OCA Colorado

The Year of the Dragon

2012-02-08T22:26:00.018-07:00

OCA Colorado and Mile-Hi JACL would like to thank everyone for their support by attending our Annual Lunar New Year Celebration. It was a spectacular event! Everyone enjoyed welcoming the Year of the Dragon together! The food was tasty and we were entertained by some very talented people. We hope that you enjoyed our Master of Ceremonies- Ms. Annie Guo from Asian Avenue Magazine, Lion Dance and Kung Fu Demonstration by Shifu Howie Solow and his students, the Piano Performance by Ashely and Ethan Wang, Singing by Souichi Nakamura and the Calligraphy Demonstrations by Harber Chang.

OCA Colorado and JACL Lunar New Year Dinner Emcee

2012-01-30T14:35:00.004-07:00

We are honored and excited to have Annie Guo as our Emcee for our Lunar New Year Dinner on Saturday, February 4th at The Palace Restaurant.

Annie Guo is the President of Asian Avenue magazine, a monthly Denver publication. She is a graduate of the University of Missouri at Columbia's Journalism School and currently obtaining her MBA in Health Administration at the CU-Denver. She has worked in the marketing and advertising industry with Procter & Gamble and The Integer Group. She is currently doing Communications for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Annual Lunar New Year Dinner

2012-01-10T10:34:00.003-07:00

Join OCA Colorado and Mile Hi JACL in Celebrating
The Year of the Dragon

February 4, 2012
6:00pm
Palace Chinese Restaurant
6265 E Evans Ave
Denver CO 80222

Your taste buds will be dazzled by a 10 Course Meal:

Cold Cut Appetizer
Seafood Tofu Soup
Hong Kong Style Spicy Shrimp
Stuffed Mushrooms with Shrimp
Steamed Whole Bass in Ginger Sauce
Shitake Mushroom with Greens
Sauteed Beef Steaks
Shanghai Braised Pork Shank
Treasured Fried Rice
Curry Beef Puff

Entertainment includes:

Lion Dance
Kung Fu Demonstrations
Lucky Drawings

Tickets are $45 per person
Corporate Table (10 Seats) $888

For tickets or further information contact
Benny Cheng 303.888.0777

New Year

2012-01-04T10:11:00.003-07:00

We would like to wish you a very healthy, happy and prosperous 2012!

Vincent Who? Screening

2011-10-31T21:10:00.007-06:00

Come to the screening of the powerful documentary Vincet Who? This movie tells the story of the Vincent Chin murder and the historical importance it has on the Asian Community.

Chin was a 27 year old Chinese-American who was beaten to death with a baseball bat by two Detroit autoworkers, who had mistakenly thought that he was Japanese. The lenient sentence handed down to the killers (no jail time, $3790 fine and 3 years probation) ignited a national protest and marked the beginning of the AAPI civil rights movement.

Admission is FREE and refreshments will be provided.

November 4th, 6:30pm

Plaza Building M204

University of Denver - Auraria Campus
(Auraria Parkway and Speer Blvd)

There will be a Question and Answer session immediately after the screening with

Producer Curtis Chin.

Annual Election Membership Meeting

2011-10-19T12:10:00.005-06:00

October 29, 2011
11:00-3:00pm
Bradburn Clubhouse

All OCA Members are invited to attend the annual election meeting to place their votes for the candidates. There are four open board seats to be filled to serve on the OCA Colorado Board of Directors for the terms of 2012-2013. Then stay for.....

The First OCA Congee Cook-Off!!!
Show everyone how delicious your congee is.
Winner will be decided by all attendees.

If you are interested in putting your congee to the test,
please contact Febra Johnson
email: febbiej@gmail.com or 720.988.9004

Want to run for a Board of Directors seat? Need directions to the location? Please contact ocacolorado@gmail.com

Visit the Denver Art Museum for a very special exhibition of works of art by Xu Beihong

2011-10-10T07:57:00.008-06:00

Three quarters of a century after the event was initially conceived, the art of Chinese master Xu Beihong is at last coming to America. The exhibition will be on view in the Denver Art Museum from October 30, 2011 through January 29, 2012. Dr. Xu Qingping’s lecture, “The Chinese Cultural Spirit in Xu Beihong’s Works” will be delivered from 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm on Oct. 30, 2011 in the Lower Level lecture room of Denver Art Museum’s North Building. The lecture will be open to those who have purchased museum admission. Artist and art historian Xu Qingping (Xu Beihong’s son) is one of the most knowledgeable scholars on Xu Beihong.

