Kimo Stowell - Real Estate Merchandiser

Kung Hee Fat Choy!

Volume I

In continuation of my blog series celebrating Hawaiians of Chinese desent and their contributions to Hawaii and the world at large, we examine Chinese immigration to the Islands and some of the prominent Chinese/Hawaiians in History.

About 1/3 of Hawaii's population can trace some Chinese heritage in their family tree and about 4% of the population is 1st generation Chinese.

The first Chinese arrived in Hawaii from Guangdong province in 1778 while traveling with Captain Cook. and By 1790, a handful of them were on the island of Oahu, living as vassals to Kamemhameha I. As Chinese women did not arrive in the first waves of immigration, Chinese men married Hawaiian women instead, and frequently, adopted Chinese-Hawaiian surnames like Ahina and Akaka which are a hybridization of both languages. The practice of taking Hawaiian brides continued up until the mid 19th century, as Chinese women were rare in Hawaii.

European sailing vessels arriving in the Islands following the voyages of Captain Cook required deep harbors to anchor safely. Mamala Bay - later called Honolulu Harbor - was the best anchorage in Hawaii nei; known for it's protection from wind and heavy waves. As trade developed in the late 1700's, the area surrounding the piers and anchorages became the center of business life. Here is where the City of Honolulu began and where China Town developed.

Back in China during the early 19th century, European merchants and explorers discovered China's southernmost province Kwangtung, or Guangdong. There they found abundant pineapple and sugar cane fields growing in areas climatically identical to windward areas of the Hawaiian Islands. In an effort to reproduce Southern China's agricultural abundance, Chinese and European entrepreneurs began to import Chinese workers to Hawaii. In 1802, one such entrepreneur farmer named Wong Tze Chun began an effort to cultivate and process sugar in Hawaii. In 1823, Hung Tai another ambitious Chinese entrepreneur built a sugar mill in Wailuku, Maui. However, sugar production did not become a profitable crop until 1835. With sugar being successfully processed in Hawaii, more Chinese began to see opportunity in Hawaiian agriculture.

46,000 Chinese immigrants, came to Hawaii between 1850 and the annexation of Hawaii to the United States in 1898. Nearly all the Chinese immigrants came to Hawaii as migrant workers, with the belief they would work long enough to make a suitable income and then return to China.

It was at this time that the first Chinese women came to Hawaii. A sizable majority of the pre-annexation migrant workers did indeed return back to their native China. However, several thousand Chinese immigrants became permanent settlers in Hawaii. Many had married or established common-law marriages with Hawaiian women, and the rest took the recently arrived female immigrants as brides, creating families and settling down.

After the United States annexed Hawaii in 1898 the US's Chinese labor exclusion law extended to Hawaii. Many Chinese, however, continued to arrive as teachers, artisans, doctors and entrepreneurs. As the Chinese became culturally acclimatized they abandoned their indifference towards the formal education of women and as a result many Chinese women took on professional careers.

It is commonly believed that the present day Chinese in Hawaii are descendants of the pioneer sugar plantation contract laborers, this is a misconception. A larger proportion of island-born Chinese families are descended from merchants, plantation entrepreneurs, independent farmers, and artisans. The Chinese in Hawaii have made great contributions to Hawaii's multi-ethnic society and are proud of their many accomplishments.

Notable Chinese Hawaiian Americans:

Daniel Akaka (Born on September 11, 1924), Daniel Akaka is the junior U.S. Senator from Hawaii. He is a member of the Democratic Party and the first U.S. Senator of the Hawaiian ancestry and the only Chinese American member of the Senate.

Chang Apana (December 26, 1871-December 8, 1933) was a Chinese-Hawaiian member of the Honolulu Police Department, first as an officer, then as a detective. He is the officially-acknowledged inspiration for the fictional Asian detective character, Charlie Chan.

Rear Admiral Gordon Pai'ea Chung-Hoon (Honolulu, Hawaii, July 10, 1910 - July 24, 1979) was an admiral in the United States Navy, who served during World War II. He is a recipient of the Navy Cross and Silver Star for conspicuous gallantry and extraordinary heroism as commanding officer of USS Sigsbee (DD-502) from May 1944 to October 1945. The Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Chung-Hoon is named for him.

Don Ho (born August 13, 1930 - April 14, 2007) was a Hawaiian and traditional pop musician and singer and entertainer. Tiny Bubbles was his world famous hit and signature song.

Kelly Ann Hu (born February 13, 1968) is an American actress and former fashion model who held the Miss Teen USA 1985 and Miss Hawaii USA 1993 titles.

