Raymond Douglas Chong Documentary Film and Book Event

Dr. Raymond Douglas Chong presents his Documentary Film: My Odyssey – Between Two Worlds
and Book – Chop Suey and Sushi from Sea to Shining Sea: Chinese and Japanese Restaurants in the United States

Raymond Douglas Chong’s journey in search of his family roots in Kaiping, Guangdong, China leads to his ancestral village where he interviews villagers and uncovers its peasant history. With remarkable footprints, Chong traces his family’s five generation migrations to America. Following great-great-great and great-great grandfathers who worked as laborers in gold fields during the California Gold Rush and the Far West’s Transcontinental Railroad.

Then during the restrictive Chinese Exclusion Act which banned migrating workers and women, Chong’s grandfather joined a credit partnership, opening a foodway of Chop Suey (cuisine) houses. Raymond Douglas Chong’s family story is a unique personal view spanning the full spectrum of Chinese in America.

For Raymond Douglas Chong, his personal journey opened exciting new explorations into Chinese culture, literary arts, and music. Though working as a civil engineer, Raymond Douglas Chong also became a cofounder and past president of Oakland Asian Students Educational Services (OASES). He is coauthor of the newly published book, Chop Suey and Sushi from Sea to Shining Sea: Chinese and Japanese Restaurants in the United States, published by University of Arkansas Press. Author, historian, poet, lyricist and filmmaker, Chong’s odyssey is just beginning.