It’s been a few months since we have sent out communication to our FALL 2011 membership. Much has happened since Chinese New Year.

Important Dates In our last newsletter we wrote about tradition. We discussed how we are August 2011 losing some of our heritage and traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation. We encouraged our membership to cherish 3 – Board Meeting those traditions and continue to share their wealth of knowledge with their

September 2011 families and friends.

7 – Board Meeting This month, we would like to write about progress or change. 17 – Chinese School The definition of progress as a verb is, Registration 1: to move forward: proceed 17 – Annual August Moon Festival 2: to develop to a higher, better, or more advanced stage.

October 2011 Our association was established 43 years ago and has been passed on from generation to generation with much tradition. Whenever we discuss 1– First Day of Chinese the direction of our association, we are always met with the words, School 5 – Board Meeting “historically we have……” When it comes to tradition, those are positive 15 – Parent/Teacher words to use, but, when it comes to progress, they become a handicap. We Meeting want our association to advance, to move forward.

Inside this Edition When we started our Presidency in 2008, we had lofty ideas and goals. p. 2 Membership There were 2 issues at hand. The membership had been waning for the p. 3 Social last 15 to 20 years. If we don’t maintain or grow the number in our p. 4 August Moon membership, the association will eventually die. The second issue goes Registration hand in hand with the first issue. The Chinese School population has been p. 5 Youth Group steadily shrinking. It’s been great for the students attending classes since p. 6 Education p. 7 Association Working they get much more individual attention from the instructors. On the other Groups hand, the school has been running in red ink for as long as we can p. 8 Chinese Foods remember. p. 10 Cultural p. 11 Housewares We would like to turn that around and have decided to target new markets. p. 12 Destination China p. 13 Membership Form We are still pursuing the starting of the “Parent & Me” class for preschool age families. We are still in search of a suitable instructor. Just a handful of us have taken on the task of doing the search. This association belongs to all of us. It should be the responsibility of all its members to contribute to the effort of the survival of our association. We are asking for the membership’s support in finding that teacher. We are also asking that all of you encourage your friends and family to join. If each member family invites one more family to join in the coming year, our membership will have doubled.

President’s Message (cont.)

Even more opportunities abound. As we begin a new fiscal year, we have welcomed in a new board but we have new opportunities for those who would like to be more involved with our association. Several groups have been formed to help steer the board and association. If you are interested in joining one of these groups, please don’t hesitate to contact either 2011-2012 SGVCCA Margaret or Henry Leong. We welcome new faces and new ideas. We Board of Directors encourage you to take ownership of your association. Let’s embrace

Henry & Margaret Leong progress and advance our association to the next level. President

George & Margie Chan Henry & Margaret Leong Hung Oang President V.P. - Education

Jenny Eng Debbie Poon V.P. - Social

Matthew Chung, Fay Ho, Laurie Truong, & Becky Wong V.P. - Youth

Bob Hung Harrison Toy V.P. - Cultural

Paul & Maxine In Membership Mindy Lee Darren Wong V.P. - Membership Greetings to all our members and we hope you are enjoying the beautiful

Joyce Moy weather that is upon us. It may be hot at times but staying cool is of the Secretary utmost importance. Be sure to use your sun block when you are outdoors

William Eng or at the beach. Treasurer

Peter & Karen Lee This is the time for renewing your membership which began on July 1 and Ways and Means ends on June 30 of 2012. Please use the attached form in renewing your

Danny Leong membership in the Association now. We will have the Membership Historian Directory ready for distribution at the Annual Christmas Party, so please

Hoi Lee renew and don’t get left out. Peter Ho Have a wonder summer and we’ll see you at the Autumn Moon Festival on Publicity September 17, 2011. Jones Moy Parliamentarian Paul & Maxine In Kevin Chan Mindy Lee Newsletter Editor Darren Wong Winnie Cheung Vice Presidents, Membership Newsletter Subscription Services

Bas & Rosie Lim Bruce Lee Members At Large

Board Meetings are held the first Wednesday of each month, 7:30 PM at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 15694 Tetley St., Hacienda Heights San Gabriel Valley Chinese Cultural Association Fall 2011 Page 2

Social

Although our annual Spring banquet was a few months ago, this year’s banquet is another success!