Jason Scott Lee (born November 19, 1966) is an American movie actor. Lee was born in Los Angeles, California and was raised in Hawaii. He is of mixed Chinese-American and Hawaiian descent. He currently lives off the grid on the Big Island growing all his own organic produce.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen ( born November 12, 1866 or November 24, 1870 - March 12, 1925) was a Chinese revolutionary and political leader often referred to as the Father of Modern China. Sun played an instrumental role in overthrowing the QingDynasty in 1911. His birth certificate issued by the Territory of Hawaii substantiates that he was born in the Kingdom of Hawaii on 24 November 1870, but it is commonly assumed that he was born on November 12, 1866 to a peasant family in the village of Cuiheng, Xiangshan county, Guangzhou prefecture. Dr Sun lived in Hawaii for several years before returning to China. Sun once lived in Honolulu's China Town and attended Iolani and Punahou schools.

Hiram Fong (born October 15, 1906 - August 18 , 2004) The seventh of eleven children born to Chinese immigrants, he worked his way through school, graduating from Harvard Law, and became the first Asian American to serve in the U.S. Senate (1959 - 1977). He was also the first Asian American presidential candidate (1964). He is still the only republican to have represented Hawaii in the Senate. Senator Fong's Plantation & Gardens in Oahu, Hawaii, is a 700 acre, family owned tropical garden named for the former US Senator and is a popular tourist destination open to the public.

JDS Consulting- Staging Hawaii nei! Providing Real Estate Merchandising services including: Home Staging, Interior Decor, Turn Key, Landscaping, Remodeling, & Open House Hosting. Visit our Blog: Questions for Kimo: Decor Design & More- www.RealEstateDesignOnLine.com tel.+1.808.344.1264 Kimo Stowell Copyright ©2009

Kung Hee Fat Choy! Happy Chinese New Year-Hawaiian Style! part I. Celebrating the Chinese influence on Hawaiian culture!

There are few places in the world that have embraced the Chinese Culture quite like Hawaii. In this three part blog series I will cover how the Chinese have become an integral part of Hawaii's history and culture and the many contributions Chinese Hawaiians have made to our island paradise.

Kung Hee Fat Choy or Chinese New Year is an eagerly anticipated event here in Hawaii and is marked by a number of activities centered in the China Town area of Honolulu. One such event is the New Year's Parade which attracts thousands of locals and tourists alike to the historic and festive down town. To say that China Town is a mob scene during the Parade is an understatement as the raw energy of the event is punctuated by the crackle of fireworks and the push of eager revelers.

The highlight of the parade are the multitudes of Lion and Dragon Dances that entertain the crowds during the event.

One of my earliest childhood memories is of the Lion Dance, a staple performance in the New Year celebrations, here in Honolulu back in the early 1970's. There are several legends surrounding the origin of the Lion Dance but many attribute it's conception to a Ching Dynasty Emperor who had a dream of a dancing lion and instructed his vassals to re-enact the event.

The lion consists of two dancers who are most often Kung Fu practitioners. One dancer controls the head, usually constructed from paper mache and bamboo; whose job it is to animate the lion's eyes, mouth, and ears so as to create different expressions and moods. The other dancer provides the body and the tail movement and is concealed from view by a colorful cape intimating the lion's fur and body.

In attendance are three musicians who accompany the dance with cymbals, gong, and drum. An additional dancer dressed as the Buddha cajoles the Lion into his dance with a folding fan.

As is tradition on-lookers appease and implore the dancing lions for a prosperous year ahead by 'feeding' the lions coins and packets of money.

Chinese American Social and Business organizations proudly march in the New Years Parade which draws thousands of spectators.

A Dancing Dragon poses for a photo op.

Originally created as ritual rain dance, the Dragon Dance today symbolizes success and good luck in the coming year for all humanity. The Chinese considered dragons to be benevolent creatures who possess the ability to control the weather. As China is primarily an agricultural society the arrival of the rainy season was of great concern to the Chinese population. Legends has it that the Dragon Dance was first conceived as a means of appeasing the "Dragon King" into releasing rain, so as to quench the drought stricken countryside.

The Dragon Dance continues to be an integral part of Chinese New Year celebrations. In the dance itself, a team of dancers carry the dragon effigy on poles. The lead dancers operate the head movements with great thrusts, lifts, and dips. With rhythmic undulations the dancers mimic the movements of the dragon through the street.

Dragon Dancers snake their way down Hotel street in Honolulu.

China Town closes down to traffic as New Year revelers take to the streets to sample the food, watch the parade, and participate in the various entertainments celebrating the coming year. Dim Sum anyone!

Chinese New Year began this year on January 26th and lasts 15 days ending on February 9th.

JDS Consulting- Staging Hawaii nei! Providing Real Estate Merchandising services including: Home Staging, Interior Decor, Turn Key, Landscaping, Remodeling, & Open House Hosting. Visit our Blog: Questions for Kimo: Decor Design & More- www.RealEstateDesignOnLine.com tel.+1.808.344.1264 Kimo Stowell Copyright ©2009

Sailing Aboard the Historic Hokule'a, Hawai'i's 'Bright Star'... 

