February 2010 | By Jane Leung Larson
Come Build the “Chinese in America” Wall, Brick by Brick, Face by Face!
The May 1 kick-off of World Expo in Shanghai is drawing near, spurring the Committee of 100 to ramp up promotion of the USA Pavilion and its Committee-created “Chinese in America” photo wall. As the USA Pavilion Strategic Partner, the Committee is focusing on fundraising to support the Pavilion and creation of a video wall showing the diverse faces of Chinese America.
To help build the “Chinese in America: We are Family” exhibit—open to contributions of photos without charge to anyone of Chinese descent living in the U.S.—the Committee of 100 is offering individuals and companies an opportunity to display their names on bricks that will form the physical wall of the USA Pavilion,which promises to be one of the most popular country pavilions at the Shanghai Expo. A limited number of bricks are available for tax-deductible gifts of $1,000 to $10,000, giving donors their only opportunity to have their names be seen by as many as 70 million visitors to World Expo. Construction of the “Chinese in America” exhibit in Shanghai is underway, but the deadline for ordering bricks has been extended to March 12. Sign up at http://www.comebuildthewall.org.
Photos for the “Chinese in America – We are Family” wall have been coming in from across America, thanks to the efforts of over 30 community groups, contributed advertising from widely-followed media such as the World Journal and Multicultural Radio Broadcasting, and banks, including East West Bank, which is promoting the exhibit through its multi-state branch network.
To put your Chinese American face on the video wall to be seen by Expo visitors, go to http://www.jointhewall.org/ and upload your photo along with full American name and Chinese family name. The full-fledged version of the website where you’ll be able to see each new face added will launch later this spring.
The World Journal has donated this full-page ad to the “Join the Wall” campaign (click the photo to enlarge).
Press conferences in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York have brought the project to the attention of the ethnic Chinese media in the U.S., and cooperation with national and community groups and businesses has spread the word directly to Chinese Americans where they live.
The web has proved the best place to reach out to Chinese American youth. Updated frequently is a new “Chinese in America” Facebook page, YouTube videos promote the exhibit and explain how to upload a photo to the website. On YouTube, Metropolitan Opera star Hao Jiang Tian tells how he first came to America and sings his invitation to “Join the Wall.”
Hao Jiang Tian: “I’m proud to be a Chinese American. Show your pride, show your face and please join me with your beautiful photos. Please send us your photo and join the wall!” (watch the video here.)
The enthusiastic participation of Chinese American organizations is an example of “what can be considered a historic coming together of all Chinese in America,” said C-100 Governor Shirley Young. Contributing volunteer time, photo-taking services, promotion, and financial support are traditional Chinatown groups such as the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA) in San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles; regional associations such as the Shanghai Association of America; social service groups like the Chinese American Planning Council's Project Open Door Senior Center in New York City; student groups including Asian American organizations at Harvard and Columbia; professional associations such as Ascend (a national Pan-Asian organization for accounting and financial professionals); and major national organizations including the Organization of Chinese Americans and Families with Children from China.
Outside Chinese Six Companies building, San Francisco: Pictured are members Julie Fong and Dennis Wu on either side of Fong’s father, Jack Lee Fong (center), along with members and friends of the Fong family (click the photo to enlarge).
Committee members in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco have engaged in grassroots organizing for the exhibit. In this issue, we highlight San Francisco’s Dennis Wu, who has successfully recruited participation and financial contributions by a host of local organizations and businesses. He credits his success to working closely with a man with deep ties to the community, Jack Lee Fong (recruited by daughter Julie Fong), past president of the Chinese Six Companies (CCBA) in San Francisco. A meeting with the CCBA board of directors resulted in commitments to buy bricks to build the Wall and to organize photo-taking at family association Chinese New Year banquets. Wu also says that Mabel Teng, executive director of the Chinese Cultural Foundation, is planning extensive outreach to schools, senior citizen centers, and other places where Chinese Americans gather, and even organized a photo shoot at San Francisco City Hall. The Join the Wall campaign in San Francisco was “an inspiration to everyone on what can be done when we work together,” said Wu.
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