History

September 18, 2020 0

Celebrating 100 Years of Voting—But Not for Asian American Women

This August, Americans celebrated the 100 year anniversary of the 19th Amendment—an anniversary that excludes many Chinese Americans. While the 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote, many Asian American women were denied citizenship due to laws like the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. It wasn’t until the 1952 McCarran-Walter Act that all Asian Americans could vote. This law allowed people of Asian ancestry to become citizens, thereby giving them the right to vote. Sixty-eight years later, Asian American political […]

September 4, 2020 0

Bella Long, The Original Queen of Chinatown

by Richard Auffrey

By Richard Auffrey Who was the original “Queen of Chinatown”? The answer will likely surprise you, until you consider the circumstances of the time. For approximately twenty years, until her death in 1906, Bella Long was the undisputed Queen of Chinatown. She was likely the first white woman, married to a Chinese man, who lived in Boston’s Chinatown, having arrived in town around 1880-1882. Her past before she moved to Chinatown was mired in mystery and throughout most of her […]

August 21, 2020 0

Mary Yick, a pioneering restaurateur of Chinatown who fought discrimination

by Richard Auffrey

From restaurant owner to blackjack dealer, Mary Yick, like two other Chinatown restaurateurs, Ruby Foo and Anita Chue, was another pioneering woman in the Chinatown’s restaurant industry, owning the Tiki Hut restaurant on Tyler Street. Mary Yick was born around 1934 and made her first appearance in a local newspaper, the Boston Herald, in November 1939. At age 5, she and two other young Chinese girls were photographed walking in a parade in Chinatown, part of the first rice bowl party for war […]

August 21, 2020 0

Chinatown Master Plan 2020 covers a broad spectrum of future development and community needs

by Lydia Lowe

The Chinatown Master Plan Committee released Master Plan 2020 with two recent launch events, involving more than a hundred participants from the community, local officials, and other interested stakeholders. Chinatown Master Plan 2020 is a 91-page report, with English and Chinese language versions, that includes data snapshots, updated community development priorities, and identification of four “opportunity areas” where development could support community health and stability. Drafted out of a year-and-a-half planning process involving residents, small business owners, community organizations, and […]

August 7, 2020 0

Celebrate ‘World Baijiu Day’

by Richard Auffrey

It’s the most popular spirit in the world, with over 11 billion liters produced, and nearly all made in a single country – China. Despite its great popularity, many Americans know little, if anything, about it, and it’s time to enlighten people about the wonders of this fascinating spirit known as Baijiu. Commonly pronounced as “bye joe”, the term derives from two words, bai (‘transparent’) and jiu (‘alcoholic drink’), so baijiu roughly translates as ‘white liquor.’ I consider baijiu to […]

May 1, 2017 0

Newton 2017 Taiwan Day on May 6

by Sampan Staff

Newton 2017 Taiwan Day is an event you dare not miss! It provides a venue to share Taiwanese culture and cuisine with the public. Special performance by Formosa Melody Music is invited to perform the sound from the Heartstrings of Homeland. Whether you are Taiwanese or not, there is surely something fun for everyone with our performances and cheap tapas-style food items. Entertainment + food + crowd→ a good afternoon! Title: Newton 2017 Taiwan Day – visit MJNE BoothMJNE Booth is looking […]

May 3, 2012 0

Stuart Street Closed this Weekend

by guest

City of Boston Traffic Advisory The Boston Transportation Department is advising drivers and pedestrians alike that Stuart Street, between Berkeley and Arlington Streets, will be closed to both vehicular and pedestrian traffic this weekend for the purpose of erecting a pedestrian bridge at the Liberty Mutual construction site. The street will be closed beginning on Friday, May 4, 2012 at 8 PM and will not reopen until Sunday, May, 6, 2012 at 3 PM. The designated detour route will be […]

January 7, 2011 0

Quincy’s Betty Yau: Community activist and Asian outreach specialist

by guest

Several years ago, Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch sought out community activist Betty Yau to assist him in his campaign for Mayor of Quincy, a city with a large and growing Asian population. Koch says that Yau is an “asset to the City who works hard each day to assist the City’s Asian population on a number of issues” and that Yau’s “compassion and commitment to helping people” is “second to none.” Today Yau serves the community through her participation in […]

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