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| Photo by Jay Nixon - copyright Bok Kai Festival |
The Chinese American Pioneer Heritage Committee hosts its third
annual Chinese American pilgrimage to coincide with the Marysville Bok Kai
Parade and Festival, celebrating the Lunar New Year on the weekend of February
22 and 23. The weekend’s activities include in-depth panels, activities, and
exhibits on Chinese American culture, history, and genealogy.
The historic town of Marysville, in Yuba County, was at one
time home to the second largest Chinatown in the United States. It was a hub for
Chinese Americans who built the infrastructure of California—railroads, roads,
wineries, mines, delta levees, water and irrigation systems and agricultural
farmlands. The town’s Bok Kai Temple, founded in
1854 by Chinese migrants who came to work in the gold mines, is the oldest
continuously operating Taoist Temple in the country, and the annual Marysville
Bok Kai Parade and Festival, celebrating its 140th
anniversary this year, is the longest continuously held parade in California.
This year’s theme is “Lost Chinatowns,” remembering the nearly
100 communities destroyed because of anti-Chinese laws, racial violence, and economic
displacement. “Join us as we
rediscover the lost Chinese American communities of Pacific Grove/ Monterey,
San Jose, and Stockton,” say the organizers. Two days of extended cultural programming include a Chinese
American Documentary Film Festival, walking tours of the historic old
Chinatown, demonstrations of early Chinese immigrant cooking, historic photo
exhibits, musical and theatrical performances. The historic Bok Kai Temple, Old Chinese School Museum and
Chinese American Museum of Northern California are all open to visitors this
weekend. A Saturday Pioneer Dinner
honors and networks with community leaders and activists.
Sunday is a full day of history panels and workshops. Organizers
discuss the sharing and recording of family stories, genealogical research,
historical memory, and community history.
Learn about the exciting work being done to digitally recreate our
historic communities and change the face of how public history is done. Historian David Lei will display a
multimedia digital mapping of 1905 San Francisco Chinatown. University of the Pacific history
professor Jennifer Helgren and her team demonstrate their virtual reality
recreation of Stockton’s “Little Manila.” Brian Tom shares the history of the Chinese American Marysville
pioneer families and descendants. There
is a screening of Felicia Lowe’s award-winning documentary, “Chinese Couplets,”
which explores the impact that the Chinese Exclusion Act had on her
family. The day concludes with the
traditional firing of the bombs and the chance to catch a “good fortune” ring
at the Bomb Day festivities.
Special hotel rates are available in nearby Yuba City and Wheatland.
For complete details, see the Eventbrite listing.
1 comments:
Hi Jennifer, Henry Snyder, our former Library "manager" and bookman extraordinaire, submitted an old photo in our Photo Tribute Series. It was a Chinese servant(?) of his ancestors in Marysville. In trying (and failing) to find out something about the man, I found out the Chinese history that exists in that city. I think they even have a Chinese (historical?) museum.
I should try and find it for you. Not sure if the old Photo Tributes still remain on our Web page. (I doubt it!) Lorna
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