By Linda Mealey-Lohmann 苗丽莲
What a thrill it was to look out into the audience of a sea of young eager and enthusiastic Chinese language learners at the recent “2024 Chinese Microfilm Festival: Our Community, Our Stories” event, organized by the Chinese Flagship Program, at the University of Minnesota on November 7, 2024. The students were Chinese language learners from Highland Park Senior High School, Forest Lake High School, Hopkins High School, Eastview High School, Hmong College Prep Academy, De LaSalle High School, Fridley High School, Yinghua Academy, and the University of Minnesota. These students had created and submitted microfilms, in Chinese. Excerpts of winning microfilms were shown during the event and awards were given in nine categories for these creative works of art.
As a U of MN Chinese-major alumna, I was honored to be the guest speaker and share my journey as a Chinese language-learner, which started in 1980, to my China Garden dream two decades later, which ultimately led to the creation of the China Friendship Garden at Phalen Regional Park, St. Paul, MN. In talking about my journey, I hoped to inspire the students to not only continue to develop their Chinese language skills, but also to think about how to use those skills to contribute to the community and to get involved in ways that foster cross-cultural understanding.
My language-learning journey began in 1980 when I was a music major at the U of MN and decided to take the U of MN’s First Year Chinese Language class “on a whim” in the summer. I loved the language so much I changed my major after that. That led to an opportunity to live in Taiwan in early 1982 to study Chinese (Tung Hai University) and then be the Assistant Director for the U of M’s summer Chinese program, living at Nankai University, Tianjin, for two summers. That led to opportunities to be a tour director / translator for American tourists in China for Pacific Delight Tours, teaching at St. Paul Central High School, as well as for Sen Lin Hu-Concordia Language Village and community education classes. I even taught Chinese for a few years at a local Montessori school, designing teaching materials for my students. I received a Bachelor’s degree in East Asian Studies, a Master’s degree in Chinese Language and Literature, and ultimately a law degree, all from the University of Minnesota.
All that experience and community service paved the way for what happened in 2000, when I co-founded the Minnesota China Friendship Garden Society with Professor C.C. Hsiao, a fellow US-China Peoples Friendship Association-MN Chapter board member. Our dream was to create a China Friendship Garden in Minnesota. At that time, there were 7 Japanese gardens in Minnesota, but no China gardens – we wanted to remedy that situation. That dream was realized in 2019 with the grand opening of Phase I of Liu Ming Yuan – The St. Paul-Changsha China Friendship Garden at Phalen Regional Park. Changsha in Hunan Province is the sister-city of St. Paul, Minnesota since 1988. Liu Ming Yuan is free and open to the public year around and features the Xiang Jiang Pavilion (replica of one of 4 famous pavilions in China), a pink granite Hmong Heritage Wall, the West Paifang Entrance, and the Hmong Plaza (a performance and cultural education space). Because this is a sister-city project, this space also recognizes the connection between the Hmong community and its ancestral roots in China, especially, Hunan where over 2 million Hmong live.
How satisfying it is to walk through this gorgeous space and see so many people enjoying it and learning about Chinese and Hmong culture. A Dream realized … but … the dream continues! The China Garden Society is currently fundraising for the construction of several Chinese features in Phase II, including a Chinese chess table area, a Moon Gate, a Chinese flat bridge with mountain stream, a moon bridge, a moon viewing platform, and a donor wall. If you would like to donate time or money, please go to our website under “donate.”
Visit the website at https://mnchinagarden.org/
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