Portland's Canton Grill Menus Over The Years

         Looking at Chinese restaurant menus from different decades provides a glimpse at changes in customer food preferences (as well as the increase in prices over the years).  Comparing menus from the same restaurant, if possible, gives a fairer picture than if they were from different restaurants in different parts of the country.

            Portland's Canton Grill, operating as early as the 1920s, posted several of their menus from 1940 to the 1970s on their website (hopefully they will update with menus from the 1980s to the present).  Even though only one restaurant's menus are presented, it probably is representative of the menu offerings of other Chinese restaurants in the Portland area.

Mississippi Delta Chinese High School Athletes in 1950s

          Prior to the 1950s, Chinese were not even allowed to enroll in white schools in many parts of Mississippi. However, during the 1950s, not only were they admitted but some of them were competing well on high school football, baseball, and basketball teams.  Their participation is somewhat surprising because they had to work many hours to help in the family grocery businesses. In addition, some Chinese parents probably disapproved of their sons competing in physical competition.  However, the motivation of Chinese youth to fit in with American societal customs  prevailed over any opposition from their immigrant parents.

Boyle High Baseball 1951,
Walter Joe, left end front row
and Ed Joe, right end front row.

Boyle High 1953-4 Basketball, Peter Joe (14)

Greenville High, 1956 Football.  Eugene, Hugh, and Watson Lum

Interestingly, a Greenville clothing store, Nels & Blum, featured high school athletes, including Chinese players, as 'fashion models' in their newspaper ads.

Ed Lum, Greenville High, 1959

Ruleville: George Jue
 Boyle High: Walter and Peter Joe,
Greenville High, Charlie Chu

Warren Lum, Greenville High, 1959

Story of Chinese restaurant origins all over the world

Chinese immigrant restaurant in Mexico
   
      Although this documentary features a Chinese immigrant family-run restaurant in Mexico, the story it tells is virtually the same one you'll find all over the world about how Chinese immigrants sought an economic niche in their new homeland despite little knowledge of the new language, customs, and lifestyle.

          Even though they often had little or no experience running restaurants, these Chinese saw it was a means to survival. Their hope was that their children, growing up in the new land, would be able to advance to less arduous and more enjoyable work.

Portland Chinese Scholarship Foundation Fundraiser, May 3, 2012

       I spoke about my Sweet and Sour book on the history of Chinese family restaurants at a fundraiser for the Portland Chinese Scholarship Foundation headed by Bruce Wong, the grandson of the original owner of the no longer operating historic Hung Far Lo restaurant in old Chinatown.

The next day, Bruce and I met at the Canton Grill, opened back in the 1940s, to participate in a  program produced by Annie Yau on Chinese laundries and restaurants as part of a six part documentary on Chinese Immigrant History for Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) to be shown in late summer.
First, the camera crew invaded the kitchen to film the preparation of several iconic Westernized dishes, chop suey, egg foo young, and chow mein. Then seated in a booth in the dining room, Bruce and I sampled the dishes as we conversed about the background of these popular items.

The John Jung Letters

A few years ago I was intrigued to learn that the University of North Dakota had an archive of "John Jung Letters," written in the 1920s by a young Chinese boy whose father ran a laundry in Devils Lake, a small town in North Dakota.  Fascinated by the fact that not only did this boy and I share the same name, but that we seemed to have a common life experience growing up in cultural isolation in a small town in a laundry run by our parents, I had to see these letters that were a collection of letters he wrote to  his fourth grade teacher after she moved to another town.  These letters, written over a span of about seven years open a window on the personal growth of development of John Jung as a Chinese boy in North Dakota where there were few other Chinese. 

I also had my own "John Jung letters, collected from the 1950s after I left my birthplace, Macon, Georgia, to live in San Francisco.  Unlike the North Dakota letters, my collection does not contain letters that I wrote but rather it is a set of letters I received and saved from one of my teachers and two other white adult mentors who were strong influences on my personal growth.

I wrote a paper for a meeting of the Association of Asian American Studies that discussed these two sets of "John Jung letters" and posted the paper on this site, The John Jung Letters.

Washington, D. C. Talk on Chinese American History Left Out of School Books

The Chinatown Community Cultural Center in D. C.'s Chinatown provided an ideal location for my presentation about my four books on important aspects of the history of Chinese in America that are not discussed in the typical school books on American history.  I was rewarded with an attentive and appreciative audience. One audience member, Jay Roberts, even posted a generous blog commentary about the talk! I met several community leaders and activists from the Chinese American community and after the talk we enjoyed a delicious lunch at, where else, a Chinese restaurant! A special aspect of the event was that 2 of my former psychology students from Long Beach, now living in the D. C. area, attended my talk.

