Chinese Heritage Carried on at Stockton's Confuscius Church

STOCKTON - Spread on the floor of the Confucius Church hall on Wednesday were three bright costumes used in traditional Chinese lion dances.
"I got to carry the head," said Kyle Neuman, 8, one of seven children enrolled in this week's Chinese cultural camp, hosted by Stockton's Chinese Benevolent Association. "I've never done that before."
About 5,000 Stockton residents claim Chinese ancestry. Throughout San Joaquin County, an additional 2,800 do. The cultural camp, in its inaugural year, was designed as a way to introduce children to traditions they might not have participated in before, and to expand the educational programs already offered by the Chinese Benevolent Association.
"(The association) has traditionally been an organization that has been a voice for the Chinese community," said Debbie Mar, who is helping to direct the camp. "A culture camp like this helps to expose children to Chinese culture. Our goal is to get kids to want to learn Mandarin as a global language. ... As a heritage program, we should do that."
Tu Neuman of Manteca enrolled her sons, Kevin, Kyle and Ian.
"My boys are very Americanized," she said. "I just wanted to give them the cultural things that I didn't learn growing up."
The family celebrates Chinese New Year, and she teaches her sons about their cultural background, she said, but she wanted to find more opportunities for them to practice traditions in a hands-on way.
"Any opportunity I get to expose them to it is great," Neuman said. "Just so they know where they're from."
On Wednesday, after learning to calculate figures with an abacus and cooking wontons, the children practiced twirling Chinese yo-yos - a game that's also used in some folk dance and gymnastics performances.
Kevin Neuman, 9, ran the drum-shaped yo-yo back and forth along a piece of string.
"I like learning to do things that I never do," he said.
His favorite activity so far has been to learn to use an abacus.
"I didn't know how to do it before," he said. "Nobody's ever taught me."
Meanwhile, Kailey Dominguez, 11, said she most enjoyed her calligraphy lessons.
"It's different from American painting," she said.
As the yo-yo lesson wound down, Bryan Chan got ready to give another lion dance tutorial. His father had been a master at the dance, the West High School math teacher said.
He hoped to prepare the children to perform a demonstration in front of their parents on Friday morning.
"It's valuable to let them experience these things," Chan said. "We'll actually put them inside the lions and let them see how it actually feels."
Contact reporter Jennifer Torres at (209) 546-8252 or jtorres@recordnet.com. Visit her blog at recordnet.com/parentingblog.