Sunscreen and Smiles on Locke StoryTourTM
More than two dozen people from the Bay Area and the Sacramento region gathered in the Delta town of Locke on a bright September Sunday for a unique StoryTour
TM of the last rural Chinese town in the United States. Our guides, 3rd gen Locke native and CW story contributor Jeff Lee, and photographer and Locke resident James Motlow, enlivened the tour with insider stories of this town built by the Chinese for the Chinese. Tour highlights included the Dai Loy Museum, the town’s former “gaming parlor,” seen through the lens of Jeff’s memories as a young boy; the Chinese School House where tour participant Bessie Hahn delivered a stellar impromptu rendition of the Chinese national anthem, inspired by the calligraphied lyrics on the wall; and a convivial meal at Locke Garden Chinese Restaurant, located in the town’s first building.
We also visited nearby Walnut Grove and Isleton, and wrapped up the rich and memorable day by chilling over ice cream on Main Street, Isleton! For more photos check out our Locke album on
Facebook. Many thanks to our guides and everyone who came out to Locke to make the event a success, and so much fun. We were so inspired by your enthusiasm, we’re already plotting the next Chinese Whispers StoryTour
TM -- bringing local history to life through personal stories, and breathing new meaning into place and heritage.
Seeing Stories – Chinese Whispers+Open Show
We’re excited about our next innovation in bringing overlooked history to light through multimedia storytelling and community collaborations. We are pleased to partner with social screening network
Open Show in an evening of visual history about the Chinese in the Bay Area, with a dynamic lineup of featured presenters – the Chinese Historical Society, Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, Friends of China Camp, and the San Francisco Maritime Historical National Park, along with a new Chinese Whispers media presentation with excerpted
Golden Gate stories. Thanks to the SF Maritime Historical National Park who partnered with us on our
Februrary workshop reading aboard ferryboat Eureka, for hosting this event at the beautiful Maritime Museum with its breathtaking, panoramic view of the Bay. Mar
k your calendars for this not-to-miss event on November 15!
See sidebar for details.
A Mapping Milestone
Back in the studio, we’re proud to complete the proof-of-concept for Chinese Whispers: Mapping the Traces
TM, our online mapping project that brings together research and storytelling. Stay tuned as we continue our collaboration with scholars and mapping specialists on this exciting project.
City Beneath the City Exhibition Comes Home
City Beneath The City: Market Street Chinatown San Jose, the art installation by Project & Artistic Director Rene Yung that weaves together cultural history and archaeology, closed an enormously successful run at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art. We are pleased to announce that CBC will take new form at the Stanford Archaeology Center, home of the Market Street artifacts collection. Rene will be working with students and faculty at the Center on the show. If you missed the installation in San Jose, be sure to catch CBC when it opens at Stanford in December.
CW Making Waves Across the Pacific
Chinese Whispers and Rene Yung are
featured in China News, the second largest news service in China (article in Chinese only).
Wishing you a bountiful Autumn!
— Chinese Whispers Team
Meet the CW Community
Meet our growing community here! The CW Community is made up of all kinds of people spanning generations -- professionals, scholars, retirees, students, "regular folks" who joined us to bring forgotten stories to light.
