January Chapter Meeting

Our Sarasota Chapter of USCPFA met at the fire house.

President Archie McKee opened the meeting giving information about recent and future events. He then introduced our own Dr. Lengyl who gave an introduction about art history, archeology, and museology. He then introduced our special guest:

Dr. Zhang Fan (Jeremy), the new curator of the Helga Wall-Apelt Collection at the Ringling Museum. He told us about the past, present and future plans for the new Asian Art Center. 

Four Chinese Scholars Honored

Four Chinese scholars visiting and working in Sarasota, Florida, were honored with a reception and dinner at Libby's Restaurant on Thursday, January 9. 

These scholars were as follows:

Dr. Ma Qian, Mote Marine visiting scholar

Dr. Shi Xia, Assistant Professor of History, New College of Florida

Dr. Jeremy Zhang, Curator of Asian Art , Ringling Museum of Art

Zhang Shizhong, Mandarin teacher at New College of Florida under the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program

They were honored by Sarasota Sister Cities, Gulfcoast  Chinese American Association, and US China People's Friendship Association. Presentations were made by Beth Rule, President of SSCA;  Dr.Carolyn Bloomer, SSCA Xiamen Ciy Director; Irene Leung,  President of GCAA; and Archie McKee, USCPFA Sarasota Chapter President and National and Southern Region Board Member. 

Photo USCPFA Board Member Miriam Cassel with Dr. Jeremy Zhang. 

December Holiday Party

We had a fun gathering at Jill and Duane's meeting room. 

President Archie McKee, USCPFA National and Southern Region Board Member, presented to Dr. Alphonz Lengyl a Southern Region Award for Outstanding Service to US-China Relations. 

We watched a DVD about Chinese minority peoples provided by Alphonz. 

Door prize "gifts" were presented. 

November 2013 Chapter Meeting

November meeting was held on November 10, 3 pm, at the Fingers' condo community room.

Meeting called to order by Archie McKee, President.  Attending - 13:  George and Lucienne, Duane and Jill, Pat A., Lois, Miriam, Colette, Bob, Gail, Larry, Grace

Noted the Sarasota website is www.USChinaSarasota.blogspot.com.

Announced that 2015 National Convention will be held in Atlanta, GA.

Announced that 2014 Washington DC Seminar will be held at Gaudette University’s Kellogg Conference Center April 23-25.

Discussed possibility of hosting Annie Rollins, a PhD candidate studying Chinese shadow puppetry. A committee will get more information.

Briefly discussed events surrounding China’s 3^rd Plenum.

Duane and Jill gave report on the recent National Convention in Richmond, VA.  Sarasota had five members present, the largest delegation other than the host chapter:  Archie McKee, Duane Finger, Jill Dye, Dr. Carolyn Bloomer who also made a presentation on Chinese film, and Dr. Doris Ju who attended with her mother and sister.

Lois moved that a supplement be made by the Sarasota Chapter to those attending National Conventions.  After discussion and amendments, it was passed with a cap at $300 per convention.

A Regional Award for outstanding service to US-China relations was presented to George Arvay for his many years and dedicated work towards SOS China by Southern Region board member Archie McKee.  George was largely responsible for introducing SOS to China in the 1980s.  Today SOS serves more than 10,000 Chinese orphans in multiple locations across the country.  You can learn more by visiting http://www.sos-childrensvillages.org/where-we-help/asia/china.

Grace moved that SOS China be adopted as the Sarasota Chapter Charity.  Motion passed.

November program was a great video on the retirement life of Eunice Brock, who returned to China after retiring and lived out her days in Liaocheng City, Shandong Province.  She passed away earlier this year (2013) at the age of 98.  Discussion followed.  Video may be borrowed from Archie if wanted.

Door prizes were given out - Chinese paper cuts.

Next meeting will be December 8 at 3 pm.  Come at 2:30 for some social time.  A short program to be decided, but a holiday celebration including Chinese food and covered dishes provided by members will be the main event.  Plan now to bring a friend.

October 2013 Chapter Meeting

Minutes from the USCPFA meeting held Sunday, October 13, 2013
Location:  Firehouse #1 on Fourth St. in Sarasota
Members Present:  Archie McKee, Grace McKee, Lolly Baerveldt, Alfonz Lengyel, George Arvay

Meeting called to order at 3:00 PM by President Archie McKee

Agenda items:
General discussion regarding the new meeting date of the 2nd Sunday of the month, with meeting location to vary.  It was agreed the fire station was a good location and would be added to our list of possibilities but we need to provide our own technology to show any DVD's.  Meeting time will be 3 - 5 PM with doors open at 2:30 for visiting beforehand.

