[OR_Archaeology] KAM WAH CHUNG TO BE HIGHLIGHTED IN PORTLAND EVENTS

[Susan White]

KAM WAH CHUNG TO BE HIGHLIGHTED IN PORTLAND EVENTS

The Oregon College of Oriental Medicine will present "Preserving
Chinese Culture in Oregon: An Evening with Kam Wah Chung" from 6
p.m.-9
p.m. in the University of Oregon White Stag Block. This event will
kick
off a seminar series at Lan Su Garden focusing on the history of the
Kam
Wah Chung Heritage Site in John Day.

These events will highlight the contributions of Chinese businessman
Lung On and Chinese herbal doctor Ing “Doc” Hay who inhabited Kam
Wah Chung from 1887-1940. Built in 1876 as a trading post, On and Hay
transformed Kam Wah Chung into a social, medical and religious center
for Oregon’s Chinese community. The museum still contains artifacts,
financial records, supplies and Chinese herbs left behind by On and
Hay.


College staff, faculty and students are currently helping the museum
translate, contextualize and catalog the herbs and records left behind
by On and Hay, beginning with herbal pharmacy records and prescription
notes from the 1918 flu epidemic.

People at the June 8 event will screen OPB’s Oregon Experience
program about Kam Wah Chung, meet producer/director Beth Harrington
and
executive producer Nadine Jelsing, view historic photos of the
original
museum, and meet Kam Wah Chung curator Christina Sweet. The event is
free and open to the public. Pre-registration is encouraged.

Lectures at Lan Su Chinese Garden will begin the following week; they
are open to the public and included in the price of admission to the
garden. Each begins at 1 p.m. Topics and dates are: "The History and
Artifacts of Kam Wah Chung" by Sweet on June 15; "Interpreting the
Medicine of Kam Wah Chung" by college staff member Beth Howlett on
June
22; and "The Making of Oregon Experience: Kam Wah Chung" by Harrington
on June 29.  Detailed information is available on www.ocom.edu/events.