A Saturday-night Mandarin class held in a Milwaukee basement about 25 years ago has grown into a citywide nonprofit that promotes Chinese language and culture while supporting local and national charities.
A group of Chinese-American parents started the lessons out of concern that their children, raised some 7,000 miles from their ancestral home, would lose fluency in their family’s language.
That volunteer effort eventually became the Milwaukee Chinese Community Center, which today operates as a community-based nonprofit and runs the Milwaukee Modern Chinese School at Marquette University’s Lalumiere Language Hall.
The center offers instruction to anyone interested in Chinese culture, including Mandarin classes, brush calligraphy, the strategy game Go and classical Chinese instruments. It also organizes the annual Milwaukee Dragon Boat Festival Races at Lakeshore State Park, just east of the Summerfest grounds.
This year’s races are scheduled for August 10, with half of the proceeds going to Ronald McDonald House Charities.
The organization contributes to broader relief efforts as well. In 2017, it raised $10,062 for Hurricane Harvey victims and gave the funds to the American Red Cross.
Jianguo Sun, the center’s president, said the group’s focus is service.
“Community service helps improve the engagement of the Chinese community into mainstream society,” Sun said. “From Chinese community service, Americans get to know Chinese, accept them and like them. Kindness is a virtue we all welcome.”
Sun moved to Milwaukee in 1992, when the city’s Chinese student population was far smaller and newcomers had few resources for practical or emotional support. He said he hopes the center’s work eases that path for the next generation of arrivals.
“It’s our obligation to return to society,” Sun said. “We’re not only Chinese, but also human, the same as everyone in this world.”
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Lee Matz
