On Saturday, April 25th, the Pan-Asian Youth Coalition, a social impact organization from UC Davis, hosted a Language Tea Time Event. PAYC’s mission is to bridge intergenerational gaps, promote youth and civic engagement, and educate the public on untold AAPI stories and histories. With collaborative efforts with the 1882 Foundation, the Friends of Sacramento Chinatown, Lao Family Community Development, Aggie Mahjong Club, and the Global Tea Institute, allowed the invite to come to life. 

The event began promptly at 1 PM with a guided tour of Sacramento Chinatown Square. Two tours were led by Norman Fong, from Friends of Sacramento Chinatown, and whose grandfather was a long time member of the Confucius Church board. The first tour was an exclusive tour for folks from the 1882 Foundation and the second tour was a guided tour for students. Participants were able to go into the Confucius Church and hear from the curator and owners of the Sun-Yat Sen Museum. Conversations arose about preservation challenges, policies regarding transforming Chinatown into a historical site, and questions about funding such preservation efforts.

Given the lack of foot traffic due to the closings of storefronts and restaurants, Sacramento Chinatown Square is headed towards gradual decline. However, the beautiful architecture and combination of Chinese and modernist aesthetics still draws passerbys in today, leaving people with room to imagine the possibilities of transforming this unique space. The purpose of the Language Tea Time event was to bridge inter-generational gaps where students can sip tea and play mahjong with Seniors who live in the Imperial Tower Senior home.

A turnout of about 40 students and 20 community members showed up to the event including commercial brokers and Sacramento Preservationists curious in learning more about the history of Sacramento Chinatown Square. Students and community members gathered over tea and Mahjong by raising conversations about the future of Chinatown Square. 

Unlike other Chinatowns, Sacramento Chinatown is fairly new as it was reconstructed in the 1960s by UC Berkeley Graduate Architecture students. Old Chinatown used to exist by the port of the Sacramento Delta and was one of the first Chinatowns in California. But due to urban renewal efforts, it was reconstructed and the older parts of Chinatown were replaced.

The Sacramento tours provided great insight on the history of Sacramento from both a personal and historical perspective. Hopefully, this event created a lasting impact by providing students and community members a glimpse of what Sacramento Chinatown needs. It needs youth engagement to transform this space, and this event helped inspire that charge. PAYC is set to host an upcoming event on May 30th to gather community participation and evaluate the next steps/call to action for this space.