the full story.

In the article it states that "He was 12 years old in 1939 and living with his mother in a poor village in Canton province". This brought back memories of my father aged 16, his aunty & her son, & his grandfather fleeing from China & their arrival in Sydney Australia in Sept 1939. My relatives didn't have to go thru the terrible ordeal of "Angel Island immigration station". My relatives would have been "welcomed home" as they were Australian born or naturalised.

Helen & I recently discovered that her mother in law & my family were on the same ship that arrived in Sydney in Sept 1939. Having a closer look at the passenger list, I discovered a long term family friend & her parents & siblings were also on the same ship. I'm still to discuss with her any memories of that journey over 70 years ago.

[helen]

yes, Australia and New Zealand were much better in handling this situation. Thank goodness our governments were sympathetic to the women and children coming here. Still, NZ said that the women and children, as well as the ones born here, would have to go back after it was all over.