Marvels of China: Pathways to the Pacific Rim on AM 1490 WGCH and Anywhere on WGCH.com: April 2017

Sunday, April 30, 2017

Coming Up Next: New York Times Best Selling Author Lisa See, 'The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane'

Our next guest on the Conversations segment of the May 6 broadcast of Marvels of China: Pathways to the Pacific Rim is New York Times best selling author Lisa See. Her latest work, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, was released in March.

A thrilling new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa See explores the lives of a Chinese mother and her daughter who has been adopted by an American couple.

Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea. There is ritual and routine, and it has been ever thus for generations. Then one day a jeep appears at the village gate—the first automobile any of them have seen—and a stranger arrives.

In this remote Yunnan village, the stranger finds the rare tea he has been seeking and a reticent Akha people. In her biggest seller, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, See introduced the Yao people to her readers. Here she shares the customs of another Chinese ethnic minority, the Akha, whose world will soon change. Li-yan, one of the few educated girls on her mountain, translates for the stranger and is among the first to reject the rules that have shaped her existence. When she has a baby outside of wedlock, rather than stand by tradition, she wraps her daughter in a blanket, with a tea cake hidden in her swaddling, and abandons her in the nearest city.

After mother and daughter have gone their separate ways, Li-yan slowly emerges from the security and insularity of her village to encounter modern life while Haley grows up a privileged and well-loved California girl. Despite Haley’s happy home life, she wonders about her origins; and Li-yan longs for her lost daughter. They both search for and find answers in the tea that has shaped their family’s destiny for generations.

A powerful story about a family, separated by circumstances, culture, and distance, Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane paints an unforgettable portrait of a little known region and its people and celebrates the bond that connects mothers and daughters.

Here is a sample of the reviews:

“Lisa See transports readers to the remote mountains of China…come for the heartwarming bonding between mother and daughter; stay for the insight into Akha culture and the fascinating (really) history of the tea trade."
—Real Simple

"With strong female characters, See deftly confronts the changing role of minority women, majority-minority relations, East-West adoption, and the economy of tea in modern China. Fans of See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan will appreciate this novel.”
—Library Journal

"With vivid and precise details about tea and life in rural China, Li-Yan’s gripping journey to find her daughter comes alive."
—Publishers Weekly

"A riveting exercise in fictional anthropology."
—Kirkus Reviews

Click here to visit her official web page: http://www.lisasee.com

Want to purchase your copy of The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane? For your convenience click this link to Amazon.com.

We'll also feature our usual weekly words of wisdom in the Confucius Moment.

On Treasures of China let your imagination soar as we'll take off for a new, amazing destination.

Learn about what's going on and things to see at museums on the Weekly Almanac.

We'll have more for you on Historical Notes, Chinese Fun Facts and Chopsticks, too.

We remind our audience that Host Jeffrey Bingham Mead is the American representative of the Admissions Network of Chinese Universities and Colleges.

The Sino-American Cultural Exchange Scholarship Program offers numerous opportunities for qualifying Americans to study for their Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral programs at Chinese universities and colleges. Please contact Mr. Mead for further details and to register today.

Time flies when you're having fun!

Be part of the journey this coming Saturday, May 6, 2017 at 10:30 a.m. Eastern USA Time/ 10:30 p.m. Beijing Time on 1490 WGCH Greenwich, Connecticut USA and anywhere in WGCH.com via audio-streaming.

If you miss the show fear not! We'll post a link on our archives site on Podcasts.com and the blog site on the 2017 Shows page.

Xie xie! Thank you for tuning in to Marvels of China: Pathways to the Pacific Rim. My weekly news blasts, emails and blog site are here to connect you to my show on NewsTalk AM 1490 WGCH Radio, China and the other cultures of East Asia and the Pacific Rim.

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This show is title-sponsored by Beijing AmBridge International Culture Development Ltd. You are invited to explore how an alliance with Beijing AmBridge can help your company or organization grow and prosper. Call Beijing AmBridge's office in Beijing at 86-10-80775517 or email ambridge01@163.com.

Corporate Executive Offices (CEO) in Greenwich, Connecticut USA is a supporting sponsor of this show. Since 1989, CEO has been a provider of world-class offices in a prominent, modern building with contemporary services, advanced technology and amenities that will help you focus on productivity while keeping your monthly costs under control. The best thing about CEO is that they treat you like family -only better! Visit them online at www.ceooffices.com or call 203-622-1300 today.

