2011 Asia Oklahoma Society Festival
OKLA. CITY — The Asian Society of Oklahoma City hosted the 25th annual Asian Festival at the Sheraton Hotel in Oklahoma City last week. Master of ceremonies for the event was a personable and poised young man of Chinese heritage, Daryn Lu, who reported that he grew up in Edmond and graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma.
He is currently a dental student at the OU Health Sciences Center. Lu introduced a variety of performers for the various Asian communities of the Oklahoma City area. The Korean Society of Oklahoma’s dancers performed with swords, and it was explained that the martial steps they displayed make up one of the oldest dances performed on the Korean Peninsula and reflected the discipline and strength that is part of the Korean character.
The Vietnamese American Community of Oklahoma City presented a group of young singers and dancers who sang with feeling a song that paid tribute to the millions of Vietnamese and American soldiers who fought for the freedom of South Vietnam.
Many of the attendees were apparently familiar with the song, and some of them were visibly moved by it. The performers from the Chinese Association of Greater Oklahoma City presented a dance that originated with the Uyghur minority of China and is performed at the end of the harvest season. A group of young women from the Filipino community of Oklahoma danced holding flowers from the Philippines and sang a song that described the beauty of that Asian nation.
There was also a performance of samurai dancers who were dressed in black robes and armed with bamboo sticks who paid tribute to the samurai warrior tradition of Japan. The Taiwanese Association of Oklahoma City played a large role in planning for the event, and artists from Taiwan were seated at booths and demonstrated some of the artistic traditions of that island nation. It was explained that those artists are currently on an American tour in which they are introducing the various art forms of Taiwan to the U.S.
There were also booths that featured artwork and other items made by Asian Americans of Oklahoma. A food demonstration was offered by a chef from Taiwan, and was followed by a beauty pageant that featured young Asian Americans who wore sashes that indicated that they had previously been selected to serve as the “Little Miss” for their respective Asian communities in Oklahoma City.
Representatives of all of the various Asian groups that now make their home in the Oklahoma City area were in attendance, and they greeted one another in their native languages with affection and enthusiasm. There were many Anglo guests as well and some of them were with Asian spouses and friends.
Among the attendees was Larry Li, the president and chief editor of the Edmond-based Oklahoma Chinese News publication. That paper is written in Chinese characters and contains news about people and events that are of interest to the Chinese community of Oklahoma. Li reported that his publication is distributed to a variety of Chinese churches and restaurants in Edmond, Oklahoma City and other locales throughout the state.
The fashionable attire worn by most of the attendees was a reminder of the relative affluence of the Asian communities of Central Oklahoma. “We are part of the Pacific culture,” California Gov. Jerry Brown said in an address to the citizens of that state in 1975.
And it could be said that Oklahoma is now part of the Pacific culture as well.
WILLIAM F. O’BRIEN is an Oklahoma City attorney.
Source: http://www.edmondsun.com/opinion/x898211511/Asian-influence-part-of-state-s-heritage
