Young History Buff May Win $500

There are still about ten days left for a young history buff to enter the 2021 CPAA Essay Contest with a catchy title, “Unsung Heroes, Asian American Stories,” the first prize of which is $500.

Local nonprofit Chinese Performing Arts of America (CPAA) is hosting this essay contest to increase public awareness about Asian American history, according to CPAA executive director Lihong Zhang.

“We have a good Asian population in the Bay Area,” said Zhang. “We would like to raise some awareness by inviting people to read and to think, especially our younger generation, to learn more about their heritage and be proud of it. We welcome people from every cultural background to join us.”

The essay contest requires entrants ages 14 -25 to read a memoir book by a retired lawyer in the Hoover archival collections, Nine Memorable Decades, which contains cultural anecdotes
as well as wartime stories and serves as research material for Hoover scholars, though the book’s storytelling style is easily approachable.

The author of Nine Memorable Decades, Yu-Ting Chi, immigrated to California in his golden years as a naturalized US citizen’s parent, just like many Asian-American engineers’ parents in Silicon Valley. Most of these elderly immigrants have a language gap with their American-born
grandchildren. This book can help bridge the gap by telling young Asian Americans what happened in East Asia during their grandparents’ childhood and adolescence. It would also enable mainstream Americans to understand the cultural roots of the so-called model minority.

In addition, the CPAA Essay Contest recommends entrants to read Ghosts of Gold Mountain, a nonfiction book that portrays transcontinental railroad builders, whose descendants have lived in the US for generations. However, since the history of the transcontinental railroad is relatively well-known to the public, the CPAA Essay Contest makes this book an optional reading.

Both of these books are available on Kindle and at local libraries.

Entrants are expected to compare the unsung heroes in the reading(s) with their own grandparents, ancestors, and/or other adult immigrants whose sagas they have heard. Their essays (500-1,000 words) should be submitted to cpaamailbox@gmail.com by Nov 15. Winners will be announced right after the Thanksgiving weekend.

Aside from $500 for the first prize, the second and third prizes are $200 each.

CPAA is a nonprofit organization founded by the legendary Ann Woo in 1991. Its mission is to introduce Chinese culture as an integral part of American society through performing arts and arts education.