• Art and Books for Promoting Culture Awareness
As one of my major volunteer services (with a President's Volunteer Service Award), I created a number of drawings to illustrate in books “One Hundred Years of Chinese Immigration History in North America” ISBN13: 978-1458335746, and “History of Chinese Laborer Ancestors in the Transcontinental Railroad” ISBN13: 978-1304600400. These books were published by a non-profit organization - North American Maple Culture Center - to improve cultural awareness of Chinese-American history. These books are being exhibited and collected by a large number of public libraries and have been suggested to serve textbooks for teaching the history of Chinese immigration. While illustrating for this public welfare project to trace the footsteps of Chinese Immigrants in North America, I was also able to get a better understanding of my own identity. I hope that such an effort can combat negative stereotypes and misconceptions of Asian Culture. Here are some examples of my drawings in a slideshow.
Toughness in Building the Transcontinental Railroad (1863-1869): The west line of the railroad is about 130 miles long in California. Even though it accounts for only 1/5 of the total length of the railroad, this part of the line was the toughest to build because of the number of miles in the mountain ranges, along with the year-long snow.
Hammer and Steel Drill: When building the Pacific Railroad (1863-1869), Chinese workers tied a rope around their waists and hung in the air, while using hammers and steel chisels to carve out small passage on the mountains. They then slowly expanded the passage to be a road for wagons to pass.
Building Snow Shelter: In order to mitigate the impact of the avalanche, Chinese workers used their experiences and skills in farming to design and build giant anti-snow work tents while digging tunnels. These tents covered and protected the railway and its foundation.
Wooden Snowproof Wall: When building the Pacific Railroad (1863-1869), Chinese workers constructed wooden walls for 60 kilometers along the railroad where avalanches often took place so they protected the road from snow fall.
Where is the Equality? In 1892, the Chinese Exclusion Act was extended for 10 years. In 1904, the US Congress passed a motion to extend the Chinese Exclusion Act indefinitely. The Chinese workers who contributed to the construction of the Pacific Railways had nowhere to go.
Boston Chinatown: In 1870, Chinese workers poured into Massachusetts. To replace the workers who were on strike, 75 Chinese in their 20s were hired by a shoe factory in North Adams, Massachusetts. They settled in Ping on Alley, which gradually formed Boston's Chinatown. This area covered about five acres, with three main streets and nearly 100 shops. Nearly half of the population was Asian.
For more information about these books, please check the website from North American Maple Culture Center. The books can be purchased from Amazon.
Book Translation: I have helped translate a Chinese novel written by Xi Zhang that tells a story of a three generation Chinese American family. The story starts from a Chinese man who went to San Francisco by himself when he was young. He was imprisoned three times, had four wives in different life periods, became a hero five times, and won court cases six times. He had eight sons and more than 40 grandchildren. He settled down in North America and lived for 100 years old (1845-1945) before he passed away peacefully surrounded by his extended family members. This novel pictures a century of the U.S. Immigration. I have recorded my English translation in one of eight story videos (the 7th episode).
Together with a team, we created an audio book and my portion has been uploaded to YouTube.