All thanks to the support of our loyal guests and sponsors. This is really another event to remember. We had a great time and enjoyed the SGVCCA Youth Board performances for the evening, the raffle prizes that continued on through 2010-2011 the night kept the evening exciting. Of course, there is the silent auction

Edwin Cheung that has so many gifts for young and old. President

Tommie Tu We want to give a special thank you to members whom had helped and Vice-President worked to make it a successful event. The dedication and hard work is

Jacky Lo outpouring from everybody. We really can’t thank you enough for what Secretary you all do to make it happen.

John Yap Historian Up Coming Events:

Justin Wong-Benavidez Editor Our annual August Moon festival will also be coming in September 17th

Jonathan Wong-Benavidez from 4-10pm at the St.Thomas Episcopal Church. We have included a Sergeant at Arms flyer with all the detailed information within this newsletter. This is

Tim Lee, Kelsey Wong another family fun event. Please invite your friends, family and everyone Telephone Membership who loves games, prizes and moon cake.

Fay Ho, Debbie Poon, Laurie Truong, & Becky Wong Also, please mark your calendars for next year’s Spring banquet. It will Youth Group Advisors be held on March 31, 2012. There has been a change in location and San Gabriel Valley Chinese Cultural will be announce in the next edition of our newsletter. So keep an eye Association Roar of the Dragon newsletter is published monthly except out for our next edition of the newsletter for more details of next years during the summer months. Spring Banquet. Advertising Rates: Full page: $200; Half page: $100; Quarter page: $50; Business Card: $20 Again thank you for all your continued support for the Association

Email comments, ads, photographs, complaints to [email protected] Jenny Eng Debbie Heng The San Gabriel Valley Chinese Cultural Association was organized in Vice Presidents, Social 1968 to encourage and promote the enrichment of the Chinese language and culture and to share these interests with the community-at-large. By charter, the SGVCCA is non-political and non- sectarian and is incorporated as a non- profit, tax exempt organization, supported and maintained by the contributions and donations of its members and friends to help defray the cost of promoting the cultural and language programs.

San Gabriel Valley Chinese Cultural Association Fall 2011 Page 3 San Gabriel Valley Chinese Cultural Assn 24th Annual August Moon Festival Sat, Sept 17, 2011, 4-10pm

at St. Thomas Episcopal Church 15694 Tetley St, Hacienda Hts

Bring your friends & family join us for a night of games for kids & casino fun for adults, dinner, prizes

------return bottom portion------

RSVP w/payment by 9/10/11 & receive a bonus of 50 chips or equivalent (adults only)

Name ______Address______Please make checks payable to SGVCCA City ______CA Zip ______Phone ______Mail to: Debbie Heng Tickets: 18414 Aguiro St. ______Adult Members x $22 = ______Rowland Hts, CA 91748 ______Adult Non-members x $27 = ______Youth 11- 20 x $14 = ______Children 10 & Under x $10 = ______

August Moon games is a long-time tradition played by all ages, pre-purchase your ticket as space is limited to 20 per game. Tickets sold during event based upon availability. Ticket prices: $5.00 per ticket, per time slot, per person

5:30 pm x _____ ticket(s) 7 pm x _____ ticket(s) 8 pm x ____ ticket(s)

Total Enclosed: ______

Save the date!

3/31/2012 Internal Use: Date rec'd _____ Amt Paid _____ Spring banquet Route Form: D. Heng _____ B. Wong _____ J. Eng _____ New venue! Youth Group

Its mid-summer and the fun and sun of the beach party have just passed. It was fun as it is every year. We swam, played football and volleyball.

Now camping is coming up and all of us are excited. This year it will be at El Capitan and are welcoming anyone who wants to join us. We are scheduled to go August 14-17. Contact Becky Wong if you want to attend.

