The Tucson Chinese Association is a nonprofit (501C3) corporation that promotes, sponsors, and educates the community relating to the Chinese culture and heritage via activities and the Tucson Chinese School throughout the year. The Tucson Chinese Association is governed by 25 board members who serve a 3 year term and uphold our bylaws.

Letter from the President

Reflection of Change

      As the New Year begins, I was thinking about the past year and the many years that I have lived in Tucson. A lot has changed since I first came to town, for college, in August of 1973. Back then Tucson was a town of 250,000 people; today, including Pima County, it is city of one million.

      The Chinese population back in 1973 was primarily composed of the families that had come from Southern China at the turn of the century and prior to Word World II. The Chinese population was small enough that everyone knew each other. At the University there were a few students from Taiwan but I don't recall any from mainland China. The Chinese socialized and worked together closely.

      Today, the Chinese population is more diverse. We have people from all over the world with Chinese ancestry. There are people from all regions of China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Central America and the United States. Within each of these groups are what I consider two subgroups, the grand parents/ parents and their American born or American influenced children. The parents and their children have varying degrees of appreciation of their ancestry. The Chinese population is no longer as homogeneous as in the past and their socializing and working together has decreased particularly within the younger generation.

      The decrease in the social and work environment has resulted in a fragmentation of the Chinese community. Each group is busy on their own with minimal interaction between them. The lessen interaction has led to a weakening of the cultural and social fabric that held the community together in years past. This is most apparent in the young children whom arguably are perceived to have a less appreciation of being Chinese. It could be argued that the lessening of the appreciation of one's heritage is the result of living in America's "melting pot" which is probably true.

      The challenge we face is to retain our heritage and to embrace the "melting pot" culture of America. The Tucson Chinese Association and its earlier incarnation of the Tucson Confucian Church have stead fast promoted Chinese culture, heritage and education through the Tucson Chinese School (TCS) which started in the mid 1950's. The tradition of promoting Chinese culture, heritage and education continues with the opening of The Tucson Chinese Cultural Center (TCCC).

      The Chinese Cultural Center offers language, arts and cultural classes through the TCS and through community partnership with Pima Community College (PCC). The partnership with PCC has lead to an out reach to the greater Tucson community. A pilot Mandarin language class is being taught in conjunction with Tucson Unified School District and Catalina Foothill High School. It is hoped that the pilot language program takes flight and will eventually be expanded to more schools.

      As TCCC continues to promote Chinese heritage it is hoped that our children and the greater Tucson community will learn to appreciate the vast wealth of the Chinese culture. It is often forgotten that the Chinese invented the printing press, paper making, the compass, the wheel barrel, the rudder for steering boats, the paper kite, gun powder, and much more.

      The Chinese culture is rich with heritage. Please come and participate in our programs and school; learn more about one of the world's oldest civilization. Do it for yourself but most importantly for the benefit of your children and the Tucson community.

Jason Wong
President 2007