Xu Beihong: Pioneer of Modern Chinese Painting will be the first major exhibition of art by Xu Beihong in the United States. This comprehensive show of one of China’s

most beloved and revered artists was organized by the Denver Art Museum in Denver, Colorado, in collaboration with the Xu Beihong Memorial Museum in Beijing, China.

Xu is considered the father of modern Chinese figurative painting. One of the first Chinese artists to study in Europe, he successfully integrated Western sketching and oil painting with traditional Chinese painting style. His creative work and his extensive teaching activities provided a new direction for Chinese art and art education.

The art of Xu Beihong speaks not only to the sophisticated elite but even more directly to the common people of his time. Xu’s ink brush horse paintings have reached iconic stature, forcefully and eloquently expressing the determination of the Chinese people in their struggles to master their own destiny.

Most of the 61 works, including Xu Beihong’s major ink brush and oil paintings, have never been displayed in the United States. Some have never been seen outside of China. This landmark exhibit will trace the full length of Xu’s career—from early landscape paintings and drawings created during his studies in Europe, to his iconic horse paintings, his renowned historical paintings, and his portraits of Mohandas Gandhi and Mao Zedong.

Xu Beihong made an impact like a cultural ambassador for China. He not only influenced art within his own country, he introduced his new style of painting to the world, reshaping international perceptions of Chinese painting. His work was exhibited widely throughout Asia. In 1933-34 he led the first influential exhibition of contemporary Chinese painting in Europe, exhibiting his own works as well as those by more than seventy other major Chinese artists. In 1941, he was ready to mount an exhibition of his work in the United States, sponsored by the American Aid to China Federation. He yearned to promote international recognition of China’s artistic and cultural heritage, particularly during a time when China’s War of Resistance against Japan was entering the most difficult phase. The show was halted with the news of the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor.

Seventy years later, this major show at the Denver Art Museum will fulfill Xu’s mission as a cultural ambassador but in a profoundly changed world, in which Americans are now seeking a deeper understanding of Chinese culture—a culture eloquently expressed by the Chinese master Xu Beihong.

For more information about the exhibition, please visit www.denvermuseum.org or phone 720-865-5000. The address is: Denver Art Museum, 100 West 14th Avenue Parkway, Denver, CO 80204, U.S.A.

A full catalogue chronicles Xu’s stylistic development and will be available for purchase in the Museum Shop.

Brief Biography of Xu Beihong Xu Beihong was born into a poor family on July 19, 1895 in Yixing, Jiangsu Province. He studied Chinese classics, calligraphy, seal carving and traditional Chinese painting from his father, a self-taught artist.

Xu Beihong gained a government scholarship to study in France where he attended the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts. Between 1919 and 1927, he studied sketching and oil painting in France, Germany, Belgium, Italy and Switzerland. Returning to China in 1927, he advocated revitalizing the tradition of learning from nature in traditional Chinese painting and integrating Western techniques in order to improve and develop Chinese painting. He was the first to incorporate European sketching and oil painting as systematic disciplines into the curriculum at major art institutions.

From 1927 until his death in 1953, Xu trained several generations of students in his new direction. Many of them became accomplished artists and art educators, who continued to influence Chinese painting in modern times. Since 1954, 1,200 of Xu’s original drawings, sketches, oils, and traditional Chinese paintings have been kept and displayed by the Xu Beihong Memorial Museum in Beijing. (www.xubeihong.org/English/museum.htm)

Mid Autumn Moon Festival Dinner

2011-09-27T17:37:00.002-06:00

We had a great time at the Mid Autumn Moon Festival Dinner. The 10 course meal was delicious! It was nice to have the chance to see so many old and new friends. We even found out that there are many people in the crowd that could karaoke very well! We hope that everyone will be able to join us next year for great food, excellent company and karaoke fun!

Picnic

2011-07-18T14:31:00.005-06:00

We hope that you had a chance to join us at the Community Picnic Potluck this past weekend. There was lots of food, games and plenty of smiling faces.

A special thanks to
The Isle of Capri Hotel and Casino
for sponsoring the roast pig. It sure was tasty!

Kudos to the Asian Community groups that helped make this event possible.