After summer we have September and with that we (ironically) have August Moon. The dealer practices have been going well and many of us are ready for the new skills we are learning in preparation for August Moon. The seniors are refreshing their skills and training the younger ones. A special thanks to Timothy Lee and his parents for letting us practice at their home and for their support.

Now we’re on to October and we all know that mean Halloween. We haven’t made any plans, but we hope to have our annual Halloween Party. Watch your e-mail for information.

Beside the annual events, there are still the things we do year round. Performances and practices still happen and we still have our duties. We have weddings to perform. This year many of our performances have been for former youth group members. It is exciting to be able to participate in their celebrations. We performed for our own Kevin Fong in April and will be performing for Brother Brian next week—July 23. Last but not least, will be the wedding of Ben Lau on September 10. We wish them all well and best wishes on their marriage.

Besides our performances and practices we have our youth. Sadly due to our lack of youth members, our adult board has decided to suspend our youth board. Now we have made a council. In this council we have two parts; high counsel and low counsel. The high counsel consists of Kelsey Wong, Jacky Lo, and Timothy Lee and the lower counsel are Annika Eng, Sylvie Oang, and Christopher Moy. This new group will act as a board-in-training in hope that the youth board will be re-established next year. We encourage anyone interested to come out and check us out. It is a lot of fun and we do a lot of fun activities.

Kelsey Wong Youth Group Editor

San Gabriel Valley Chinese Cultural Association Fall 2011 Page 5 Education

Summer sure goes by in a splash. Summer has always been known as the time for families to spend a little more time together and for students to take a break from school. I hope everyone has had many chances to do just that. Enjoy one another and relax before it’s over and school starts 中文學校 again.

Here at SGVCCA we believe that every one of our students and youth group member our like extended families. As the saying goes “it takes a village to raise a child”. That being said I look forward to parents and teachers working together and support our students learning experiences. We need everyone to encourage our students to participate in school and keep a perfect attendance so they stay interested and do better in school. Our goal at SGVCCA is to teach our students the Chinese Language and Culture. We would like each student to feel comfortable speaking Chinese and proud that they know another language other than English. We also encourage parents to ask their child what they learned that day in school each time they are in school. When they are able to share it means they learned something they liked. Most times children are more than excited to share and even teach us something they have just discovered.

This coming school year, our Principal Ann Zhang has made changes in our schools curriculum in order to keep our student’s interested as they continue to learn. She looks forward to sharing and implementing these changes to help improve maximizes our students learning experience while they have some fun too.

We have well qualified instructors ready to teach our students in: Mandarin, Cantonese, Social Speaking, Chinese Brush Painting, History, Cooking, Chess, Kung-Fu, Lion Dance and Instruments, and even Chinese Knott tying.

This August please look for the 2011-2012 school registration forms with the year calendar to arrive in the mail. Parents, please remember to fill out all forms and return them as early as possible. For these contain important emergency information for the care of your child. Mrs. Margie Chan has been busy putting them together to send out. She is very excited and looks forward to welcome new and returning students back to school.

Walk in registration is on September 17th, from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. This happens at St. Thomas Episcopal Church 15694 Tetley St. Hacienda Heights, CA 91745. All people of the community are welcome to learn at our school. Come and see what we have to offer. First day of school is on October 1, 2011. School starts promptly at 9:15 am and ends at 12:20 pm. Registrations will be extended throughout the school year.

In October, there will be a Parent Meeting on October 15th. This meeting will be held in Adams Hall at 9:00 am. We encourage all parents will be able to attend. We would like to get to know you as we know your child there for understand your child’s learning abilities. Parental volunteers are always welcome at school.

San Gabriel Valley Chinese Cultural Association Fall 2011 Page 6 Education (cont.)

We always appreciate all parent participation and volunteer. We welcome and value your ideas to better our school and student learning.

As always SGVCCA thanks you for your continued support. Thank You

Margie Chan Hung Heng Vice Presidents, Education

Association Working Groups

Any association member is welcome to join any of these following working sub-groups. If you are interested, please contact Margaret Leong at [email protected] Please note in the subject line SGVCCA Committee so as not to be discarded into the spam folder.

