Lifestyles
14 | thebellevuescene.com | august 2011
Uniquel y The untold generation
Bellevue w
ith 25 years of an Eastside presence, the Gunnar Nordstrom Gallery has become your singular source for exceptional fine art from a dealer who prides himself on integrity, fair values and a sense of community. Currently, the Asian Contemporary paintings will run through August 7 and the Hot August Nights Exhibit will start August 10 through September 11.
Conveniently located with FREE parking at Bellevue Place, the Gallery is beautifully situated on the courtyard of the Hyatt Hotel next to Bo Concept and Joey’s restaurant. Please join us for a monthly Vernissage every Second Wednesday and a Finissage every First Friday.
Art in Bellevue 800 Bellevue Way N.E. #111 www.ArtInBellevue.com | 425.283.0461 August Nights ❰ Hot Aug.10 - Sept.11 Asian Contemporary Until Aug.7
Art in Bellevue
❱ 425.283.0461 ArtInBellevue.com
On the Hyatt Courtyard
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Newcastle author’s book tells of second wave of Chinese immigrants
Story by gabrielle nomura Photo by Chad Coleman How to watch football – that was one of the first things China-born Peter Ku had to learn when he came to the U.S. in 1963. “Of course, in Asia, what we call football you call soccer,” says Ku, who was perplexed by the father in his host family who could sit in front of the TV watching the game for hours. Mastering English was another challenge. Ku, who thought he was pretty proficient in the language, could barely understand what his professor was saying in his first graduate school class at the University of Minnesota. But he didn’t give up. With the help of friendly classmates who lent him their notemaking cultural connections: Dori Jones Yang and her newest book. books, Ku would eventually go on to earn his Ph.D. and later, become Chancellor Emeritus of Seattle and “The Secret Voice of Gina The Eastside author is fascinated Community Colleges Zhang.” by the intersection of Chinese and “I’m one of the happy immiIn her newest work, Yang used American cultures – where they grants,” says the Bellevue resident. her journalist skills to interview clash, where they blend. She aims “I feel grateful and blessed with a 35 Chinese Americans who imto increase understanding between life in this country where, if you migrated to the U.S. between 1934 Americans and Chinese. work hard, you can be successful.” and 1968. She hopes her work will “I think this is vital for a peaceful Ku is part of the “second wave” provide a more complete underand prosperous future,” she says. of Chinese in the U.S. who came to standing of the Chinese immigrant this county between the mid-’30s experience. THE SECOND WAVE SPEAKS: and late ‘60s, mostly as students She also refers to the people she “I was country-less for many seeking degrees, professional jobs interviewed as the “lost generation,” years. I was in communist China and citizenship. because most of them were cut off but I wasn’t a communist. I went to This group is often overlooked by from the land of their birth and Hong Kong, a British Colony, but I historians, who’ve paid more attenunable to even check in on relatives wasn’t British. When people raised tion in the past to the “first wave” left behind under communism. flags and sang anthems, I never had of Chinese immigrants with more “If they had stayed in China or a country to belong to.” dramatic stories. The first wave Taiwan, they would have been the - Conrad Lee, Warlord’s built railroads, created Chinatowns best and the brightest, respected nephew, elected Bellevue City and faced severe discrimination, leaders of their country, but instead Council member, Deputy Mayor such as the Chinese Exclusion Act they struggled with English and interviewed in “Second Wave.” of 1882 banning immigration from faced many challenges as they tried China. to succeed in America,” Yang says. “We came [to the U.S.] more or But now, Ku’s and his generation’s In 2009, Maria L. Koh, one of the less partially educated already. Durstories will live on in Dori Jones interviewees, commissioned Yang ing the first 20 years here, we didn’t Yang’s new book: “Voices of the to create this book of oral histories dare lift our heads or speak out. Second Wave: Chinese Americans inspired by the Japanese American Men and women would say, ‘Where in Seattle.” legacy project, Densho. are you from? Where are you really A former foreign correspondent The book is, “a work from the from?’ I never wanted to say Shangin Hong Kong, Yang, a Newcastle heart,” Yang says, because she unhai because I didn’t want anyone to resident, is now an author of several dertook it as a tribute to this group, think I was a communist.” books, including acclaimed young (which includes her husband, Paul - Maria Koh, commissioner of adult fiction, “Daughter of Xanadu” Yang), and not to make money. the book and interviewee.