Asian American Journalist Association
Asian Avenue Magazine
Asian Chamber of Commerce
Asian Pacific American Bar Association
Asian Pacific Development Center
Asian Pacific American Law Students Association
Asian Roundtable
Denver Kunming Sister City
Mile Hi Japanese American Citizens League
National Association of Asian American Professionals
OCA Colorado

3rd Annual Asian American Heroes of Colorado

2011-06-19T14:42:00.009-06:00

Congratulations to all the recipients of the 3rd Annual Asian American Heroes of Colorado Award. Thanks for bettering our community! Our heroes were recently recognized at a brunch. This year's group included the following well deserved recipients:

Drucie Bathin - Burmese Community Leader and Cultural Trainer
Ding-Wen Hsu - Founder of Colorado Dragon Boat Festival
Dr. Ben Konishi - 60 year Veterinarian and 2011 Colorado Agriculture Hall of Fame
Dr. Alok Sarwal - Founder of Colorado Asian Health Education and Promotion
Linda and Jimmy Yip - Founders of Nathan Yip Foundation

Life-time achievement Award:
John Yee - Flying Tiger in Chines Air Force, Teacher and Professor

Final recipients were selected by the Asian Chamber of Commerce, Colorado Asian Culture and Education Network, OCA Colorado, Mile-Hi Japanese Citizens League, National Association of Asian American Professionals, Asian Pacific Bar Association, and Asian Avenue magazine.

Power of Solidarity

2011-04-08T18:28:00.003-06:00

Join Asian Pacific Development Center and the Denver API Community to support Japan at
"Power of Solidarity: A Benefit Concert for Japan".

Saturday, April 16, 2011, 5pm
Abraham Lincoln High School
2285 S Federal Blvd
Denver CO

Free Admission With Donation
100% of funds raised will go directly to Japan Relief Fund

Honorary Co-Chair:
Governor Hickenlooper

Honorary Co-Host:
Congresswoman Diana DeGette
Senator Mark Udall
Senator Michael Bennett and Susan Daggett

Honorary Guest:
Mayor Guillermo Vidal

Emcee:
Anne Trujillo (KMGH)

It will be an evening filled with multicultural performances, Asian finger food, and much more!

Relief Effort

2011-03-16T13:39:00.006-06:00

Thousands of lives have been devastated by the powerful earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011. You can assist in the response effort by contributing through

The Red Cross.

Locating missing family members and friends

If you are calling about a specific US citizen in Japan, please contact either the US Embassy in Tokyo or the US State Department. Tell them as much information as possible regarding the missing person. You can reach them at JapanEmergencyUSC@state.gov or call 888-407-4747 or 202-501-4444
If you are calling about a specific US citizen in the tsunami zone outside of Japan, please contact the State Department at PacificTsunamiUSC@state.gov
If you are calling about a Japanese citizen, please contact the Consulate General of Japan. They can be reached at 303-534-1151.

Happy New Year

2011-02-06T15:34:00.010-07:00

OCA Colorado and Mile-Hi JACL would like to thank everyone for their support by attending our Annual Lunar New Year Dinner. It was a spectacular event! We all enjoyed welcoming the Year of the Rabbit together! The food was tasty and the entertainers were quite talented. We hope that you enjoyed our Speaker and Master of Ceremonies, Mr. Richard Lui, anchor for MSNBC, Lion Dance and Kung Fu Demonstration by Shifu Howie Solow and his students, Cassandra Chanthavong's singing and solo guitar performance, erhu songs by Michael Fitzmaurice and Brian Mullins of Erhu Ensemeble and Harber Chang's calligraphy demonstrations.

We look forward to future Lunar New Year Celebrations with you!

Richard Lui- Emcee for Lunar New Year Celebration on February 5, 2011 at The Palace

2011-01-04T16:06:00.005-07:00

Richard Lui is a dayside news anchor for MSNBC. Prior to joining MSNBC, Lui was anchor for the 10am ET edition of Morning Express on CNN Headline News. He led the network's morning political coverage,

reporting daily from 6 to 10am ET on the Robin Meade show.

Lui has desk anchored live, rolling coverage of breaking stories such as the Virginia Tech Massacre, 2006 Hezbollah-Israel War, Mumbai train terrorist bombings, Mumbai Hotels Siege, and Enron verdicts. Lui is the first Chinese - and only Asian-American - male anchoring a daily national newscast. Before moving to network news in 2003, Lui worked for 15 years in international business across five industries. Most recently he and his cofounders started the first bank-centric payment system in a 2003 Citibank carve-out.

