Yoel
Member
Posts: 15
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Post by Yoel on Jul 18, 2013 10:10:09 GMT -5
Hi Everyone! I want to share with you this video from the documentary photographer Lau Pok Chi,that shows a little bit more about the chinese community of Cuba,that once had the largest chinatown in Latin America and used to be compared with the San Francisco´s chinese community.Today it is very sad,cause after Fidel Castro´s revolution,the community started dying,thousands left the country,there is no incentive for new migration and those that remain are old and dying.
**In the video Mister Lau said something about to help somebody to perform in China,but this is not the case right now,´cause this is an old video from 2011.
*Cantonese version shows 5minutes more than the English one.
Cantonese version
English version
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Post by laohuaqiao on Jul 18, 2013 13:49:13 GMT -5
Two very charming women. They are treasures indeed.
Back in the early 60s, many of the Chinese Cubans who had the means to leave Cuba did so because they heard of what had happened to their families back in China under communist rule in the 50s. I remember some settled in New York, in Washington Heights in Manhattan and in the Bronx. They opened Chinese Spanish/Chinese Cuban restaurants. There may still be many Chinese Cubans and their descendants living in those areas.
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Post by FayChee on Jul 18, 2013 23:25:22 GMT -5
Lauyoel, I really enjoyed that documentery about Chinese Cubans. It is a real eyeopener about migration of our Ancestors. It did make me very sad that they live in such poverty. If you find any updates on Mr. Lau taking the two women back to China, please post for us.
Thank you again, I really enjoyed learning about the Cuban Chinese.
Fay Chee
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Post by douglaslam on Jul 19, 2013 8:05:28 GMT -5
My aunt, her husband and four children went to Florida from Havana via Spain (refugee camp) in the 1960s. One of the children was sent away first , ostensibly in foster care. In fact, she was mistreated and used as child labour. The uncle now is approaching 100 years old, but my aunt has lost her marbles. I call my uncle on the phone sometimes. Listening to stories of his time in Cuba and how he met and married my aunt (father's younger sister) in the village when he was on a home visit just after the war, and how he got his young wife and oldest daughter to Havana was fascinating. It was a tale of intrigue. Cuba also discriminated Chinese family reunion and entry. I met the family for the one and only time in 1999 when I went to California. BTW I can't get the youtube clips, it is blank space. Someone please help.
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Post by FayChee on Jul 19, 2013 10:05:10 GMT -5
I copied the URL and pasted it here Douglas........does it work now?
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Post by douglaslam on Jul 20, 2013 7:26:44 GMT -5
Fay Chee, the links do appear now. I am about to watch the show. Douglas
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Post by douglaslam on Jul 20, 2013 8:59:30 GMT -5
What a moving account of remnants of a once thriving Chinese community in Cuba. It is a very moving human story. On a scale of 1 to 10; it is at least a 9. I would be happy to make a small donation to help those two women to fulfil their wish for a trip to Hong Kong and China. Hong Kong's Cantonese opera fraternity 八和會館 should make a grant for the women who are doing so much to preserve the art. The opera featured in the video goes by different names. One is called Wong Bo Chuen 王寶釧 I like Chinese -American artist Jake Lee'e depiction of Chinatowns of old. One in particular of a theatre with a banner showing the opera Wong Bo Chuen in play (王寶釧.) It is the story of a daughter of a nobility, who married a pauper. The man was then sent to the frontier to fight the barbarians. Eventually, he rose to be a general and returned eighteen years later to his long-suffering wife and son he did not know. It is a long story and I love it. www.chsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/ChinatownTheater_6.08.10.jpg I can look at this painting for minutes and imagining myself watching the opera. I really like this painting. It says so much about bow the Chinese loved their Cantonese opera, an escape from their harsh work and life, and hoped for a better future. Just like the ending of the opera. |
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Post by lachinatown on Jul 20, 2013 11:20:43 GMT -5
Thanks Douglas for posting of the picture. How did you find this?
Yes, agree with you on Jake Lee. Excellent work.
We had a showing of his work not long ago.
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Post by johnjung on Jul 20, 2013 22:49:17 GMT -5
A fantastic and beautifully done documentary with a sad story about the unfortunate fate of the Chinese community in Cuba. It reminded me a bit of Cheuk Kwan's video on Cuban Chinese a few years ago when he was in search of a Chinese restaurant in Havana for his excellent series on world wide Chinese restaurants. I have Pok Chin Lau's photograph book on the diaspora of Chinese which is also well worth seeing.
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Post by douglaslam on Jul 21, 2013 7:28:49 GMT -5
lachinatown, I am on the mailing list of many reputable bodies such as CHSA and UCLA. CHSA provides me lots of interesting stories of Chinese in America. Somehow, the story of Jake Lee and his paintings have a lasting effect on me. When I was in LA and San Francisco in 1999, I missed the chance to visit the museums. I had so little time, just a day trip to SFO from Fremont in the Silicon Vally. Whilst in LA, I too, missed seeing some of the major attractions. But I got to see Disneyland and the RMS Queen Mary at Long Beach. I chose the Queen Mary instead of Universal Studios. Now, Universal Studios is no more. It is about time I came to the USA again.
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