Update on the National Seminar, U. S. China People's Friendship Association, Washington, D. C. April 26-27

     This 2 day seminar under the leadership of National President Diana Greer was a great success with high quality presentations on a diverse range of topics relevant to the promotion of better understanding, cooperation, and respect between the peoples of the U. S. and China.
     My presentation on Chinese American history was well-received and regarded as valuable information that was relevant to the mission of USCPFA.  This meeting helped me establish some good network contacts with a broader population than I've reached thus far.
      A highlight of the event was the opportunity to visit and tour the spectacular new Chinese Embassy at their reception for USCPFA.  I presented Ambassador Zhang Yesui (top right) with a set of Yin and Yang Books, which he graciously accepted,  expressing the view that it is important that China know more about the history of Chinese in America. Without the persuasive and enthusiastic support of  Peggy Roney, President of the Southern Region (bottom left), my advocate who nominated me as a seminar speaker, I would have missed out on this wonderful seminar.

     A

U.S. China People's Friendship Association Seminar, Washington, D. C. April 26-27

      I'm looking forward to speaking at the U. S. China People's Friendship National Seminar this week in Washington, D. C.  I get to speak early on the first day, so I can then enjoy lunch and the rest of the activities on the 2 day event. The organization has nicely arranged some wonderful touristy and cultural events for the participants.
    The theme of my talk will be "How U.S. China Relations Affect the Lives of Chinese in America" and I'll use my 4 books as illustrative evidence.

Day 1  Schedule

9:00 Official Representative:  The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China

9:30 Zhou Wenzhong:  Vice President of China-U.S. People’s Friendship Association, Beijing

10:00 Marcia Brown:  Community Global Initiative and Students—Angel Gaston and Taylor Middleton                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

10:30 John Jung, Ph.D., Author/Lecturer from California

11:30   Lunch in Lounge Area near Lobby

1:00 Board bus for VIP Tour at Freer Gallery

1:30  VIP Tour of Highlights of Chinese Art in Freer Gallery and view Sackler Gallery on your own

3:30 Visit Martin Luther King monument with report by Mary Warpeha

4:15 Return to Washington Plaza Hotel to get ready for Embassy Reception (Dress in business attire)

5:00 Board bus for Chinese Embassy

5:30 Arrive at Embassy (must be prompt)

6:00 Reception at The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the U.S.A.

3505 International Place, N.W., Washington,  D.C.

7:30 Board bus for Illumination Tour of the city and monuments

The Power of Google

       A few days ago I posted about the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California's annual observance  of Ching Ming in Los Angeles followed by a visit to the gravesite of  Miss Donaldina Cameron, the San Francisco missionary who rescued Chinese girls enslaved by prostitution rings. Thanks to Google, it found its way to a talented writer of children's fiction, Robert A. Black. He contacted me to tell me about the relevance of the information in my post to his forthcoming book, Unswept Graves, which is a sort of "science fiction" story involving time travel about a young Chinese girl kidnapped into servitude and her rescue to the protection of a mission home back in the 1890s. It's great to hear of his book and hope that it will help inform a wide range of middle school aged children about the historical realities of the past.

Ching Ming Remembrance in Los Angeles Included Visit to Miss Donaldina Cameron's Grave

    Ching-Ming, the annual spring Chinese 'sweeping of the graves' ritual remembrance of ancestors was held today at Evergreen Cemetery in East Los Angeles with a ceremony sponsored by the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California. It was an especially significant event now that the unearthed bones of about 100 unidentified Chinese immigrants from over a century ago have been given a respectful resting place in the cemetery after protests by the Chinese community when these remains were initially 'discarded'  when they were discovered during the excavation for a light rail line.
     Following the ceremony during which Daoist monks performed ritual chants, there was a Chinese lunch with roast pig, dim sum, and jook. Finally, we gathered at the nearby grave of Donaldina Cameron, a renown Presbyterian missionary who devoted her life to rescuing and helping young Chinese women who were essentially sold into slavery and prostitution in Chinatown during the early decades of the last century. Although this native of New Zealand served the Chinese of San Francisco, she is buried in Los Angeles where her relatives resided. We wanted to pay respects to her for the substantial contributions she made to Chinese women.

Donaldina Cameron (center back) in front of the Julia Morgan designed building at  920 Sacramento St., San Francisco with  Chinese girls that she rescued or who received daycare.

    Below is the 1920 Census Record listing Miss Cameron and her staff (in green) at the top of the sheet.  Note the ages of the girls, highlighted in the green column with some as young as 16.

       The census sheet below is also for 920 Sacramento and contains names of much younger girls, possibly children left for daycare by working parents.  The listing does not cover all the women that received shelter at Cameron House over many years, only the one residing there on the day the 1920 Census taker was there.

         The visit to her gravesite was meaningful to me in a personal way as I spent many hours at 920 Sacramento St., named Cameron House in her honor, during my high school and college years in the Bay area during the 1950s and made many friends among the Chinese youth who frequented this Chinatown service center.