October 7, 2024
6:00PM
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8:00PM
Evans Laboratory 2004
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2024-10-07 18:00:00
2024-10-07 20:00:00
Lived Experiences of the Early Cantonese Immigrants: A Glimpse from San Francisco Chinatown’s Gold Mountain Songs and the Poetry on Angel Island
DEALL Professor Marjorie Chan is giving a lecture on evening of Monday, 7 October 2024 that will be hosted by the Chinese American Student Association (CASA), with support from the Institute of Chinese Studies, East Asian Studies Center. The lecture will take place during the first part of the evening, with some related activities following it. The event is free and open to the public. AbstractThe California Gold Rush (1848-1855) attracted hundreds of thousands of people from within the U.S. and beyond to California, including many from China who settled in San Francisco. They joined those who, back in 1838, had travelled north from Mexico to the city. In 1853, San Francisco’s Chinese neighborhood (“Little Canton”) was given the name “Chinatown” by the press. These residents, who came mostly from Cantonese-speaking counties in the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong Province in southern China, refer to their enclave as “Tangren Jie” 唐人街 (‘Tang people’s Street’). This talk has two main objectives. The first objective is to provide some historical background on early Chinese immigration to the U.S., and on the Angel Island Immigration Station (1910-1940) in San Francisco Bay. And the second objective is to present the lived experiences of these immigrants in the early 20th century of those seeking to enter the U.S. and those living in San Francisco Chinatown. This is accomplished through two main sets of poetry: (1) Angel Island poems that were carved by detainees into the walls of the barracks on Angel Island, many having been translated by Lai et al. (1980, 2014). And (2) Gold Mountain songs in two volumes (金山歌集, 金山歌二集) with many of them having been translated by Hom (1987). The poems offer a glimpse into not only the lived experiences of the immigrants, but also into family and loved ones left in China and those who were denied entry into the U.S. and were deported. Short BioMarjorie K. M. Chan is an Associate Professor in the East Asian Linguistics component of the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures (DEALL) at The Ohio State University. Daughter and granddaughter of “paper sons,” she was born in the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong Province in southern China, and grew up in Vancouver Chinatown. She received her B.A. and M.A. in Linguistics from the University of British Columbia, and her Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Washington. She was a post-doctoral fellow for two years at UCLA’s Phonetics Lab before joining OSU. Her teaching and research in DEALL focus on Chinese Linguistics: phonetics and phonology; dialectology; historical linguistics, especially historical phonology; the Chinese writing system, including dialect-writing; socio-pragmatic issues pertaining to language and gender, as well as to humor. The culture component of her teaching and research pertains to Chinese opera, with particular interest in regional operas, and Cantonese operas in particular.
Evans Laboratory 2004
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2024-10-07 18:00:00
2024-10-07 20:00:00
Lived Experiences of the Early Cantonese Immigrants: A Glimpse from San Francisco Chinatown’s Gold Mountain Songs and the Poetry on Angel Island
DEALL Professor Marjorie Chan is giving a lecture on evening of Monday, 7 October 2024 that will be hosted by the Chinese American Student Association (CASA), with support from the Institute of Chinese Studies, East Asian Studies Center. The lecture will take place during the first part of the evening, with some related activities following it. The event is free and open to the public. AbstractThe California Gold Rush (1848-1855) attracted hundreds of thousands of people from within the U.S. and beyond to California, including many from China who settled in San Francisco. They joined those who, back in 1838, had travelled north from Mexico to the city. In 1853, San Francisco’s Chinese neighborhood (“Little Canton”) was given the name “Chinatown” by the press. These residents, who came mostly from Cantonese-speaking counties in the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong Province in southern China, refer to their enclave as “Tangren Jie” 唐人街 (‘Tang people’s Street’). This talk has two main objectives. The first objective is to provide some historical background on early Chinese immigration to the U.S., and on the Angel Island Immigration Station (1910-1940) in San Francisco Bay. And the second objective is to present the lived experiences of these immigrants in the early 20th century of those seeking to enter the U.S. and those living in San Francisco Chinatown. This is accomplished through two main sets of poetry: (1) Angel Island poems that were carved by detainees into the walls of the barracks on Angel Island, many having been translated by Lai et al. (1980, 2014). And (2) Gold Mountain songs in two volumes (金山歌集, 金山歌二集) with many of them having been translated by Hom (1987). The poems offer a glimpse into not only the lived experiences of the immigrants, but also into family and loved ones left in China and those who were denied entry into the U.S. and were deported. Short BioMarjorie K. M. Chan is an Associate Professor in the East Asian Linguistics component of the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures (DEALL) at The Ohio State University. Daughter and granddaughter of “paper sons,” she was born in the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong Province in southern China, and grew up in Vancouver Chinatown. She received her B.A. and M.A. in Linguistics from the University of British Columbia, and her Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Washington. She was a post-doctoral fellow for two years at UCLA’s Phonetics Lab before joining OSU. Her teaching and research in DEALL focus on Chinese Linguistics: phonetics and phonology; dialectology; historical linguistics, especially historical phonology; the Chinese writing system, including dialect-writing; socio-pragmatic issues pertaining to language and gender, as well as to humor. The culture component of her teaching and research pertains to Chinese opera, with particular interest in regional operas, and Cantonese operas in particular.
