Bay Area screens film on prominent local community leader

SAN FRANCISCO — A documentary about a San Francisco Chinese community leader was screened at a public library in the city and has inspired ChineseAmerican children to become “ambassadors” who will work for closer China-US ties, according to an organizer.

The short film about Florence Fang, who is a Chinese-American publisher and a prominent Chinese community leader in the San Francisco Bay Area, allowed children from many Chinese-American families to learn about Fang who has been promoting ChinaUS friendship for over 80 years, Betty Yuan, an organizer of the US nonprofit, Bridge Road International Foundation, says.

Fang was invited to attend the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China after she left the Chinese mainland seven decades ago, Yuan adds.

“I hope Fang’s story will encourage our next generation of overseas Chinese to see her as their model, to continue her endeavor of carrying forward cultural exchanges between Chinese and American people,” Yuan says.

Fang is the former owner of the San Francisco Examiner, an English-language newspaper in the Bay Area that served as a platform for Chinese Americans to be heard in mainstream US society.

She is also the founder of the World War II Pacific War Memorial Hall in San Francisco Chinatown, the first private overseas commemorative facility that keeps an extensive record of those who fought Japanese aggression in Asia, including China, during WWII.

Chang-Lynn Tan, a 14-year-old student of Mission San Jose High School in Fremont, East Bay, says it was “really interesting to see how Florence Fang was able to preserve her Chinese heritage and combine it with American culture”.

“By establishing the WWII Pacific War Memorial Hall, she was able to establish a statement where the two countries could work together peacefully to achieve something greater,” Tan adds.

As a Chinese American, it is empowering to see how Fang has achieved her dreams through hard work and determination, Tan says.

The screening at the San Francisco Public Library was hosted by Bridge Road International Foundation along with Hanlin Education Foundation of America.