Chinese Farmers of Yesteryear Honored

The twinkle in the eyes of 100-year-old Chinese farming pioneer Sam Chang, who was honored Saturday night at the Irvine Hilton and Towers, will not soon be forgotten.

Nearly 600 people attended “Golden Fields,” a dinner sponsored by the Chinese-American Council of the Historical and Cultural Foundation of Orange County. The affair was a tribute to the Chinese farmers whose inventiveness with machinery and creative farming techniques helped establish a worldwide market for California agriculture.

Chang, who was raised in China and was associated with the police academy there as a young man, settled in California in the mid-1920s. At that time, his father had already immigrated and was farming in the San Fernando Valley. Chang’s marriage of 80 years ended four months ago with the death of his wife, who was also 100.

Irvine Co. President Tom Nielsen presented a plaque to Chang, who attended with his daughter, Estelle Wong. (Chang and Wong both live in Van Nuys.) Chang’s acceptance speech was delivered in Cantonese, then translated.

“By heaven’s design,” Chang said, “(my wife and I) have lived to be 100 together. I farmed in America 60 years with my wife. I am grateful and feel lucky to have lived a long life.” (Despite his 60 years in this country, Chang speaks only his native Cantonese.)

Frank Kwan, KNBC producer and the evening’s master of ceremonies, introduced Patricia Lin, whose slide presentation, “Golden Fields: The Chinese Legacy of Plenty,” underscored the skill, knowledge and experience of the Chinese laborers of early California. Research for Lin’s master’s thesis, “The Chinese in Orange County, 1857-1910,” was financed by the council.

UC Irvine’s Spencer C. Olin, professor of history, introduced Sucheng Chan, provost of Oakes College at UC Santa Cruz and an authority on Chinese farming.

“It is too limiting to view the Chinese presence in California agriculture as merely (that of) farm laborers,” Chan said. “They were innovative, resourceful entrepreneurs.”

Olin predicted that Chan’s books (“This Bittersweet Soil: The Chinese in Agriculture 1816-1910” and “Asians in California,” both to be published in 1986) will “propel her into the very forefront of scholars of the Asian-American experience.”

Actress Nancy Kwan said she came to the dinner, which raised $20,000, “to support the Asians.” She introduced Bao-Chun Li and Tyrone Wu of the Southern California Chinese Opera Society, who performed an excerpt from the opera “The Monkey King.”

Earlier, Irvine Mayor Pro Tem Sally Ann Miller expressed her delight that “more ethnic groups are getting established in Irvine.”

Robert Jensen, president of Rancho Santiago College in Santa Ana, which has an enrollment of 3,000 Asian students, said: “The evening reflected the demographics and new awareness (of the Asian population) in the county.”

Linda Lau, a moving force in raising that awareness, is founder and coordinator of the Chinese-American Council. Lydia Wang Himes was event chairman.