THE DRAGON’S EYE
Official
Publication of US-China Peoples Friendship Association, Chicago Chapter, www.uscpfa.com/chicago
Roger Noback, Chapter President and Editor,
630/762-8225 NOVEMBER 20, 2005
The scheduled venue, time, topic, and activity for the USCPFA
November 20 meeting are
3-4 p.m. @ Chinese-American
Museum of Chicago, 238 W. 23rd St., Chinatown
GUIDED TOUR OF THE
CHINESE-AMERICAN MUSEUM OF
CHICAGO
The Chinese-American Museum of Chicago, www.ccamuseum.org, had its grand opening May 21, 2005, after years of effort led by the Chinatown Museum Foundation and its President, Chuimei Ho. Its current Exhibit, Paper Sons: Chinese in the Midwest 1870-1945, closes Dec. 1, so this will be one of your last chances to see such Exhibit. The museum deals with much more than the Exhibit, including the Chinese pavilions at the two Chicago World Fairs. Chuimei advises that the Guided Tour by the Curator of the Exhibit includes a 20 minute illustrated introduction as well as the actual tour, and, if we’re lucky, Mrs. Ruth Moy, an old-timer (Chuimei’s words, not mine) and living history of Chinatown, will also be available for questions. The Chapter will pay for the Guided Tour, but attendees are responsible for general admission, which is $2 or so, per person.
According to the synopsis of the talk on Paper Sons at
the Annual China Symposium 2004 by Chinatown Museum Foundation
officials: “The immigration law between 1882-1945 ruled out a proper channel
for the Chinese to come to the United States.
In order to be united with families and to get around the rules, many
Chinese worked out a system of using immigration papers that would allow them
to come. The talk touches not only on
this phase of the immigration problem but also reflects the lifestyle of those
who settled in Chicago.” The exhibit
includes, without limitation, 150 photographs and 70 objects, many from private
collections shown for the first time; a reconstructed Chinese laundry, and
traditional costumes worn for festival occasions.
We will meet first at 2 pm for our usual multi-course Chinese meal at House of Fortune Restaurant, and leave in time to start the Guided Tour at the nearby museum at 3:00 p.m.
The December 18 meeting is planned to be in
Evanston. The topic is the sublime
mausoleum of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, the founder of modern China, at
Nanjing, on the southern slope of the second peak of the Purple Mountain, 3
years in the making, and how it came about.
For those who
have seen, it is a simultaneously breathtaking and reverential experience. Chapter Member and Friend, Katherine Tsiang
Mino, Associate Director of the Center for the Art of East Asia at the
University of Chicago, has referred us to one of her Ph.D. candidates to give
this talk, the subject of his Ph.D. thesis.
The Annual China Symposium 2005,
Sat. afternoon, Oct. 29 at College of DuPage, played to a packed audience;
mark your calendars now for the Annual China Symposium 2006, tentatively
scheduled for Sat. afternoon, Dec. 2. Thanks first to the speakers, and second to those who
attended. “If you build it, they will
come,” the line from the movie about a much earlier version of a White Sox
World Series Champion, applies to the speakers, since they provided the
attraction, the raison d’etre. However,
a speaker without an audience is like unplayed music, and more
disappointing. Those attending
received a rich reward, while at the same time honoring the benefits the
speakers bestowed. Those who endured
the pressure-cooker preparations for the event are grateful to both speakers
and audience, and welcome both groups back next year. Thanks also to the Honorable Consul General
Xu of the Chinese Consulate in Chicago and Dr. Chand, President of College of
DuPage, for their introductory remarks and attendance. It is intended to say more about the Annual
China Symposiums 2005 and 2006 in each of the succeeding months, and start the
planning for the ACS-06 before the end of this year.
Typically, the regular monthly Chapter meeting is held on
the third Sunday of the month and includes a delicious traditional
Chinese multi-course meal, which begins at 2 pm; the hour long luncheon talk
(with Q&A) begins at 3 pm; and all this is only $15. The venue for approx. half the meetings is
the House of Fortune Restaurant, 2407 S. Wentworth Ave. in Chicago’s
Chinatown; the venues for the other half of the meetings are in the north and
west Chicago suburbs (e.g, Naperville and Evanston). Please attend and bring a friend.
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