Lion Dance

What's a Chinese Wedding without a Lion Dance?

A Lion Dance is often performed at Chinese Weddings to bring Good Luck to the newlyweds as well as ward off evil spirts.

These are Southern Lions. Ones originating from Guangzhou Province and Hong Kong.

Baby Lion

Chewing up and spitting Lettuce. This represents the spreading of prosperity.

Double Happiness

Some Guests

Someone is still using a camera with film.

Youngs. Is it just me or has Jin-Moo not aged at all?

SoCal

Yips

Moys

Fongs

Sarah's night out

Sarah's first big night out.
Just three weeks old and all dressed up for Bob and Vickie's big night.

Four generations of Chin/McCormick.

Who is not smiling in this picture?

Angel Island Immigration Station

Also know as the Ellis Island of the West, the Angel Island Immigration Station processed over a quarter million immigrants between 1910 and 1940.
Although they were from many different countries including Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, and Russia, most of them were Asian. And of the Asians, most of them were from Guangdong Province in Southern China.

97% of all the immigrants that went through Angel Island were Chinese.

Dad was one of these, arriving at the age of nine.
Luckily he only spent around three weeks here.

The Interrogation Table

Detainees were interrogated, sometimes daily, with the same questions to see if their stories were consistent with their previous answers.

It was a well know fact that many of the Chinese men were "paper sons".

Young detainees from Southern China.

Men (many of them young) from Guangdong province, far outnumbered women, and were housed in separated barracks.

By 1940 when the Immigration Station closed, over 175,000 Chinese had been processed.

The Game Room. Ping Pong, Mah-Jong, and a writing table.

The typical room for detainees would normally house 25 people comfortably, but were often crammed with up to 200 people.

Poem in Chinese etched on wall.

Although the average detainee spent less than a month on Angel Island, some were kept here for many years.

Some spent their time singing, reminiscing about their homeland, and etching poems on the walls.

Sarah Ann McCormick

Welcome Sarah Ann McCormick.
The jury is still out on who she actually looks like.

Grandma and Grandpa Chin

See, it's not all crying.

There's a new McCormick in town

Welcome to the latest member of the family.
No name yet but I'm sure Josh and Melissa know what it is.
More to come, but congratulations to the newest mom and dad, grandmas and grandpas, uncles and everyone else.