Outside of his journalism and business careers, Lui has been active in community service for 25 years. He is a pro bono strategy consultant and board member for non-profits in homeless and affordable housing. Lui also keynote speaks on topics such as career innovation and overcoming adversity. Lui has worked, lived, and studied in Europe, Asia, and the U.S, where he currently resides.

Happy New Year

2010-12-31T11:09:00.002-07:00

OCA Colorado wishes you and your family a very healthy, happy and prosperous New Year!

Giving Quarterly

2010-12-05T22:29:00.004-07:00

Our final Giving Quarterly Event for 2010 was excellent! We had a great time preparing a home cooked meal and visiting with some of the people staying at the Ronald McDonald House. One person told us that the laughter and cheerfulness was a nice mini break from the difficult time that she was going through. We look forward to doing it again in the future!

Save the Date

2010-11-03T23:37:00.008-06:00

Save the Date for OCA Colorado's Annual Fundraising Lunar New Year Dinner!

February 5, 2011

The Palace

This is a not to be missed event! Welcome the year of the rabbit with us. Be sure to put it on your calendar and check back for further details about food, entertainment and tickets. Better yet, get information direct to your email inbox by requesting to be on OCA Colorado's contact list. You can do so by emailing us at ocacolorado@gmail.com

General Membership Meeting/ Election

2010-10-19T22:26:00.003-06:00

We had a very productive general membership meeting and election at the beginning of October. We received lots of great feedback and future event suggestions. OCA Colorado would like to congratulate Harry Budisidharta, Cassandra Chanthavong, Tina Choi, and Zongbing Li for being elected to the Board. We look forward to your enthusiasm and input into our organization!

9/11 Day of Service

2010-08-24T13:52:00.004-06:00

This quarter's GQ (Giving Quarterly) project will be held on September 11, 2010, Our National Day of Service. This is a day that is set aside twice a year to encourage people to volunteer to better their community. OCA Colorado encourages you to join us in volunteering at

the Project C.U.R.E. facility, 10377 E Geddes Ave, Centennial, CO 80112, from 1-3pm. This is an excellent opportunity to help out our community! Please let us know that you would like to volunteer by emailing ocacolorado@gmail.com or
calling (720) 663-1 OCA (1622).

Certificate of Appreciation

2010-08-19T11:19:00.001-06:00

Recently, OCA Colorado and community partner organizations received certificates of appreciation for Census 2010 efforts.

10th Annual Dragon Boat Festival

2010-07-28T11:26:00.003-06:00

The Dragon Boat Festival this past weekend was jammed packed with lots of fun and entertainment for everyone! The performances were breathtaking, the food was delicious and the races were super exciting. We are glad to see that the flag catching boats were back. We hope you had a great time at the event and encourage you to participate next year!

A Community Affair

2010-06-26T18:54:00.003-06:00

Today we had our Picnic Potluck Picnic! We hope you had a great time getting acquainted with many of the amazing Asian Organizations in our community. If you weren't able to join us this year, we hope that you get the opportunity to attend next year!

2010 Asian American Heroes

2010-05-20T16:40:00.009-06:00

Congratulations to all the recipients of the 2010 Asian American Heroes Of Colorado Award. Thanks for bettering our Community!!! Our heroes were recently recognized at a brunch at Saigon Landing. The year's group included this following well deserved recipients:

Phong Vo
Somxai Vue
Dennis Apuan
Karen Nakandakare
Ved P. Nanda

To learn more about these heroes please visit Asian Avenue Magazine.

These awards are presented by the Colorado Asian Culture and Education Network, Asian Chamber of Commerce, OCA Colorado, Indian Association of Colorado, NAAAP Colorado, APABA Colorado, Mile-Hi JACL, and Asian Avenue Magazine.

Participate in the Census

2010-04-08T18:19:00.005-06:00

Don't forget to participate in the census. It's not too late to mail back the form and be counted!

March National Board Meeting

2010-04-08T18:12:00.002-06:00

OCA Colorado was happy to host the Spring 2010 National Board Meeting. It was a very productive couple of days! We enjoyed getting acquainted with old and new friends! We hope that everyone enjoyed their trip to Colorado.