Chinese Americans Gather in Salt Lake City

Nearly 2,000 attended the Organization of Chinese American’s (OCA) 24th annual convention last week in Salt Lake City. The event included a trip to Golden Spike National Historic Site at Promontory Summit, where Chinese laborers completed work on the first transcontinental railroad in 1869.

The Chinese railroad workers — who had set the still-unbroken record of laying 10 miles of track in one day — were not included in celebrations at the completion site.

A National Park Service ranger said the OCA excursion marked the largest gathering of ethnic Chinese to visit the site since the railroad’s completion.

Other convention highlights included day-long seminars on empowerment and ethnic issues for high-school and college students, along with an address by noted author Frank Wu and discussions on the challenges facing Asian Pacific Americans in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The OCA’s Chinese American Pioneer Award this year went to two recipients: Brigadier General Coral Wong Pietsch, the first female APA general in the U.S. Army, and photo historian Corky Lee.

— Andrew Chow

OCA president George Ong at Golden Spike National Historic Site.

Katricia Lee (right), president of OCA’s new Orange County (Calif.) chapter, and Dora Lee (no relation), coordinator of the Asian and Pacific Islander Student Center at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

OCA’s former executive director, Daphne Kwok (second from right), smiles during a group photo at Promontory Summit.

Photographer Corky Lee snaps a picture of the OCA’s gathering at Promontory Summit.

Looking west from Promontory Summit.