Reprinted with permission from Michael Rainville Jr. and Mill City Times | Nov. 22, 2021 (original pub date)
Immigrants from China first arrived in North America before the United States became a nation, working as sailors and merchants on Spanish galleons, sailing between Mexico and the Philippines. The United States acquired much of Mexico’s northern territory in 1848 with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican – American War. By this time, many small communities of Chinese immigrants in California were already established, and that number only grew during the next few decades as many came to America to test their luck during the California gold rush and to help complete the first transcontinental railroad.
(Honeymoon portrait of the couple taken in 1893.)
Lunar Year of the Tiger celebrated at Mall of America
By Will Ahern | contributor
Although the pandemic has dampened the ability to gather and celebrate together, the Lunar New Year was recently celebrated by many Chinese communities throughout the world. This year, however, Mall of America joined in the celebration by holding its own 30-year anniversary.
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Is this the end or a new beginning?
By Greg Hugh
Part 1: Drum music and the various forms of dances
By Bu Aihua and Yang Zhiqing | Center for Hunan Cultural Heritage at Huaihua University | contributors
Xiangxi Miao drum dance is one of the most appealing and distinctive folk arts in Xiangxi Miao regions of western Hunan Province of China with a history of thousands of years. Bred from Miao farming culture, it can be dated back to the Qin and Han dynasties. During wartime and ethnic migrations of generations, Miao people who entered into Xiangxi regions of western Hunan Province brought Miao drum dance to the banks of the Mengdong River in Yuping Mountain. Since then, a unique Xiangxi Miao drum dance emerged.
By Elaine Dunn | February 2022
Among the many controversies surrounding the 2022 Beijing Olympics, the one where the central character cannot win in the social media game is the one involving freestyle skier Eileen Gu.
The U.S. Olympic figure skaters are selected based on their overall accomplishments, consistency as well as their performances at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and international scores.
By Bill Zajicek, Minnesota China Friendship Garden Society | February 2022
Saint Paul Department of Parks & Recreation Design & Construction Group is leading the design-community engagement process for the second phase of the St. Paul-Changsha China Friendship Garden. The goal: construction documents in Spring.
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Is this the end or a new beginning?
By Greg Hugh
By Elaine Dunn | February 2022
If you live in San Francisco’s Bay Area, you’re in luck! Oakland, across the bay from SF, is a welcoming, culturally diverse place, and home to the oldest fortune cookie maker in northern California. It is also one of the last fortune cookie makers that produces the cookies entirely by hand.
By Greg Hugh | February 2022
A new work commissioned by the Minnesota Orchestra is special — only 20 such works have been introduced on the Orchestra’s subscription series in the past 19 years — and the upcoming Lunar New Year concerts on February 5 and 6 bring an even greater rarity: the Feb. 5 world premiere of a new concerto will feature the composer herself as soloist.
News February 2022
The Middle Kingdom now has 626 billionaires, up from 388 in 2020, and is only second to the United States, which has 724 billionaires.
The 2022 list saw 205 newbies added as a result of China’s soaring stock market and recovery from the Covid-19 outbreak. Another 53 who had slid off the list in prior years made it back this time.
By Elaine Dunn | January 2022
It took three decades from legislation being introduced in Congress to the completed African American museum opening its doors to the public on the National Mall in Wash., D.C.
So Asian American leaders who are pushing for an Asian American museum know not to expect miracles overnight!
(The National Mall)
Date & time: Sunday, Jan. 23, 2022; 1-3 p.m.
Location: The Traffic Zone Centre for Visual Art, 230 3rd. Ave. N., Minneapolis or online
By This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | January 2022
Chinese New Year. Spring Festival. Lunar New Year. Whatever you choose to call it, it is China’s most important annual celebration and is celebrated for 15 days. This year, Feb. 1 will herald in the Year of the Tiger.
By Elaine Dunn | January 2022
A 9-year-old from Golden Valley is currently basking in “golden girl” status! Alexandra “Allie” Wilcox, the third-grader at Breck, is the daughter of Elizabeth and Bill Wilcox. She was crowned winner of the age 7-9 division of the National American Miss (NAM) Minnesota Jr. Pre-teen 2021 pageant held on August 6-8, 2021. Over the weekend after Thanksgiving, she competed for the National title in Orlando, Fla.
Minnesota seems the last place anyone would go to for a glimpse of ancient China, but thanks to the late Robert Jacobsen, people come from all over the world to see 5,000 years of Chinese furniture, porcelain, jade and architecture at the Mia, formerly known as the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
By Elaine Dunn | January 2022
As 2021 wraps up, China has effectively brought Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement to its knees.
Hong Kong pro-democracy activists 73-year-old media magnate Jimmy Lai, rights lawyer Chow Hang-tung and former opposition politician, and journalist Gwyneth Ho, were convicted on Dec. 2 for participating in a Tiananmen Square Massacre vigil in June 2020.
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The future publishing of ChinaInsight
Is this the end?
By Greg Hugh
As we turn the page on 2021, all of us at China Insight hope you were able to enjoy a great holiday season and we wish everyone a healthy and a prosperous 2022. As we resume our regular production schedule, we begin our 21st year of publishing and continue our mission of promoting cultural and business understanding between China and the U.S. along with providing a bridge between the Chinese and American communities of the Twin Cities area. However, we also are going to be making some hard decisions concerning continuing our mission or not. If we continue, what direction should we go?
By William Zajicek, contributor
The St. Paul - Changsha China Friendship Garden, aka Liu Ming Yuan, is entering its second phase of development. Planning will be funded by Legacy funding from the State of Minnesota.
st entrance archway installed in summer 2019
By Elaine Dunn | November 2021
During last year’s pandemic lockdown, many women gave up applying makeup on a daily basis. However, that did not have a negative effect on the sales of that all-important makeup tool, the makeup brush. Apparently, sitting home encouraged lots of online shopping, and sales of Chinese-made makeup brushes proved more than robust.
On Oct. 14, 2021, organizers of the Stanford faculty letter and APA Justice launched a nationwide campaign to send a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland to terminate the "China Initiative" and replace it with an appropriate response that avoids the key identified flaws:
By Will Ahern | Contributor
After a year-and-a-half hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese Heritage Foundation Friends (CHFF) has reprised its Sunday Teas Series with a presentation on “The History of the Chinese Restaurant Business in Minnesota.”
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By Elaine Dunn | November 2021
Not since the 2020 presidential campaign of Andrew Yang has another significant public office involved another Chinese American, until now. Michelle Wu, daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, is campaigning for the November 2021 Boston mayoral spot.
Legendary Anna May Wong, the first Chinese American to make it big in Hollywood and receive international recognition, will be part of the new American Women QuartersTM Program with a new U.S. quarter designed in her honor.
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