Kung Fu Dad: Nam Pai Lion Dance Training June 4th, 2016

Kung Fu Dad: Nam Pai Lion Dance Training June 4th, 2016

Chinatown Update

Adam Cheung: An #AllLivesMatter Moment in the 80's (or early 90...

Adam Cheung: An #AllLivesMatter Moment in the 80's (or early 90...: You know, I didn't realize that my last post was racist until this morning. It's not so much racist because of the stories I told, w...

Adam Cheung: Castle Square A&P

I was chatting with someone about sharing personal stories on teh blog and I realized... although I share personal stuff on the blog, it is usually sprinkled among other peoples stories.  So I can start doing that this summer. writing old memories of my own. This is about the Castle Square A&P, which, according to the old timers is definitely part of Chinatown,, whether they call it the SOuth End or Lower Roxbury or whatever. Doesn't matter. The projects were built for Chinatown residents so therefore it's Chinatown.



Adam Cheung: Castle Square A&P: I was always under the meat slicer at the A&P. It was the A&P and then later Wollaston Supermarket and now it is a CVS. But that is ...

Adam Cheung: A stroll through Chinatown. Shojo, China Pearl, Pl...

Adam Cheung: A stroll through Chinatown. Shojo, China Pearl, Pl...: I know it is presumptuous to feel that you can get a feel for a neighborhood just by walking through it. But taking a quick walk through Chi...

Adam Cheung: Dai Dai looks a lot like my dad

Adam Cheung: Dai Dai looks a lot like my dad: People will think I am joking when I say that my second son looks like my Chinese father, since he look sso white... but recently he just lo...

Nam Pai Lion Dance Training June 4th, 2016

The story of Nam Pai and Ultimate Fitness is an interesting one because not only is t a huge Kung Fu school, it's a space where Kung Fu masters can get a start, rent some space and put together a group. In other words in more ways than one it enables a community to continue the Kung Fu tradition. Not only that, but Donald Wong, Larry Wong, and Kenneth Wong (who are not related actually) are real Chinatown Old Timers, and leaders in the Chinatown Community and beyond. Donald Wong is actually a State Rep for Saugus. So there is a lot going on here in terms of being a jewel of Chinatown beyond just Kung Fu and lion dance.... and on top of that, they do Kung Fu and Lion Dance.



I heard that they may even be a Lion Dance competition that could take place in Chinatown this year. There has been one n Worcester. But in your mind, even if the New England Champions of Kung Fu and Lion Dance are from another part of Massachusetts or even out of State, you will always think of Chinatown first when thinking of these arts. Which is why it is important than people with strong business sense and organizing skills can put things like this together for the community.



Funny thing, I bumped into some of the Lion Dancers from Nam Pai again at the GK graduation because they were watching their friends graduate. It's all connected of course, and this Lion Dance art is one of the many ways in which far flung members of the greater Chinatown Community (i.e. people that now live outside of Chinatown but still have roots and interests in the neighborhood) can stay connected to old friends as well as forge new bonds through drums, rituals, and performance.

Adam Cheung: Balance of Power

I had a conversation with a Chinatown old timer and leader and it got me thinking. Having different groups struggling for power and fighting each other in a gang way is unstable and creates a mess. But when there are certain rules in place and violence isn't used... then having different groups, like political parties, isn't necessarily a bad thing. It can be like checks and balances that are written into our constitution.



Anyway here's a piece I wrote about that.



Adam Cheung: Balance of Power: Most outsiders... when you suggest to them that there is some sort of corruption with anything in Chinatown will say, "Oh yeah I'm ...

Adam Cheung: Chinatown's Fourth of July celebration

I was away for the Chinatown Festival on July 2nd. In fact I've been away for a week or so hence the lack of blog posts. How did the festival go? In any case, as it past, and I watched fireworks elsewhere, a memory of a past Chinatown Fourth of July Celebration popped into mind. I'm not sure if the July 2nd celebration was marketed as a way to celebrate Independence Day or not. But I laughed as I recalled  a former event during my teen years (must have been 2000 or 2001.. which actually would make a significant difference given events  September 11, 2001)



I've never seen another July 4th Chinatown celebration. I never saw the organizer again mentioned in this story.





Adam Cheung: Chinatown's Fourth of July celebration: I was in high school and had been an assistant lion dance instructor at Randolph High. Because I didn't go to that high school and the L...



In the end, we (the teenagers) did our dance left, hung out, got Boba (Jun ju nai Chas) and went to the common to watch the fireworks and be kids. The yeller in this story wasn't so much crazy and passionate and maybe stressed out and maybe affected by the heat a little too. But I laugh every time I think of it.  If I had been there now I guess I would be trying to record everything getting interviews and what not, but then as someone right in the middle of it, my attentions were elsewhere .