Discussion of how to increase membership in the club and to attract younger members also.  Lolly will check into Selby Library to see what is needed to have a "Introduction to USCPFA" meeting in their large meeting room.  Notices would be sent to various groups having an interest in Asian culture, such as Dr. Bloomer's movie audience (she does this, but needs brochures), Ringling Museum Asian Group, New College, RCAD, Chamber of Commerce - a list of businesses doing business in China, and any other groups we can name.  The importance of a current brochure was stressed and Archie mentioned that a new national brochure would be available at the conference in Richmond, so we can use that with local info added.   Lolly also will write a press release type announcement so we do this with little or no expenditures of money.

Program:
Archie presented an interesting and informative program on Asian fabrics and textiles with many examples of both.  He also had several books available for viewing.



Archie McKee presenting program on Chinese textiles and fabrics

 

 

Lolly listening and adding to the information

 

George and Alfonz joining in

 

Grace showing child's hat decoration - warding off evil spirits

 

Archie's books - Borrow if you wish

The next meeting will be Sunday, November 10th, location to be announced.

Meeting adjourned at 4:15 PM

Minutes recorded by VP Lolly Baerveldt

September 2013 Chapter Meeting

January 27, 2013 Chapter Meeting

The January meeting of the Sarasota chapter of USCPFA was a great success!

Brief announcements were made by President Archie McKee:

1. DUES ARE DUE!  Individual membership - $25; family membership - $40.  Get your checks to treasurer Duane.
2. Two reporters from the BEIJING REVIEW visited Sarasota last month.  They met with Sarasota Sister Cities and then with Jill, Duane, Archie and Grace to discuss USCPFA.  We are expecting a great write-up about Sarasota in the BEIJING REVIEW soon.
3. February 17 meeting at 2 pm.  Tentatively at Carolyn's clubhouse.  Confirmation of the location will come in your email.  A presentation will be made by a young Sarasota lady whom Archie placed in a teaching position in Anhui Province, PRC.
4. March 17 meeting at 2 pm.  Location:  Jill and Duane's new home or clubhouse.  Annual meeting.  Election of new officers:  Anyone interested in a position for the next two years may contact Archie or Duane.  Details to follow.

Colette requested that our meeting day (third Sunday of each month) be reconsidered.  That will be discussed at the annual meeting once the new officers are in place.

Thank you to Pat for bringing our lovely Mary with her. 

We have one new member who located us on the INTERNET and mailed a check to the national treasurer to join!

We were joined by Jill and Duane's friends, Colette and John Paul from France, Lolly's friend, Pam, and Miriam's husband Stuart.  We had two additional guests who were welcomed and invited to come again.  They are considering joining.

Everyone truly enjoyed Carolyn and Lolly's slides from their trip to China in 2011:  "Flub Dub and Farfetchness:  Lolly and Carolyn in China."  It brought back fond memories for those of us who have been to China and, as Lois put it, some who have not visited China traveled there vicariously. Alfonz expressed the joy he felt from seeing photos of his wife Hong Ying.

 

Dinner at the Yummy House was so enjoyable. Thank you to the Drs. Lin who arranged for our group to have reservations even though Yummy House is the latest hotspot in Sarasota.  People were lined up at the door before they even opened!  Everyone was allowed to elect to order family style or as individuals.  Delicious food and so affordable!  And a chance for our members to catch up with one another.  Lots of talk and laughter were heard.

 

Many photos were taken.  (Anytime your photos turn out better, please feel free to send them to Grace.)

 

 

 

 

 

It seems our blog is reaching people.  Since it was created two years again, there have been 2,137 pageviews!  WOW!

 

And if you type "China Sarasota" in the search box on www.google.com, our photos show up!  Search using "China Sarasota organization" and we are fifth on the list. 

 

 





December 2012 Chapter Meeting

USCPFA Dec. 23, 2012 Meeting by Colette Penn

​Our December meeting and holiday party beganon Dec. 23, 2012 at 2:30 P.M. in the Alinari condominium gathering room with a feast of specialdishes brought by members.

​Our hosts, Jill Dye and Duane Finger, introducedeach of us to our special guest: Mr. Jiang Yingshan, who asked to be called "AJ Rivers" for simplicity. AJ is a representative of The Chinese Peoples Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries ("YOUXIE"). In 2005 he was that association's National Tour Guide for our USCPFA Sarasota Tour to China.

​AJ then gave two presentations:

​First, he described the structure and purposes of YOUXIE, a vast Chinese non-governmentalassociation affiliated in 115 countries with 364 organizations, including our USCPFA.  One of YOUXIE's many tasks is to coordinate and establish a Sister Cities relationship between Chinese cities and others worldwide.  In his capacity as YOUXIE representative to the U.S., AJ assisted Sarasota in establishing its current Sister City relationship with Xiamen.

​Next, as a special treat, AJ showed a film made by YOUXIE to record the gratitude of the Chinese people to the amazing American Volunteer Group(honorifically called "The Flying Tigers") for their service during World War II in training the Chinese Air Force and in fighting with them to destroy invadingJapanese air forces in China.  We who watched the film were deeply moved; and some of us went to the Tigers' official website to learn more about these remarkable men.

​We would like to express our thanks to Mr. Jiang Yingshan ("AJ Rivers") for visiting us and for his highly informative and fascinating presentations.

​Our meeting concluded in the Alinari theatre with a return gesture to AJ: A screening of "It's a Wonderful Life", the perennially favorite American Christmas film.

​Those who stayed to the 9:00 P.M. end of thismarathon meeting left smiling and content.

​Thanks to Jill and Duane for your efforts in bringing this event to us.

November 18, 2012 Chapter Meeting

The November 18 meeting will be held at the Alinari, 800 N. Tamiami Trail, hosted by Jill and Duane as President Archie and VP Lolly will both be out of town.  The meeting begins at 3 pm.  The program will be a discussion of the new leadership changes in China.  Please bring a covered dish to share.

VP Lolly will be in charge of the December meeting as the McKees will be out of town for the holidays.  She will announce the details at the November meeting.

USCPFA Nov. 18, 2012 Meeting Minutes by Colette Penn

​We had a triple bill at our 3:00 P.M. November 18, 2012 meeting held in the Alinari condominiumtheatre as guests of members Duane Finger and Jill Dye.

​First, as we enjoyed our snacks, Duane gave us a talk on the role of new Chinese leader Xi Jinping's father as a communist revolutionary, the significance of Xi being a Red Prince or "princeling", Xi's personal connections with the U.S., and insights into Xi's character and political views.

​Our special guest, JoAnn Matray, then gave us a vivid description of her experiences living in Chongqing, southwest China, while serving in the U.S. Peace Corps as a teacher of IT subjects tomasters degree students at Chongqing University.  JoAnn discussed a myriad of topics, including her living with a local family, food, shopping, supplies, medical care, and local customs.  She also explainedsome University procedures, such as admission, instruction, and testing.  A lively question and answer session followed.

​Thank you, JoAnn, for sharing your fascinating experiences with us.

​To close the meeting, Duane showed a brief scenic documentary film, "The Symbol of Eternity in China", with spectacular views of Anhui Province, including Huangshan (Mount Huang).

​This meeting had something for everyone.Thanks to everyone who assisted.

October 21, 2012 Chapter Meeting

We had another great meeting at the Village Gardens Condo community room, Sunday, October 21 at 2 pm. 

When Alfonz arrived, we surprised him with a birthday cake with sparklers and balloon.  We sang "Happy Birthday to You" in Chinese.  Then, we helped him blow out all the sparklers and shared his cake.  Today Alfonz was 91! 

Photos by Laz:

 

 

President Archie gave us dates of upcoming events that might be of interest:
Wednesday evening, October 24 -  "What Next for China?"  Carter Center in Atlanta.  You can view this online.  Just Google it.

• Thursday evening, October 25 - Ringling Museum presentation by Dr. Daphne Rosenzwieg on Deco Japan.  Go to http://www.ringling.org/AdultPrograms2.aspx?id=12968 for more information.  Registration necessary.
• Monday evening, October 29 - China Town Hall Meeting, Lakewood Ranch Campus of State College of Florida.  Registration necessary. 
• Ongoing exhibits at Ringling Museum:  "Mythic Creatures of China" and "Deco Japan."

Member Martine Moore announced that her son Jonathan Moore (piano and French horn) will perform in a FREE CONCERT, 2012 Emerging Artist Showcase, Sunday, October 28, 2:30 pm, at Holley Hall in the Beatrice Friedman Symphony Center on Van Wezel Way.  Even though free, advance reservations are required.  Call 941-776-5522 or email:  sarasotamusicclub@yahoo.com.

Today's program was a documentary entitled, "The China Question," which brought about a stimulating discussion.  All present participated in the discussion and shared their individual views of the topics in the documentary.  

Carolyn was inspired by an earlier viewing of this documentary.  She shared a spreadsheet of five categories of  products in her home and where they were made.  Her categories were short sleeve woven shirts, knit tank tops, tee shirts with logos, household items, and books.  Surprising how the percentages of Made in China products were much lower than one might expect.  She plans to have her students perform a similar survey in their homes.  You might want to do this too. 

Email archie.mckee@hotmail.com if you need additional info about upcoming events or the books he mentioned during the discussion.

Next meetings:

November 18, 2 pm - President Archie and VP Lolly will both be out of town.  Archie is asking Duane and Jill to host this meeting.  Details to follow from them.

December 16, 2 pm - VP Lolly will preside.  She will be sending out information about location and program.

September 2012 Chapter Meeting

We had a great meeting at the Village Gardens Condo community room, Sunday, September 23.  If you missed it, please try to make the October meeting, same place, October 21 at 2 pm. 

 We had one guest, Drew Deininger,  VP for Membership for Sarasota Sister Cities Association.

The meeting began with some snacks, steamed dumplings, Chinese tea, munchies, wine, and cheese and crackers.  Archie found that he could not get vegetarian dumplings so if anyone has a source, please let us know.  We did have vegetarian buns available.

Membership information:  Mary Namey is now in a local care facility, Horizon Bay, and Dr. Lengyel shared that George and Lucienne Arvay recently each had an accident.  Both Arvays are home again at this writing and recovering well.

The discussion then turned to current events in China:  The controversy over possession of the Shenkaku (Japanese name) or Diaoyu (Chinese name) Islands just north of Taiwan; the upcoming party congress where up to 80% of the senior Chinese leadership may change; and China’s economy.  A good bit of insight and interesting information was shared.

Archie announced that he (in our chapter’s name) has successfully placed two teachers in Anhui Province for the present academic year.  He has heard from these two young people and they are happy and excited about this opportunity.  Anyone interested in possibly spending a year in China teaching English conversation should contact Archie.McKee@hotmail.com.

Our guest Drew shared some ideas that he has used to increase SSCA membership and encouraged members to attend and others to join SSCA.

The group then watched a movie, “Beijing Children’s Opera.”

Hope you can make it to next month’s meeting.

January 15 Meeting Hosted by Hilda Desenberg

What a wonderful afternoon!

Hilda Desenberg invited us to meet at the clubhouse at Covered Bridge Estates in Ellenton.  She was a delightful hostess!

As guests arrived, they were greeted by Archie, chapter president, and Hilda, hostess.  Many were  decked out in beautiful Chinese outfits.  We had time to chat and get to know one another better.

Duane picked up our lunch from King's Wok and brought it to the clubhouse.  We all highly recommend this Chinese restaurant next to KMart across from the Ellenton Outlet Mall.  We enjoyed our food, talked and laughed.  Instructions for the upcoming auction were given; everyone was given a preview of the items to be auctioned.

It is traditional to have jaiozi for Chinese New Year.  Hilda had prepared all the ingredients beforehand to teach us how to make delicious Pork Jaiozi (dumplings).   She even printed out the recipe with added tips.  Chinese cooking is labor intensive.  She had gone to much trouble to marinate the pork and to chop all the vegetables ahead of time.  THANKS, HILDA!

Once Hilda had lead us through the recipe adding many ingredients to the marinated pork, we took a break while we had an auction.  Everyone was given LOTS of joss money in red envelopes--100,000 in Heaven money and TEN MILLION in Hell money.  Items brought by members were looked over by the participants and then the bidding wars started.

Grace served as the auctioneer and had much fun doing so.  The wars began!  In the middle of the auction, a pack of million dollar Hell money was auctioned off.  Our chapter members need some lessons in finance perhaps.  Over 20 million dollars in Hell money was purchased by Duane for ten million and he could have had it for ten thousand in Heaven money.  From that point he had LOTS of money to enhance his bidding.  Although he was kind to the others and did not outbid everyone on every upcoming item, he did announce that the bank was open and loans could be made at only 1000%.  LOL

Everyone won at least one item and back we went back to making dumplings. 

Hilda led us in shaping the dough and stuffing it with her tasty filling.  Here is Pat in her beautiful dragon dress, earrings, and necklace following Hilda's instructions. 

Hilda added our creations to boiling water and patiently added 1/2 cup cold water THREE TIMES and awaited a return to boiling each time. 

We each sampled our creations and approved our efforts.  At this point Hilda admitted she had never before made dumplings.  We had all believed her to be an EXPERT!

A collection was taken up and offered to Hilda to defray the cost of her ingredients.  She declined and gave us the money for our chapter treasury.  Thanks again, Hilda!

Archie had prepared a brief presentation about various Chinese holidays.  Time was running short so he opted to send this out to the members via email.

Everyone pitched in to take down decorations, return the table and chairs to storage, and generally return the clubhouse to its original state.  How easy clean-up is when everyone helps!  Thanks!

President Archie announced that next month's meeting will be hosted at The Alinari by Jill and Duane.  We all hope you will be well by then, Jill.  We missed you.

NOTE:  We missed those of you who were unable to attend.  Be sure to mark the third Sunday through May and save those dates for USCPFA. 

December Holiday Get-Together

We will meet at Duane and Jill's for a holiday get-together.  Chinese food will be furnished by the chapter. 

Archie McKee, Dr. Alfonz Lengyl, Dr. Carolyn Bloomer and Lolly Baerveldt have been invited to tell us about their recent trips to China. 

Archie was recently elected to the USCPFA National Board at the conference he and Grace attended in Kansas City, Missouri.  He will bring greetings from the National Board.

Sunday, December 11

Sarasota Artists Share China Experience!
Art Center Sarasota – 4-7 pm
4-5pm: Chinese Appetizers
Enjoy tea, wine, and dim sum

Chat with artists
Robert Farber and Javier  Rodriguez
View their new works inspired by
visiting Sarasota's Chinese sister cityl

5-7 pm:  Artist s’ Presentations
Robert Farber,
Professor Ringling College of Art and Design
Javier Rodriguez,
Independent Artist

November Meeting

Since Archie was in Shanghai and VP Lolly was in Ohio, Duane and Jill hosted the meeting.  Everyone enjoyed hearing about Robert Farber's adventures in Xiamen as he and Javier Rodriguez sponsored by Sarasota Sister Cities and co-sponsored by GCAA and our USCPFA chapter.

October Meeting

Several of our chapter members had lunch together at Gold Dynasty Restaurant in Sarasota. 
Chapter members were encouraged to attend Dr. Bloomer's movie series at Ringling College.  Those who attended were made more aware of the happenings in Nanjing during World War II.

First Meeting, September 11, 2011, at Archie and Grace's Home

Our first meeting was a fun afternoon.  We missed several members who were either out of town or busy elsewhere.  However, the eight of us who attended enjoyed our time together.

Since everyone arrived at various times, we started off with refreshments and sharing our summer's happenings.  Pat O. and Ed and Susanna brought items from their gardens to share.

  

The meeting was called to order by Archie, our new president, at 3:15 pm.  He gave us an overview of the day's agenda.  He then turned the meeting over to Pat Amsel, who told us all about her recent trip to HongKong for the wedding of a Chinese exchange student who lived with her while attending high school in Sarasota.  Pat was honored as the bride's "other mother" at this elaborate wedding.

As Pat described this sumptious event, she passed photos for us to share.  Grace photographed a few of Pat's photos for inclusion here just to give you some idea of how grandiose this event was.  The bridal party was quite large.  The bride changed gowns three times!  The groom presented a "signed contract" to the bride.  The groomsmen dressed up to entice the groom away from his bride.  All this much to the amusement of the attendees.  Can't remember how many tables of 12, but A LOT!

Everyone truly enjoyed Pat's presentation.  Her excitement at attending this affair a decade after the bride had lived with her was contagious.

Archie asked Grace to share the tentative list of programs for the upcoming year. These will be listed in the minutes of the meeting for your input regarding your preferences.  There was discussion regarding the articles in our recent China Review about the ancient maps and other evidence that the Chinese came to what is North America long before Columbus.  A panel presentation about this is being considered; we will invite other interested groups to attend.

Archie aske Glad to check into using the theatre where she lives for the October 16 meeting since Jill and Duane won't be back to Sarasota at that time.  You will be notified of what, when and where once these plans are firmed.  We met the second Sunday in September because Grace and Archie will be representing our chapter at the National Conference in Kansas City.  So pencil in the third Sunday of each month to reserve them for our chapter meetings.

The meeting was adjourned about 4:30 pm.  We had brownies and ice cream with several toppings and visited with one another some more.  Archie again shared his porcelain collection.  Grace invited all to her studio just across from MiraBay to see her gyotaku and acrylic paintings.