In celebration of my 100th post I thought I would share one of my latest adventures this past Tuesday, aboard Hawaii's most famous vessel, the HOKULE'A. Polynesian navigators, using only celestial navigation and environmental observations managed to navigate and colonize the great breadth of the pacific ocean a millenium before Westerners discovered longitude and could accurately travel the world's oceans. In the long process of proving these skills to those Westerners who doubted such know how existed, the Hokule'a was lovingly created.

 

 

 

Incredulous to the idea that Polynesians were superior sailors and navigators, many Westerners believed that Polynesian expansion throughout the Pacific was dumb luck and that Polynesian pin point navigation was just happenstance.  But the Hokule'a and her devoted crew has proven through 9 separate voyages that ancient Polynesian mariners not only knew how to navigate accurately but were able to do so over immense distances, with relatively small vessals like the 65' Hokule'a.

 

 

Believed to have arrived from the Marquesas Islands in the South Pacific about 250-450 A.D.,The original inhabitants of Hawaii were superior navigators on an expansive quest.  Additional migrations probably came from Tahiti around 900 AD. It is the belief that the Tahitians had the skills to make the journey in both directions that spurned the creation of the Hokule'a and it's subsequent journey's around the Pacific.

The crew uses the rudder as a paddle to move us away from our mooring. 

 

 

 

 

 

Sounding of the Pu puhi, heralds our departure from port. 

The Hokule'a is planning to circumnavigate the globe and is currently looking for 200 volunteers to help make the voyage.

 

 

 

This past week we filmed a segment for a National Geographic program featuring just how accurate Polynesians were at Navigation. In one of the Hokule'a's expeditions her navigators were able to sail successfully to Rapa Nui from Hawaii using only celestial navigation and environmental observation. Rapa Nui sits 1500 miles from the nearest inhabited island and the feat is equivalent to finding a needle in a hay stack. 

 

 

Here the film crew shoots some close ups for a National Geographic program. In the previous picture you can see Diamond Head in the distance.

Hokule'a is the Hawaiian term used to describe the star Arcturus. Which is the brightest star in the Hawaiian heavens. The literal translation means 'Bright Star'.

         

Aloha kakou, a hui hou,

Kimo!

 

JDS Consulting- Staging Hawaii nei! Providing Real Estate Merchandising services including: Home Staging, Interior Decor, Turn Key, Landscaping, Remodeling, & Open House Hosting. Visit our Blog: Questions for Kimo: Decor Design & More- www.RealEstateDesignOnLine.com  tel.+1.808.344.1264  Kimo Stowell Copyright ©2009

 

Calling All Consumer Cows! It's time for a new economic paradigm...Moooooooooo!

Are those new Jimmy Chu's (cud)?

It's time to create a new and improved consumer culture in this country and the world. Our current system is based on unchecked exponential growth, which even if you don't do the math is recognisebly unsustainable considering there is a limited supply of consumers, materials, and resources on Earth. What will happen to the Earth if China and the rest of Asia becomes as consumer driven as the US?

Manufacturers and companies forecast budgets with the understanding that their companies must produce and sell X percent plus 3% (the rate of inflation) more than the previous year or shrivel up and die. To put it in a theoretically simple fashion: once everyone on earth has an IPhone, in their pocket, a Coke in their hand, Nikes on their feet where do you go from there? Industrialists will tell you throw it all in the land fill and buy Iphoney, Coke with chocolate sprinkles, and Nike Air Jordan Jr.s.

Manufacturers need to start creating energy efficient and earth friendly products like solar refrigerators, as an example, that have zero fossil fuels used in their manufacturing and no utility cost associated with its use. We need to create infrastructure that works harmoniously with our environment and doesn't disintegrate when it rains and snows.

Instead of buying 'New' consider buying 'Vintage'. Instead of buying at Walmart try Goodwill or Salvation Army. Need an outfit for work how about going to a consignment store. Instead of investing in the stock market why not invest in a micro loan program like Kiva. We need to rework our materialistic desires and focus them on harmonious living and not business as usual and stagnant partisan conflict.

We need to stop pining for the past days of engorging ourselves with needless consumer products that only pile up in our self storage units because our homes are filled to capacity with junk(What happened to our culture that resulted in our having to pay rent to store crap we don't use). We don't need to jump start our economy by placing ourselves back in the place that put us in our current situation to begin with.

Do we really need 20 varieties of male enhancement drugs whose only difference is the name of the product (what if the resources used in R&D, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of needlessly rendundant pharmaceuticals went into finding a cure for Alzheimer's instead)? Do we really need to foster war and conflict in the world just so we have a market for our Bradley's? Why are we giving billions of dollars to car manufacturers just so they can make more fossil fuel guzzling shuttle bugs that fall apart imediately after their warranties run out in 3 years?

