'Second wave of Chinese' creates downtown haven
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
Amid the hustling throngs milling through Chinatown's teeming markets, the small door at 900 Maunakea St. leads upstairs to a refuge of sorts.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
The year-old headquarters of the Association of Chinese from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos is a cultural haven that the organization of Chinese immigrants from Indochina has carved out for itself at the edge of the district.
From left, Hae Viengkhou, Thu Tran, Ted Li and Thomas Sum are leaders in the Association of Chinese from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
The association uses it for meetings, but more often it's just a place members go after shopping or a business lunch to find kindred spirits, people whose language and cultural history resonate with their own.
"He comes here almost every day ... he comes here a lot," businessman and association member Ted Li said, pointing out James Ku and Nhiem Tich, who laughed and nodded.
About 60 percent of the roughly 800 households belonging to the association emigrated from Vietnam; there are about half as many members from Laos, and those from Cambodia comprise the remaining 10 percent.
What all of them have in common is their Chinese ethnicity. Southeast Asian countries usually have an indigenous population — the ethnic Vietnamese, for example — as well as the Chinese who have settled there in the past century or two and are nationals of their adopted countries.
And, said Wes Fong, these Chinese have come to America and followed coping strategies similar to those used by earlier waves of Chinese immigrants who came from Taiwan, Hong Kong or mainland China.
Fong, past president of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, said that includes the practice of forming associations based on their province of origin and opening something akin to a clubhouse near the heart of the ethnic community. The new Maunakea Street office resembles similar Chinese association buildings scattered around town.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
"A lot of these associations were created so that there's a place where people can meet, socialize and do business," he said. "And now we have the second wave of Chinese coming from Asia."
Ted Li, owner of the Crack Seed Center at Ala Moana, is a former president of the Association of Chinese from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
Fong glanced down at the bowlful of broth, noodles and vegetables in the Vietnamese restaurant where the interview was taking place.
"Pho has supplanted won ton min," he added with a smile.
The association was founded in April 1975 by the first refugees who arrived in Hawai'i from the Indochinese states. Trieu Tong Ly was the founding president.
Li, owner of the Crack Seed Center at Ala Moana, served seven years, the longest term at the helm.
Two former presidents — You Soukaseum and Hae Viengkhou — are from Laos. The others, including current president Thomas Sum, came from Vietnam.
Sum's escape after the fall of Saigon, with a perilous boat trip to Malaysia before eventually finding his way to Hawai'i, mirrors the experience of many others from Vietnam.
As an English-speaking contractor to the military, Li's story, shared by a relative few, was less painful.
Overall, the immigrants had critical survival needs, and members of the new association worked to meet them, aiding with job referrals and donation drives to help families in the direst straits.
As the Southeast Asians increasingly began to thrive, the emphasis turned toward maintaining ties to the culture, Li said. This included helping families plan traditional Chinese funerals and investing in 500 funeral plots for purchase by members at Valley of the Temples. The association staff also helps with wedding and holiday arrangements — accepting donations in return from the thankful families — and hosting members at annual galas.
Of course, there was the building fund. Li pointed to a Chinese calendar hanging on the wall; the sale of such items, at $20 a pop, was one of the fund-raisers behind the purchase of two adjoining buildings at 900 and 924 Maunakea St.
The price, paid at a foreclosure auction, was $530,000, and the lease of the storefronts to two tenants — an antique store and a nail salon — helps pay the bills, he said.
The association office is above the nail salon.
Now that the group has fulfilled the great American dream of home ownership, it's time for the great American duty of philanthropy. About $10,000 has been collected to help with the renovation of the Palolo Chinese Home, and more money has been raised to aid other social-service programs, he said.
"When we first came, we were shown a lot of aloha," he said. "Now it's time to pay back."
Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.