When you visit San Francisco be sure to make the Grant Plaza Hotel your choice for quality accommodations. This impressive boutique hotel is has all the advantages: great location, easy access to ground transportation, clean, safe and easy on your budget. Staff are cheerful. professional and helpful. The Grant Plaza is one block up from Dragon's Gate and within walking distance of Union Square and Market Street, even Nob Hill. Restaurants and theaters are nearby. Located at 465 Grant Avenue, San Francisco, California 94108-3208. Call (415) 434-3883.

The Pacific Learning Consortium in Honolulu, Hawaii and Greenwich, Connecticut sponsors of the weekly Confucius Moment. Now collaborating with the Admissions Network of Chinese Universities and Colleges by offering the Sino-American Cultural Exchange Scholarship Program. Now qualified Americans can study on full scholarships for their Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral degrees at Chinese universities. Get started today by contacting PacificLearningConsortium@gmail.com. Learn more online at www.pacificlearningconsortium.org.

Monday, April 24, 2017

May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month

May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month in the United States.

May was chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese to America on May 7, 1843, and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869. The majority of the workers who laid the tracks were Chinese immigrants.

The first Asian American and Chinese-American to be elected to the US Senate was Hiram Leong Fong from the state of Hawaii. He served from 1959 to 1977.

Charlie Chan is a fictional character created by Earl Derr Biggers. In the year 1919 while visiting Hawaii Biggers planned a detective story to be called The House Without a Key. He was inspired to add a Chinese American police officer to the plot after reading in the newspaper about Chang Apana and Lee Fook, two detectives in the Honolulu police force. Biggers particularly disliked the "yellow peril" stereotypes he found common in California, explicitly conceiving the Charlie Chan character as an alternative.

Anna May Wong is considered to be the first Chinese American movie star and the first Asian American actress to gain international recognition. Born Wong Liu Tsong in 1905 in Los Angeles, California Wong’s long and varied career spanned silent film sound film television radio and stage theater.

Clare Elizabeth Chan Lee was the first Chinese American woman to register to vote in the United States. She registered to vote on November 8, 1911 in California following the passage of Proposition 4 in California – nine years before the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. She was married to Dr. Charles Goodall Lee, the first Chinese American dentist in U.S. history.

Taylor Gun-Jin Wang is a Chinese born American scientist. Wong has the distinction of being the first person of Chinese ancestry to voyage in to space. He was a payload specialist on the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1985.

Yung Wing was the first Chinese student to graduate from an American university. He graduated from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut in 1854. Yung Wing was naturalized as an American citizen on October 30, 1852. At Yale’s commencement in 1876, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws.

Learn more on the web at http://asianpacificheritage.gov

Coming Up Next: Ms. Zhou Yi, Pipa Virtuoso of the Ba Ban Chinese Music Society of New York

My next guest on the Conversations segment of the April 29 broadcast of Marvels of China: Pathways to the Pacific Rim is Ms. Zhou Yi, pipa virtuoso of the Ba Ban Chinese Music Society of New York.

Founded in 1999, the Ba Ban Chinese Music Society of New York is dedicated to the preservation, creation and presentation of Chinese traditional and contemporary performing arts.

Named after an ancient piece of folk music, "Ba Ban" literally means "Eight Beats,” which is the structural basis for the grouping of notes in traditional Chinese music.

In 1843, Shanghai was one of the first five cities to open its ports to the West and became known as the "Paradise of Adventurers" and the “Paris of the Orient.”

Because of its unique geographic location and the structure of foreign concessions, Shanghai gradually became the most prosperous economic trade and cultural center of the Far East in the early 20th century.

In the 1930s and 40s, Shanghai was a cultural gathering place that fostered a unique environment for creating hybrid music. The boom of the foreign trading markets, the shantytowns on the riverbank of the Suzhou River, and the cultural mixture of east and west were reflected in the complex timbres of emerging Chinese pop music. This new genre of Chinese pop was both foreign and domestic as well as modern and traditional.

We'll also feature our usual weekly words of wisdom in the Confucius Moment.

On Treasures of China let your imagination soar as we'll take off for a new, amazing destination.

Learn about what's going on and things to see at museums on the Weekly Almanac.

