From Grocery Stores to Computers, Chinese Businesses Flourishing : Retail: As many as 1,500 Chinese businesses have opened shop in Orange County and many are now expanding to cater to people outside the Asian community.

When Roger H. Chen moved to Orange County seven years ago from Taiwan, he grew tired of making the long drive to Los Angeles just to buy Chinese groceries for his family. Friends who were doing the same thing were getting fed up too.

But Chen knew a good business opportunity when he saw it. And, in 1984, he opened the first full-scale Chinese grocery store in Westminster.

“Because the demand was there for a Chinese grocery store and because of the growing number of Chinese in the county, I believed the business would be successful,” he said.

Coming from a different culture, Chen found that starting a business in the United States wasn’t easy.

“At that time, there were things I didn’t know,” he said. “I didn’t know how to advertise, how to promote a business and how to get government and health permits.”

Because there were no Chinese business groups in the county, Chen depended on his friends for help. He was like many Chinese immigrants new to the county who needed support groups and mentors.

Recognizing this need, Chen and a few other Chinese businessmen met in September, 1988, and decided it was time to come together. Following the example of the Latino, Korean, black and Vietnamese chambers of commerce, they founded the Orange County Chinese-American Chamber of Commerce. The organization marked its first anniversary Jan. 31.

“The primary goal of the chamber is to get Chinese business people together and find out what their needs are and help them understand other ethnic groups,” said Alan Chiu, president of the Chinese-American chamber and vice president and manager of Cathay Bank in Westminster. “We wanted to unite so we could have a common ground and work as a group.”

There are nearly 1,000 Chinese-owned businesses in Orange County, according to the 1990 Chinese Community Yellow Pages and Business Guide of Southern California. But Jason Chu, marketing director of the Chinese yellow pages, said the actual number may be as high as 1,500.

Only a fraction belong to the year-old chamber. It now has 70 members, but the group hopes to double its ranks this year by stepping up its recruiting, Chiu said.

“Now, we can group together and meet other people.”

For most Chinese, whether they settled in Orange County 40 years ago or just recently, their biggest obstacle is the language barrier.

And because of the difficulties Chinese have with English, Chiu said, “Chinese like to work with others who strictly know their language.”

Daniel J. Shen, a native of Taiwan and president of the Orange Insurance Services Inc. in Fountain Valley, remembers when he was one of only a few Chinese business owners in the county. At age 40, Shen said he has witnessed a swarm of Chinese-owned businesses within the last few years throughout the county.

“I can see the Chinese population growing here. That’s when you see the businesses grow,” said Shen, who plans to join the Chinese chamber.

Shen started his business in 1982 to provide a service he knew was needed in the Chinese community.

Shen consults and sells insurance to Chinese clients and other groups as well. He initially targeted his business to the Asian community, preferring, like many other Chinese, to do business with his own.

He moved his business from Westminster to Fountain Valley four years later to reach into other ethnic communities.

“At the time, there was a hard market in insurance. In order to get into mainstream business, I had to move into another area,” he said. “I did this to introduce insurance businesses with Chinese-American customers. I love to service my Chinese customers. On the other hand, I’m flattered when the mainstream community can come to me.”

Shen said he lives and works in Orange County because he prefers the area to Chinatown in Los Angeles or Monterey Park, where there is a high Asian population. He believes other Chinese are moving into the county for the same reason. In addition to this trend, he said more children of Chinese immigrants are going to college and pursuing careers in high-technology fields.

Chinese business people have made their mark in several fields, but some of the biggest success stories have come in computers. The county’s two biggest personal computer companies have Chinese founders or co-founders. Tom Yuen, chief operating officer and a co-founder of AST Research in Irvine, is a native of China. Gene Lu, president and founder of Advanced Logic Research in Irvine, hails from Taiwan. Both men came to the United States in their youth, went to college to study engineering and worked their way up.

Another local computer pioneer is Hong Kong native Albert Wong, an AST co-founder who left that company last year. Earlier this week, Wong announced that he is starting a new computer company called AMKLY Systems in Irvine.

These businessmen were among the first wave of Chinese who came to study in the United States or emigrated here with their families. Researchers say that 30 years ago, there were only 444 Chinese in the county. That number has grown to an estimated 20,000 today.

One of the first Chinese immigrants to start a business in Orange County was Fred Lau, who opened the Santa Ana Food Market in 1949. Lau, 78, president of the Chinese Grocery Assn. of Southern California, has seen many changes in Orange County and is excited about the growing number of Chinese business owners.

Lau, who lives in Santa Ana, said he is interested in becoming a chamber member.

“I don’t know many Chinese business people because most of my customers are Hispanic. So, I would like to become involved with the chamber,” he said.

In a culture in which women traditionally have been kept out of top positions in business, some Chinese women are bending the tradition in Orange County.

Virginia Yuen, owner of Madame Yuen’s, a cosmetic and handbag shop, said she chose to open her store at the Asian Garden Mall in Little Saigon 2 1/2 years ago because of the large Asian population.

Most of her customers are Vietnamese.

“Business is OK because I can talk lots of languages. My customers like me,” said Yuen, who speaks Mandarin, Vietnamese and several Chinese dialects. “I would like to open another shop outside the Asian community and maybe sell purses and handbags. I want to do this because it makes a lot more money and it’s easier.”

Six years later, Chen, owner of TAWA Supermarket Inc., a chain of grocery stores in Orange and Los Angeles counties, said there are many benefits to uniting as a group. But, he said, to expand and to understand other minorities and non-minorities, Chinese business owners must be flexible.

“There isn’t much communication between Chinese and non-Chinese,” he said. “But, I think that will improve. That’s very important for businesses.”