Chinese Minnesotans of Note – Chinese Heritage Foundation

Chinese Minnesotans of Note (all rights reserved) is a program of CHF to honor individuals who have, in addition to their professional achievements, given generously of themselves to our community and our state, creating a lasting impact in the process. Honorees of this program will be featured in China Insight (in English), Minnesota China Tribune (in Chinese), and on our website. Eventually we plan to publish a book on these honorees.

To nominate a worthy individual, please contact us at [email protected]

Honorees

2019 Ruth Stricker Dayton

Ruth Stricker Dayton comes from a family of Presbyterian ministers and grew up in the small town of Windom (current population 4,600) with a strong desire for learning and a passion for helping others...

2018 David Fong

David Fong is descended from a long line of hardworking Chinese men who were U.S. citizens. These men, originally from Taishan, China, had spent their entire lives working in the U.S. But, because of the Chinese Exclusion Act...

2012 Patricia Puffer

Promoting mutual understanding between Chinese and American citizens has been an abiding passion for Patricia Puffer, a lifelong volunteer at the Minnesota International Center...

2011 WWII Chinese American Veterans

When the Japanese Imperial Army invaded China in 1937, sentiments among Chinese Americans in the U.S. ran high and efforts to raise funds and to send aid to China took place nationally. In Minnesota events were organized in both Duluth and the Twin Cities. The Bowl of Rice dinner...

2010 Jane Wilson

For many years following World War II, Jane Wilson was the superintendent of the Chinese Sunday School at Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Minneapolis. Westminster had a long history of involvement with Chinese immigrants in the Twin Cities...

2009 Walter James

Walter James was born in 1892 in Olympia, Washington into a family of modest means. His father was an oyster worker and the family lived in a houseboat to be near him. James’ adventurous spirit showed itself very early...

2008 Fred Hsiao

Fred Hsiao was born in a small village in Shaanxi Province in China. He graduated from the National Wuhan University in 1944 and came to the United States for graduate training in civil engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Minnesota...

2007 Bruce Dayton

Recently, Bruce B. Dayton marked his sixty-fifth year as a trustee of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. During his long tenure he has donated two thousand gifts of art to the Museum. Since the 1990s these gifts have centered on Chinese art...

2007 Stanley Chong

Stanley Chong was born on February 14, 1912, in Yakima, Washington. He grew up on his father’s hops farm, working every spring to build trellises for the hops vines, and later on in the season harvesting the flowers to be shipped to breweries in Chicago. The strong work ethic that he developed in those early years remained with Chong throughout his life...

2006 Shen Pei

Shen Pei, a native of Nanjing, China, immigrated to Minnesota in 1993, at the invitation of the Chinese American Association of Minnesota Chinese Dance Theater (CAAM CDT) to assume the role of its artistic director. She brought with her decades of experience and an international reputation as a dancer, choreographer, theater artist, theorist and educator. Many of her award-winning choreographed works, such as Plum Blossom Triolet, have been performed throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia...