Historian Sets Light on Chinese American Life

By Que Weihang (America)

Celebrated Historian Passed Away

Him Mark Lai, a noted historian of the Chinese American experience, died at his San Francisco home on May 21. He was 84. Laura Lai, his wife, said there would be a simple funeral. A memorial service was held on June 20, 2009 and attended by his friends.

Him Mark Lai fought death for nearly 2 years.

The day before his demise, Mr. Lai examined photographs of the Chinese Village financed and built in San Francisco in 1939 in the hope of putting some of them into his works.

Many people were concerned with his health during his illness. On February 12, 2009, Li Haifeng, director of the Office of Overseas Chinese Affairs with the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China on his visit to San Francisco, visited Professor Lai at his home, accompanied by Gao Zhansheng, the Chinese consul general in San Francisco.

History and Achievements

Him Mark Lai was born in a Chinese family on November 1, 1925 in San Francisco. With their ancestral in Nanhai County, Guangdong Province, China, his parents worked at a local garment factory. He was the oldest of the five children. The family struggled financially. The junior began at 10 to help his parents to do the needlework. In 1947 he graduated as a top student from UC Berkeley with a degree in mechanical engineering. In 1948, he worked at a local streetcar company and in 1953 he began to work for Bechtel Corp as an engineer.

Though his college education was in engineering, Him Mark Lai had a passion for Chinese language and history, which was part of his childhood education. He began to focus on Chinese American studies in search of his cultural roots. From the 1960s on, he published articles in local Chinese newspapers about local Chinese history. In 1965, he joined a scholarly association of Chinese American studies and served as its president three times. He also lectured on Chinese American history in both UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University.

Him Mark Lai retired in 1984 at 59 in order to focus on his Chinese American studies. A self-made scholar, Him Mark Lai is acclaimed as the founding father of Chinese American studies in USA. His extensive works are considered seminal in the studies of Asian American history. His works include “A History of the Chinese in California: A Syllabus” (jointly compiled with other two scholars) in English and “From Overseas Chinese to Chinese American” in Chinese. The newspaper clippings he put together are filled in five file cabinets. His researches include history, politics, newspaper, and poetry of Chinese roots in America.

Honors

On October 28, 2007, a birthday party was held in celebration of the 82nd birthday of Him Mark Lai and in honor of his contribution to the study of Chinese American life. The party was attended by 650 celebrities from San Francisco. Professor Him Mark Lai also received many congratulatory messages from other prominent personages in America.

Wang Xinping, vice consul general of Chinese consulate in San Francisco, spoke at the birthday party.He paid homage to Him Mark Lai and praised his lifelong achievements. He said that thanks to Mr. Lais endeavors, Chinese American history has become part of American history. The vice consul general also noted that Him Mark Lai was a philanthropist who led a simple life and dedicated his time, energy and money to the study of Chinese American life. He praised Him Mark Lais donation of all research material to the Asian Studies Center at UC Berkeley.

Since 1991, Chinese descendents in America have paid annual visit to their roots in about a hundred villages in more than 20 cities and districts across Guangdong Province, China. The program was initiated jointly by Him Mark Lai and Albert Cheng, co-chair of a Chinese culture foundation in San Francisco. The two organizers were honored by the office of Overseas Chinese Affairs of Guangdong Provincial Government in July, 2001 in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the program and in honor of their program.□