Creating sustainable systems is what we need to be focusing on and not the next quarters profit margin. Its' time to get rid of the old paradigm of pointless for profit consumption and start working on a system that educates our children on the great potential for the future and not the hopeless CNN picture of the planet brought to you by their sponsors.

In the spirit of sustainability lets put our internal consumer cows to pasture and find a new economy to sustain us. A future that doesn't profit from deprivation but cooperation.

JDS Consulting- Staging Hawaii nei! Providing Real Estate Merchandising services including: Home Staging, Interior Decor, Turn Key, Landscaping, Remodeling, & Open House Hosting. Visit our Blog: Questions for Kimo: Decor Design & More- www.RealEstateDesignOnLine.com tel.+1.808.344.1264 Kimo Stowell Copyright ©2009

Questions for Kimo: Our family is re-locating to Hawaii and we are wondering where's the best place to learn about Hawaiian culture?

In my opinion the best and most family orientated place to learn about Hawaiian culture is the Bishop Museum, located at 1525 Bernice Street, Honolulu, Hawai'i 96817 Phone: 808.847.3511. The Museum is located in Palama just off the Like Like and H1 Highways. It's a little bit out of the way for tourists and new comers but it's well worth the trip for visitors and locals alike.

"The Bishop Museum is the largest museum in the state and the premier natural and cultural history institution in the Pacific, recognized throughout the world for its cultural collections, research projects, consulting services and public educational programs. It also has one of the largest natural history specimen collections in the world. Serving and representing the interests of Native Hawaiians is a primary purpose of the Museum."-Bishop Museum

The Museums purpose:

Founded in 1889 by Charles Reed Bishop, as a posthumous honorarium to his wife, Princess Bernice Pauahi, the Bishop Museum was designed to house the large and comprehensive collection of royal heirlooms and Hawaiian artifacts of the late Princess, the last royal descendant of the Kamehameha line. The collection has since expanded to include millions of Hawaiian and Pan-Pacific cultural artifacts, art work, historical documents, and photographs.

Here are some photos of my last visit to the Museum. It should be noted that the spectacular Hawaiian Hall, with it's stunning Koa paneling and galleries is currently being refurbished but there is plenty to see, none the less.

Greeting visitors on their arrival to the museum is the life size lava rock reproduction of the Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Moai.

The Jhamandas Watumull Planetarium offers a fascinating look at the importance of celestial observation to Polynesian cultures. Celestial navigation and the lunar calender was of great importance to Hawaiian cultural life in the past. Today the Mauna Kea observatory complex on the Big Island is at the forefront of Astronomical Science in the world. The Planataruim offers showings daily. If your interested in seeing the planetarium check the times for showings in advance and plan your visit to the museum around it, otherwise you may miss out. For more information-

Richard T. Mamiya Science Adventure Center is designed specifically as an interactive learning center for children, including exhibits focused on volcanology, marine, and other related sciences. This is a very fun interactive area and you don't need to be a kid to enjoy it. Dominating the exhibit is a volcano that you can enter inside of and make 'erupt'.

Hawaiian Exhibits:

You will find an amazing variety of Hawaiian artifacts from ancient times to present day such as this contemporary art piece by local artist Maika'i Tubbs-

Temple Tiki of Ku, god of war- Collection of Makau - Man in Ahu Ula and Mahiole-

Pan-Polynesian Exhibits:

These costumes were designed to frighten the women folk as an amusement in New Caladonia

Canoe paddles, Solomon Islands- Tongan Mace- Maori skirt and feathered bag-

Museum Information:

Hours and admission costs

Open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., except on Christmas (Dec 25). There is ample free parking on our campus.

Admissions Rates

Free Admission to Bishop Museum Members

General - Adult $ 15.95
General - Senior, 65 & over $ 12.95
General - child (ages 4-12) $ 12.95
General - child (age 3 & under) Free

The following rates are available for kama'āina and military visitors to Bishop Museum:

$8.95 - General Admissison
$7.95 - Child (4-12) and Senior (65+)

You will need to show an ID to secure these rates.

Guests visiting the Bishop Museum who are not local residents or military, but are accompanied by someone who is can get a special rate of adults $12.95, youth $9.95, and children 3 and under are free. Otherwise, regular retail admission rates will apply.

JDS Consulting- Staging Hawaii nei! Providing Real Estate Merchandising services including: Home Staging, Interior Decor, Turn Key, Landscaping, Remodeling, & Open House Hosting. Visit our Blog: Questions for Kimo: Decor Design & More- www.RealEstateDesignOnLine.com tel.+1.808.344.1264 Kimo Stowell Copyright ©2009