Sun Yat-sen Festival to Pay Tribute to Lahaina’s Chinese Families

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This year’s celebration of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, recognized as the Father of Modern China, will also pay tribute to Lahaina’s Chinese families during the Sun Yat-sen Chinese Heritage Festival on Friday, Nov. 10 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The Lahaina Restoration Foundation and Wo Hing Society will present an array of cultural, art and musical activities at Wo Hing Museum and Cookhouse in Lahaina.  The museum will open at 10 a.m., offering free admission all day.

In the evening, Barbara Chung Ho of the University of Hawai‘i Manoa Outreach College will present a workshop on paper cutting, a folk art of China, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.  Students from the Maui Academy of Performing Arts’ Summer Musical Theatre group will perform fan, ribbon and umbrella dances from the Disney musical, Mulan Jr. at 6:30 p.m.

Between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m., activities for the whole family will abound, including Chinese calligraphy demonstrated by Reverend Takayuki of Lahaina Shingon Mission and knot tying with expert, Brenda Wong.  Enjoy Chinese acupressure massage from Toi Suchitra Srijantara.  Maui Jade Traders will display and sell jade products.

Traditional Chinese music will be performed by Hong Zhou on the bamboo flute and erhu string instrument.  Attendees can sit under umbrellas in the garden to dine on Chinese food, which will be sold by Only Ono BBQ.  As a special treat, packages of crack seed snacks such as li hing mui, lemon, ginger, olive and plum, will be sold for $1-$4 per bag with a Hop Wo Store label on them.  Proceeds will be donated by Wo Hing Society back to the event.

Festival-goers will be treated to presentations by Wo Hing Museum Cultural Director Busaba Yip, which will weave the story of Sun Yat-sen and his brother Sun Mei, who came to Maui during the plantation era, together with stories from the Wo Hing Society and Lahaina’s Chinese families.

Guest presenters include Robert Santos, a Ching family member, who will discuss the boarding house for Chinese men that his family operated across the street from the Wo Hing Temple, and Carolyn Kam, who will show photos from her family’s Hop Wo Store on Front Street, famous for its Hop Wo bread.  Presentations are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

In addition, from Monday, Nov. 6 through Nov. 10, visitors can view displays on the Wo Hing Society’s temple and social hall and learn about the extraordinary life of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and his connection to Maui in an educational exhibit and film tribute. Admission to the temple is free.

For more information, call the museum at (808) 661-5553 or visit LahainaRestoration.org/events.