Local Chinese-Americans are taking a deep dive into history this weekend — with photo and calligraphy exhibits, expert panels and an elaborate visual arts performance.
Some 2,000 people are expected to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of Japanese occupation during World War II. With more than 100 local volunteers at work since January on the St. Paul event, it will be bigger and better than anniversary celebrations 10 and 20 years ago, organizers say. The Saturday event, hosted by Bethel University, is titled Voice of Peace.
"We not only remember the war, but we look forward to the peace," said Vincent Mar, the event's chairman and a board member of the Chinese American Association of Minnesota, which is putting on the commemoration along with more than 30 other community groups.
The association estimates about 30,000 residents of Chinese descent live in the Twin Cities, mostly recent immigrants who came to the United States to study and stuck around for careers in information technology, engineering and others.
Early this year, community members rallied to line up speakers and performers for this week's event. Amid a sometimes tense relationship between China and the United States these days, the event zeros in on the collaboration between the armed forces of the two countries that led to the Japanese army surrender in 1945 and the end of World War II. An estimated 30 million Chinese died between the beginning of the Japanese invasion in 1931 and 1945.
"We're all volunteers, and we've been working on this for almost a year," said Christina Deng Morrison, one of the organizers. "This is a really meaningful opportunity for the Chinese community to reach out to the larger community."
Among the event's highlights: a display of nearly 100 historical photos from the war; a painting and calligraphy exhibit; and a panel on the Flying Tigers, a group of American and U.S.-trained Chinese pilots who fought the Japanese side by side. That presentation will feature veterans' advocate Nell Calloway, the granddaughter of the Tigers' famed commander, Claire Chennault.
On Saturday night, Chinese opera, choral, ballet and modern dance performers will dramatize the Chinese war of resistance in a three-part original piece representing the Japanese invasion, the war of resistance and the eventual surrender of Japanese forces.
Among those invited are dignitaries, including the Chinese consul general in Chicago and members of the Minnesota congressional delegation, such as Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.
"This is history that happened many years ago," said Mar, "but we need to remember it and remember why it happened."
The Flying Tigers lecture and art performance start at 7 p.m. Saturday at Bethel University's Benson Great Hall. Tickets are $10 at the door.
Mila Koumpilova • 612-673-4781