Social: Co-Vice Presidents, Jenny Eng and Debbie Heng Committee Members: Becky Wong, Bernadette Wong, Joyce Moy, Bill Eng, Harrison Toy, Bob Hung

Education: Co-Vice Presidents, George & Margie Chan and Hung Oang Committee Member: Bernadette Wong

Youth: Senior Vice President, Becky Wong Co-Vice Presidents, Fay Ho, Laurie Truong, Matthew Chung Committee Members: Peter Ho, Daniel Leong

Membership/Publicity/Newsletter: Committee Members: Paul & Maxine In, Mindy Lee, Darren Wong, Hoi Lee, Peter Ho, Kevin Chan, Winnie Cheung, Danny Leong

Scholarship: Chairperson, Bruce Lee Committee Members: Paul In, Virginia Fong, Kevin Chan, Melissa Rogers Honorary: Beverly Chang

By-Laws: Henry & Margaret Leong Committee Members: Bruce Lee, Bas & Rosie Lim, Peter & Karen Lee, Maxine In, Jones Moy

For the latest information on Association Activities check out www.sgvcca.org

San Gabriel Valley Chinese Cultural Association Fall 2011 Page 7 Special Series: Regional Foods of China (Part Three)

In this issue we will be exploring and highlighting one of the most popular cuisines of China, Sichuan. The cuisine originated in the Sichuan Province of southwestern China famed for bold flavors, particularly the pungency and spiciness resulting from liberal use of garlic and chili peppers, as well as the unique flavor of the Sichuan peppercorn.

四川菜 SICHUAN CUISINE

Although the region is now romanized as Sichuan, the cuisine is still sometimes spelled ‘Szechuan’ or Szechwan’. There are many local variations of Sichuan cuisine within the Sichuan Province and the Chongqing Municipality, which was politically part of Sichuan until 1997. The four best known regional sub-styles are Chongqing style, Chengdu style, Zigong style, and Buddhist vegetarian style. UNESCO has declared the city of Chengdu to be a city of Gastronomy in 2011, mainly because of its Szechuan style of cooking.

Subject to hot summers and mild winters with plenty of rain, Southwest China enjoys year-round crop growth, making it one of China’s “rice bowls”. The Sichuan basin also yields a wealth of subtropical products such as fruits, tea, and herbal medicines and its spicy cooking has become the region’s dominant cuisine.

The cuisine of Sichuan has the reputation of being richly flavored and peppery hot but, in fact, a lot of Sichuanese dishes are not hot at all. After all, the chili is a relatively recent import from the Americas that was not widely cultivated here until the 19th century. According to Sichuanese chefs, chilies do not paralyze the tastebuds, but stimulate the palate. Each dish should be balance of flavors such as sweet, sour, bitter, hot, salty, aromatic, and fragrant. When the palate is stimulated by the heat of the chili, it becomes sensitized and can appreciate even more flavors at the same time.

Generally throughout its history, there have been five different types of Sichuan foods: Sumptuous banquet, popularized food, home-style food, and food snacks. Sichuan cuisine has changed little over the years and remains a staple of Chinese cuisine.

Sichaun cuisine often contains food preserved through pickling, salting, and drying and is generally spicy due to heavy application of chili oil. The most famous regional spice is the Sichuan peppercorn (hua jiao). This dried flowerbud has an aromatic, lemony heat that makes the mouth tingle, even numbing it against the chilies’ heat. Also common are ginger, star anise, and other spicy herbs, plants and spices. Broad bean chili paste ( 豆瓣醬 - doubanjiang) is also a staple seasoning in Sichuan cuisine. The region’s cuisine has also been the originator of several prominent sauces widely used in Chinese cuisine as a whole today, including yuxiang ( 魚香 ), mala ( 麻辣 ), and guaiwei ( 怪味 ). The final secret of Sichuan food is the purity of the salt collected from the mines of Zigong.

