San Francisco Stories: Judy Yung

San Francisco’s Chinatown—the oldest, largest, and most famous Chinese enclave outside of Asia—is more than a tourist attraction. Since its birth in the 1850s, Chinatown has also been a residential neighborhood, business community, and cultural center for generations of Chinese Americans. Through her slide presentation, Judy Yung, a native of San Francisco’s Chinatown, will tell an insider’s story of how a place visitors see as foreign and exotic is, in fact, a vibrant Chinese-American neighborhood that has been able to survive 165 years of racial hostility, exclusion laws, two major earthquakes, and redevelopment. Her lecture will provide a panoramic view and historical analysis of Chinatown’s transformation and regrowth from the gold rush to the present day.

Judy Yung, Professor Emerita in American Studies, UC Santa Cruz

Judy Yung is a second-generation Chinese American born and raised in San Francisco’s Chinatown. She is a former associate editor of East West Chinese American Journal. She is the author of numerous books on Chinese-American and women’s history in San Francisco.