CSA is about unity and cultural exchange. It is also about allowing members to challenge themselves, explore new interests and grow as a person or professional.
In the early years, much of its work involved corresponding with the Foreign Office regarding commercial grievances in China. It also published periodic reports on Chinese domestic and international affairs.
History
The Chinese Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to celebrating Chinese culture and diversity in greater Peoria. Since its founding in 1965, the CCBA has been a focal point for social interaction among local Chinese residents and community organizations and has promoted understanding and appreciation of the unique Chinese traditions, customs and heritage.
ACA’s history includes helping to prepare the landmark US Supreme Court case Lau v. Nichols, fighting to prevent the Census Bureau from clustering all Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders into one racial category, organizing community support for victims of anti-Chinese violence, and winning groundbreaking immigrant rights legislation in California. ACA is also a founding chapter of the national Organization of Chinese Americans. In addition, ACA has sponsored two Bei Shan Tang book prizes and several panels at the annual conferences of the Historical Society for Twentieth-Century China. This portal makes digitized materials from these and other Association archives available for research. These include minutes and papers of the China Association General Committee and Executive Committee; letters relating to John Swire & Sons, Jardine Matheson & Co, the British Chambers of Commerce in Shanghai, Tientsin, and Hong Kong; and records of the Incorporated School of Practical Chinese.
Mission
CSA is an open platform for people to interact regardless of their backgrounds, as long as they have the interest in Chinese culture and society. CSA organizes language courses, education-related events and social gatherings for people with similar interests. It also provides a platform for people to connect with the community and other ethnic groups within a campus, in order to strengthen the community and help its members achieve success in their professional careers.
ACA is a founding chapter of the national Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA). It seeks to promote the general welfare of Chinese Americans, addressing issues such as education, civil rights and economic opportunities. In the wake of anti-Chinese racial violence, it organized community support for victims, lobbied government agencies for unemployment forms and services in Chinese languages, and conducted grassroots level research to expose the struggles of low-wage immigrant workers. It is our hope that the digitized materials on this portal can be utilized to inspire future generations of civic-minded leaders.
Membership
Members are a diverse group of people who share the common goals of understanding, learning and enriching their lives with Chinese culture. As a social and cultural society, it is our job to provide an environment that fosters learning and development through projects, events, and activities.
Membership is open to any person with a passion for Asia who upholds the values of the organization and agrees with our purpose. Members may participate in all the social and cultural events and workshops that the organization holds.
CSA offers many opportunities for networking and professional growth to its members, including sponsoring career fairs, facilitating effective student-professionals-corporations communication, organizing national events, holiday celebrations, and academic forums. Often, the friendships made within the CSA are lifelong.
Activities
CSA hosts a series of social activities to promote communication and friendship among Chinese students, scholars, alumni and the Pace community. These activities include spreading and preserving the Chinese culture, providing an information platform and guiding members in school life, career and cultural activities.
Many society events are aimed at helping students and scholars to build up their academic communication. Some examples of these include One Week Chinese Culture, New Students’ Pick-up, Badminton Contest, Lectures on Job Hunting and so forth.
The Association also works on local Chinatown issues and tenants’ rights. For example, the Association helped give Chinatown its highest increase in voter turnout, worked with lay-off electronics and rubber stamp manufacturing workers to seek severance pay, and secured Commonwealth-funded bilingual job training programs for laid-off workers. It also supports youth activists to push the City of Boston to establish a Chinatown branch library and to protect the Chinatown neighborhood from developers. The Association also lobbies in the legislature for Chinese voters and workers’ interests.