We'll have more for you on Historical Notes, Chinese Fun Facts and Chopsticks.

Time flies when you're having fun!

Be part of the journey this coming Saturday, April 29, 2017 at 10:30 a.m. Eastern USA Time/ 10:30 p.m. Beijing Time on 1490 WGCH Greenwich, Connecticut USA and anywhere in WGCH.com via audio-streaming.

If you miss the show fear not!

We'll post a link on our archives site on Podcasts.com and the blog site on the 2017 Shows page.

Subscribe by email to MarvelsofChina@gmail.com. If you prefer not to receive messages please respond with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject-box of your email.

Marvels of China: Pathways to the Pacific Rim's broadcasts are from AM1490 WGCH and anywhere on WGCH.com in Greenwich, Connecticut USA.

Thursday, April 20, 2017

The Skyroom in San Francisco's Chinatown

Mr. Ken Ho is the general manager of the Grant Plaza Hotel. I learned from him that the top floor of the Grant Plaza was one of Chinatown's biggest nightclubs in the 1940-late 1960s.

"Our top floor used to be one of the biggest nightclubs, called Skyroom. I know some of the dancers who used to dance there and some other clubs."

I think I'd like to meet those dancers and have them on the broadcast! Stay tuned!

Subscribe by email to MarvelsofChina@gmail.com. If you prefer not to receive messages please respond with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject-box of your email.

Marvels of China: Pathways to the Pacific Rim's broadcasts are from AM1490 WGCH and anywhere on WGCH.com in Greenwich, Connecticut USA.

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Coming Up Next: Meet New York City-based Author Henry Chang, 'Lucky: A Detective Jack Yu Investigation'

Meet Henry Chang, my next guest on the Saturday, April 22, 2017 broadcast of the Marvels of China: Pathways to the Pacific Rim show on 1490 WGCH Greenwich, Connecticut, and anywhere on WGCH.com.

Listen to the broadcast here: http://www.podcasts.com/marvels-of-china-pathways-to-the-pacific-rim-ec77abf8d/episode/Show-64-April-22-2017-f7bf

Chang is a native New Yorker hailing from Manhattan's Chinatown and the Lower East Side. His poems have appeared in the seminal Yellow Pearl anthology, and in Gangs In New York’s Chinatown. He has written for Bridge Magazine, and his fiction has appeared in On A Bed Of Rice and in the NuyorAsian Anthology.

His debut novel Chinatown Beat garnered high praise from the New York Times Book Review, the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, among others.

Henry Chang is a graduate of CCNY (City College of New York). He has been a lighting consultant, and a Security Director for major hotels, commercial properties, and retail businesses in Manhattan.

Chang's Chinatown Trilogy of Chinatown Beat (2006), Year of the Dog (2008), Red Jade (2010) and Death Money (2014) are currently being developed for television and movies.

His newest mystery novel, Lucky: A Detective Jack Yu Investigation was released on March 14, 2017.

Kirkus Reviews calls Chang's latest work, "a turbo-charged requiem for a blood brotherhood rooted in an impossibly distant past."

Library Journal says, “Yu struggles between his loyalties formed growing up in New York’s Chinatown and his role as a police officer in the very same neighborhood… The sparse writing infused with Chinatown culture will appeal to those who are drawn to noir mysteries with a rich cultural component.”

Be sure to check out Henry Chang's official web site at http://www.chinatowntrilogy.com

You can purchase copies via this link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Detective-Jack-Yu-Investigation/dp/1616957840/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1492628985&sr=8-1&keywords=henry+chang+lucky

We'll also feature our usual weekly words of wisdom in the Confucius Moment. On Treasures of China let your imagination soar as we'll take off for a new, amazing destination. Learn about what's going on and things to see at museums on the Weekly Almanac. We'll have more for you on Historical Notes, Chinese Fun Facts and Chopsticks.

Time flies when you're having fun!

Be part of the journey this coming Saturday, April 22, 2017 at 10:30 a.m. Eastern USA Time/ 10:30 p.m. Beijing Time on 1490 WGCH Greenwich, Connecticut USA and anywhere in WGCH.com via audio-streaming.

If you miss the show fear not!

We'll post a link on our archives site on Podcasts.com and the blog site on the 2017 Shows page.