San Gabriel Valley Chinese Cultural Association Fall 2011 Page 8 Sichaun Cuisine (Southwestern China)

Common preparation techniques in Szechuan cuisine include stir frying, steaming and braising, but a complete list would more than 20 distinct techniques. Beef is somewhat more common in Szechuan cuisine than it is in other Chinese cuisines, perhaps due to the prevalence of oxen in the region. Stir-fried beef is often cooked until chewy, while steamed beef is sometimes coated with rice flour to produce a very rich gravy. Sichuan cuisine also utilizes various bovine and porcine organs as ingredients such as intestine, arteries, the head, tongue, skin, and liver in addition to other commonly utilized portions of the meat.

SICHUAN DISHES

Aromatic & Crispy Duck 香酥鴨 (xiang su ya) Twice-Cooked Pork 回鍋肉 (huiguorou) Steamed Beef in a Basket 水煮牛肉 (shuizhu niurou) Ants Climbing Trees 螞蟻上樹 (ma yi shang shu) Kung-Po Chicken 宮保雞丁 (gongbao jinding) Ma Po Doufu 麻婆豆腐 (mapo doufu) Hot & Sour Soup 酸辣湯 (suan la tang) Fish-Fragrant Aubergine 鱼香茄子 (Yue shang chetze) Bon Bon Chicken 棒棒雞 (Bàngbàng jī) Tea Smoked Duck 樟茶鴨 (zhangcha ya) Dan Dan Noodles 擔擔麵 (dandan mian) Spicy Deep-Fried Chicken 辣子雞 (laziji) Cold Beef Tripe 夫妻肺片 (fuqi feipian)

SICHUAN RESTAURANTS IN LOS ANGELES

Chung King 1000 S. San Gabriel Blvd San Gabriel, CA 91776

Sue’s Kitchen 23918 Crenshaw Blvd Torrance, CA 90505

Shufeng Garden 18459 Colima Rd Rowland Heights, CA 91748

No 1 Noodle House 18180 Colima Rd Rowland Heights, CA 91748

NOW GO OUT AND TRY THESE FOODS AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK AT: [email protected]

San Gabriel Valley Chinese Cultural Association Fall 2011 Page 9 Cultural

Nu Shu – The Secret Language of Women

When you were a child, did you and your best friend ever create code words or phrases that only you knew the meaning?

The Nu Shu written language came into discovery in 1983 when a Chinese woman at a train station fainted. When the guards tried to revive her, a notebook fell out with all the whispery writing that is intrinsic to Nu Shu, and promptly declared her a spy.

Once the confusion had cleared, what became apparent is that a language, designed for and by women had been in existence for hundreds of years, right under the noses of the men. And it’s purpose, was for Sworn Sisters (結拜姊妹) to communicate. It gives a whole new meaning and legitimacy to those scribbles back from childhood.

To be honest, the only reason why I had learned about Nu Shu was because of a book that I had read, Snowflower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See and had to determine for myself if that language was truth or fiction. With a degree in Chinese Studies from UCSD, one would think that a topic like this would have come up in at least one of my classes . . .

Nu Shu, has been in existence from Song Dynasty (13th Century) and reached it’s heyday during the Qing Dynasty (19th Century). And used only in the JiangYong County of Hunan, which in 1627 had a population of 230,000. No one knows for sure who created Nu Shu, however they believed it was started by a young girl from the Hunan province who was chosen to be the Emperor’s Concubine. She had expected a life of ease and luxury, but was not prepared for the vast loneliness and palace intrigues that plagued her. In order to honestly tell her mother and sisters of her welfare, she created this code.

Why the language was created is much easier to explain. Nu Shu was created so that women could express their feelings and communicate them with loved ones when they lived in a time where women were sheltered, restricted and uneducated. By creating a language was syllabic rather than logographic, and not accounting for dialectal accents, Nu Shu was something that could be taught to young girls within a year, before their periods of isolation for footbinding or marriage.

San Gabriel Valley Chinese Cultural Association Fall 2011 Page 10 Cultural (cont.)

However the language was created, it served its purpose admirably both as means of communication and art, often poems and letters were stitched into the seams of handkerchiefs or silk fans. It’s wispy, angled writing style completed contrasted against printed block Hanzi or Chinese Calligraphy.