Evans Laboratory 2004
America/New_York
public
DEALL Professor Marjorie Chan is giving a lecture on evening of Monday, 7 October 2024 that will be hosted by the Chinese American Student Association (CASA), with support from the Institute of Chinese Studies, East Asian Studies Center. The lecture will take place during the first part of the evening, with some related activities following it.
The event is free and open to the public.
Abstract
The California Gold Rush (1848-1855) attracted hundreds of thousands of people from within the U.S. and beyond to California, including many from China who settled in San Francisco. They joined those who, back in 1838, had travelled north from Mexico to the city. In 1853, San Francisco’s Chinese neighborhood (“Little Canton”) was given the name “Chinatown” by the press. These residents, who came mostly from Cantonese-speaking counties in the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong Province in southern China, refer to their enclave as “Tangren Jie” 唐人街 (‘Tang people’s Street’).
The California Gold Rush (1848-1855) attracted hundreds of thousands of people from within the U.S. and beyond to California, including many from China who settled in San Francisco. They joined those who, back in 1838, had travelled north from Mexico to the city. In 1853, San Francisco’s Chinese neighborhood (“Little Canton”) was given the name “Chinatown” by the press. These residents, who came mostly from Cantonese-speaking counties in the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong Province in southern China, refer to their enclave as “Tangren Jie” 唐人街 (‘Tang people’s Street’).
This talk has two main objectives. The first objective is to provide some historical background on early Chinese immigration to the U.S., and on the Angel Island Immigration Station (1910-1940) in San Francisco Bay. And the second objective is to present the lived experiences of these immigrants in the early 20th century of those seeking to enter the U.S. and those living in San Francisco Chinatown. This is accomplished through two main sets of poetry: (1) Angel Island poems that were carved by detainees into the walls of the barracks on Angel Island, many having been translated by Lai et al. (1980, 2014). And (2) Gold Mountain songs in two volumes (金山歌集, 金山歌二集) with many of them having been translated by Hom (1987). The poems offer a glimpse into not only the lived experiences of the immigrants, but also into family and loved ones left in China and those who were denied entry into the U.S. and were deported.
Short Bio
Marjorie K. M. Chan is an Associate Professor in the East Asian Linguistics component of the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures (DEALL) at The Ohio State University. Daughter and granddaughter of “paper sons,” she was born in the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong Province in southern China, and grew up in Vancouver Chinatown. She received her B.A. and M.A. in Linguistics from the University of British Columbia, and her Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Washington. She was a post-doctoral fellow for two years at UCLA’s Phonetics Lab before joining OSU. Her teaching and research in DEALL focus on Chinese Linguistics: phonetics and phonology; dialectology; historical linguistics, especially historical phonology; the Chinese writing system, including dialect-writing; socio-pragmatic issues pertaining to language and gender, as well as to humor. The culture component of her teaching and research pertains to Chinese opera, with particular interest in regional operas, and Cantonese operas in particular.
Marjorie K. M. Chan is an Associate Professor in the East Asian Linguistics component of the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures (DEALL) at The Ohio State University. Daughter and granddaughter of “paper sons,” she was born in the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong Province in southern China, and grew up in Vancouver Chinatown. She received her B.A. and M.A. in Linguistics from the University of British Columbia, and her Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Washington. She was a post-doctoral fellow for two years at UCLA’s Phonetics Lab before joining OSU. Her teaching and research in DEALL focus on Chinese Linguistics: phonetics and phonology; dialectology; historical linguistics, especially historical phonology; the Chinese writing system, including dialect-writing; socio-pragmatic issues pertaining to language and gender, as well as to humor. The culture component of her teaching and research pertains to Chinese opera, with particular interest in regional operas, and Cantonese operas in particular.