Subscribe by email to MarvelsofChina@gmail.com. If you prefer not to receive messages please respond with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject-box of your email.

Marvels of China: Pathways to the Pacific Rim's broadcasts are from AM1490 WGCH and anywhere on WGCH.com in Greenwich, Connecticut USA.

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Coming Up Next: Professor Jonathan Lee, San Francisco State University: “This Land Is Our Land”: Chinese Pluralities Through the Americas, An International Conference of the Chinese Historical Society of America

Aloha kakahiaka from Hawaii USA!

My next guest on the Saturday, April 15, 2017 broadcast of Marvels of China: Pathways to the Pacific Rim is Professor Jonathan Lee of San Francisco State University's Asian American Studies Program.

Professor Lee is the primary organizer of a fascinating conference scheduled for October 6-8, 2017.

"This Land Is Our Land": Chinese Pluralities Through the Americas, An International Conference of the Chinese Historical Society of the Americas (click here to the conference link) sounded fascinating to me -and I think it will be to you, too.

The conference is open to the public and organized by the Chinese Historical Society of America in San Francisco, California.

The basis of the conference "seeks to unpack, (re)examine, re(focus), (re)calibrate, and (re)examine the pluralities of "Chinese" experiences within, among, and through the Americas-historically and presently. We enjoin participants to take a global view of the Chinese experience in the Americas. The primary focus of this Conference is to research on any and all aspects of Chinese American history, Chinese American studies, and Chinese in the Americas."

What else do we have on tap for you?

We'll feature our usual Confucius Moment.

On Treasures of China let your imagination soar as we'll take off for a new, amazing destination.

Learn about what's going on and things to see at museums on the Weekly Almanac.

On Historical Notes you'll hear about Hazel Ying Lee, the first Chinese American woman to fly for the U.S. military during World War II.

After my recent first-ever visit to San Francisco's Chinatown I decided to share some of what I learned about this oldest such Chinatown in North America on Chinese Fun Facts.

As a confessed foodie I shared that nothing comes between me and my dim sum on Chopsticks.

Time flies when you're having fun!

Be part of the journey this coming Saturday, April 15, 2017 at 10:30 a.m. Eastern USA Time/ 10:30 p.m. Beijing Time on 1490 WGCH Greenwich, Connecticut USA and anywhere in WGCH.com via audio-streaming.

If you miss the show fear not!

We'll post a link on our archives site on Podcasts.com and this blog site on the 2017 Shows page.

You can also receive the show link in your email box by joining our email list at marvelsofchina@gmail.com.

Subscribe by email to MarvelsofChina@gmail.com. If you prefer not to receive messages please respond with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject-box of your email.

Marvels of China: Pathways to the Pacific Rim's broadcasts are from AM1490 WGCH and anywhere on WGCH.com in Greenwich, Connecticut USA.

Photos: Chinatown, San Francisco California USA

The Chinese Historical Society of America, formerly the Chinatown YWCA.

Okay, I confess. San Francisco's Chinatown was not what I expected. It was ten times more! This is the largest and oldest Chinatown in North America -the source of legends, stories and a special character found nowhere else. It's sights, sounds and aromas -and people- captured me in no time at all.

Steep hills and inclines were not going to be a barrier to this adventure! This is a blogger and photographer's paradise, the kind that makes you feel like a kid in a candy store again. What fun!

Below are just some of the streetscapes I beheld day in and day out during my adventures in the City-by-the-Bay's Chinatown. Please enjoy!

Will I be back? You betcha! Come with me!

In the near future I'll be offering opportunities for you to accompany me on future visits to San Francisco's Chinatown.

Tune in to Marvels of China: Pathways to the Pacific Rim on Saturday's 10:30 a.m. Eastern USA Time/ 10:30 p.m. Beijing Time live on 1490 WGCH in Greenwich, Connecticut USA and anywhere on WGCH.com via audio-streaming.

Did you miss a show? Not to worry! We've got you covered.

Visit our show archives on Podcasts.com, on this blog site's 2016 shows and 2017 shows pages, or on the Shows and Hosts section of WGCH.com.

Subscribe by email to MarvelsofChina@gmail.com. If you prefer not to receive messages please respond with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject-box of your email.

Marvels of China: Pathways to the Pacific Rim's broadcasts are from AM1490 WGCH and anywhere on WGCH.com in Greenwich, Connecticut USA.