With the last known proficient writer of Nu Shu, Yang Huangyi dead, it is feared that we’ll never truly grasp the importance and significance of the secret language.

Suzanne Barris Vice President, Cultural

Housewares

Each Chinese family has one or two thermoses. Even if there is an electric hot water maker, the elderly people still like to keep the thermoses full of hot water. Not long ago, it was an honor to be granted a thermos printed with colorful patterns and the big character ‘jiang’ (award).

The thermos was granted if one became a model worker, helped someone in need, or won a prize in a singing contest. Earlier than that, such a colorful thermos with iron surface was a descent dowry.

Hai Feng a traveler, recalls that once he asked for a bottle of buttered tea in a restaurant in Lhasa. The waitress asked him if he wanted a small thermos of 3 pounds, or a bigger one of 5 pounds. Soon, a thermos full of buttered tea was placed in front of him. It was warm until the very last drop.

The Chinese are known for the hobby of drinking hot water. But many foreign countries don’t follow this tradition. Some Chinese travelers thus take an electric cup that can boil water wherever they go. In Guangdong, where the summer is hot and steaming, desserts stores often put green bean or red bean paste mixed with ice in the thermos. This is another wonderful function of the thermos!

San Gabriel Valley Chinese Cultural Association Fall 2011 Page 11 Destination China

Shaanxi

At the heart of China, Shaanxi has had it’s lion’s share of splendor. It was from here, about 216 BC, that China was unified by it’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi. This set the stage for Xi’an to serve as the seat of political power to successive dynasties including the Han, Sui, and Tang, for over a millennium. By the 9th century, Xi’an was the largest and wealthiest city in the world, immersed in the riches that spilled along the Silk Road. The city’s treasures are abundant, from the army of Terracotta Warriors to the impressive Shaanxi History Museum. Xi’an’s other key sights include the extensive Eight Immortals Daoist Temple and the two Goose Buddhist Pagodas. Many visitors also make a trip to the holy mountain of Hua Shan for its stimulating hikes and tranquility.

Terracotta Army – The Army is just one part, of a Shaanxi History Museum – The museum contains complex necropolis. A mile west of the pits, is believed over 370,000 relics chronicling Shaanxi civilization to be the mound of Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi, a tyrant and culture as far back as prehistoric times. The preoccupied with death and the legacy he would leave Tang three-color (Sancai) Horse piece is a fine behind. He spared no expense, enlisting 700,000 example of polychrome earthenware. The Shang people over 36 years in the tomb’s construction. The Cooking Pot is also displayed. The bronzes of the complex is also said to contain 48 tombs for Shang era are regarded as the dynasty’s most concubines who were buried alive with the emperor. significant creative achievement

San Gabriel Valley Chinese Cultural Association Fall 2011 Page 12 SAN GABRIEL VALLEY CHINESE CULTURAL ASSOCIATION NEW MEMBERSHIP OR RENEWAL FORM FOR July 2011-June 2012 (Please print with Black Ink Pen)

Name:______Occupation: ______

Spouse Name: ______Occupation: ______

Address: ______

City: ______CA Zip Code: ______

Home Phone: (______) ______Cell Phone:(______)______eMail Address: ______

Children’s Names & (Ages): ______

Membership Donation: Family……………………………………….$25.00 ______Individual (18 yrs or older)………………$15.00 ______

I, the undersigned, hereby give permission to SGVCCA to use pictures or photographs taken of me or my family for use on its website: www.sgvcca.org or for publication.

Signed: ______Date: ______

Please return this form and check made out to SGVCCA and send to: SGVCCA – Attn: Membership P.O. Box 155 West Covina, CA 91790 ______

San Gabriel Valley Chinese Cultural Association Fall 2011 Page 13 玉不琢不成器 (pinyin: yù bù zhuó bù chéng qì)

Jade must be chiseled before it can be considered a gem.

Moral: A person needs training and discipline to build character.

A Non-Profit Organization Promoting Chinese Language and Culture

San Gabriel Valley Chinese Cultural Association PO Box 155, West Covina, CA 91790 www.sgvcca.org