Conference Program
Anthony Alvarez
PRE-CONFERENCE EVENT:
THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 2017
We encourage attendees to attend the Special Exhibit on Cuba at the American Museum of Natural History (open until August 13). This exhibit can serve as a foundation to our conference’s discussion on Chinese in Cuba. We hope to get group discount and a special guided tour.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 4, 2017
RECEPTION AT FLUSHING TOWN HALL
137-35 Northern Blvd., Flushing NY 11354
Click image for details about film screening
Transportation option: Take mini van from Confucius Plaza to Flushing Library then walk along Main Street to Northern Blvd.
6:30 p.m. Welcoming Remarks, Dr. Keith Lowe, chair and co-founder, Toronto Hakka Conference; Dr. Bayer Jack-Wah Lee, pastor First Chinese Baptist Church of Chinatown NY and Paula Williams Madison, president, New York Hakka Conference.
7:30 p.m. Flushing Town Hall screens the film "Finding Samuel Lowe: China, Jamaica, Harlem" by Paula Williams Madison, followed by Q&A and her signing of her book (in English and Chinese translation). After retiring from NBCUniversal, Harlem-born Madison began actively to search for the Chinese side of her family from which the Jamaican side was separated for almost nine decades. She traveled to the Toronto Hakka Conference in 2012 and, with the help of attendees, found the threads that led her back to China to be reunited with her family of almost 150 generations. Her story is the subject of inquiry into the influence of West African conception of self-identity and spirituality on the formation of Afro/Caribbean Hakka identity. Get your tickets now, RSVP at Flushing Town Hall website.
Option: Those who already saw the film could leave early if they wish but we encourage you to see it again.
7:30 p.m. or 9:15 p.m. Attendees could have dinner in Flushing or return to Chinatown. Transportation option: Regularly scheduled mini vans ($3) from the Flushing Post Office to Confucius Plaza OR take MTA #7 train, then transfer to D train and exit at Grand Street Station in Chinatown, just a short walk to the conference hotel, Wyndham Plaza Chinatown, 93 Bowery St. NY, NY 10002.
SATURDAY, August 5
THE YUNG WING PUBLIC SCHOOL, 40 Division St., NY, NY 10002
9:00 - 9:30, Auditorium-- OPENING CEREMONY
Greetings from Honorary Conference Chair Jerry Shiao, President, Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of New York (CCBA)
Traditional Hakka Unicorn Dance (Moo Kee Lin) performance.
9:30 - 12:00, Auditorium -- HAVANA CHINESE CEMETERY PROJECT
12:00 - 1:00 Lunch in local restaurants
1:00 - 2:30 pmAuditorium -- CREATIVE STORY TELLING BY HAKKA AUTHORS
2:30 - 2:45 pm -- BREAK
2:45 - 3:45 pmAuditorium -- CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF HAN SUYIN
3:45 - 4:45 pmAuditorium -- TELLING YOUR OWN HAKKA NARRATIVE
5:00 - 8:30 pm Conference Dinner with Presentation of Hakka Achievement Awards
Delight 28 Restaurant, 28 Pell Street, Chinatown NY, NY 10013
CHINA ANGELS 2017 TOUR. Performance by “Orphans from Bejing”
SUNDAY August 6, 2017
9:30 – 10:00 am-- Auditorium -- OPENING REMARKS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
The origin of the theory of Five Hakka Migration and critiques of the Han
10:00 - 12:15 noon -- Auditorium -- CHINATOWNS AND CHINESE ASSOCIATIONS IN THE AMERICAS
Part One: CHINATOWNS , 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Havana Chinatown: Old and New by Mitzi Espinosa Luis with photos from Jook Leung (20 min.); New York Chinatown photographic project presented by Corky Lee and Jook Leung(20 min.); Los Angeles by Dr. Gay Quai-Ming Yuen (20 min.); Peru and Hakka Chinese by Patricia Castro, PhD candidate in Chinese Anthropology at Pontifical Catholic University of Peru-Peking where she conducts fieldwork in Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangdong provinces(20 min.)
11:20 - 11:30 am -- Break:
Part Two: CHINESE ASSOCIATIONS, 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM
Mitzi Espinosa Luis of Min Chih Tang will show a short film on the Chinese in Cuba (20min.). Leaders from New York and Jamaica Family Associations will present their respective organizations (15 min.) Q/A: (10 min.)
12:15 - 1:30 pm – LUNCH (local restaurants)
OPTIONAL:
•Book-signing by authors: Henry Chang, Professor Tao Leigh Goffe and Paula Williams Madison.
•Robert Hew takes requests from those wishing to find the names and locations of ancestors buried in the Chinese cemetery of Kingston, Jamaica.
AFTERNOON SESSIONS: CHOOSE 1 OF 2 OFFERED EACH SESSION
1:30 - 2:30 pm -- TULOUS HAKKA ROUND EARTH BUILDING
1:30 - 2:30 pm -- TALES OF THE GOLDEN SPIKE: Did the Hakkas join the Punti?
2:30 - 3:30 pm -- ROOTS SEARCHING : The experts weigh in
2:30 - 3:30 pm HAKKA CUISINE
CLOSING CEREMONIES
OPTIONAL EVENING ACTIVITIES
4:00 p.m. Hakka Film Screening at 21 Pell or Evening Walking Tour of Chinatown, led by local residents.
6:00 p.m. Dinner in local restaurant (optional)