Chelsea: Where did you grow up? Did you live here or somewhere else?

Mae: No, I was actually born in Vietnam but I’m Chinese. I came here and I was like four years old, when I was really young, to Philadelphia. So I see Philly in 1970 something. 

Chelsea: Why did you move here?

Mae: Oh, so see you talking about history, right? My grandpa and my grandma are from China. My grandpa owned an herbal store and he expanded his business to Vietnam where his siblings are still in China or in Hong Kong. They look at, you know, especially with the China wall, the wall that was going on. Then they moved to Vietnam. So they split up. So his siblings all split up. That's when they settled with my parents in Vietnam. So I was born there before we moved here. When I tell my kids the story, they say, your parents went through two wars, the China war and also Vietnam war when they had that war and everything.

So when they came over, I remember when we came here because when we came here, it was the same thing like immigration, right? You take the boat at night, and then I remember being in an island in a certain way because I was young. I remember it's a big boat, because you still had that sense, you know, boat motion sickness and that, you know, that vomiting and everything. It wasn’t a beautiful ship that you come over on. I just remember that smell like you kind of have that vivid cut.

That's what they talk about trauma, kids', trauma. You kind of have that bad feeling because that's what you went through. That trauma is a trauma because you lived in from the house to your boat to an island. It was like, I just don't remember. It's like how many islands that we have before we can, I have no idea. But I know we went to Malaysia, one of them is a Malaysian camp because Malaysia was close to Hong Kong. So we have our relatives from Hong Kong bring money over because you know you need money to buy everything. So I remember my,  what we call uncle, my grandpa's brother, they came and visited. So that was nice because from Malaysia, that's when we took the airplane to come to the United States.

We went straight to here, Philadelphia, and I remember they were saying that Canada’s door was open. The people go to Canada, many people go to New York and Philadelphia, it's a choice. But my uncle was already here before. So he was here before because of war. So he was part of this war.

Rodney: Was it World War Two?

Mae: Vietnam War. So he was part of the army and everything. He escaped, they were able to escape. So he came to the United States first. That's how we were able to get over. So we were here illegally but legal in a way. I don't know how to say that. I don't know how to say it because  the legal would be more like you don't have any visas. Well, there's no visa back then, but we got green cards. So we know that we were legal because we've got green cards. It wasn't as hard as now, you know, to get green cards.

Rodney: Was it because of the war?

Mae: I don't know, I think because at that time for those people, for immigrants that came in at that time, everybody was given that visa, right?  So when we came and I said yes. I remember Chinatown being very small. Very dirty. Were you here? I

Rodney: Since the nineties. 

Mae: So now it was in the seventies, even early eighties, Chinatown was expanding in the eighties, but in the seventies, it was literally corner to corner, maybe this strip, that strip, it was very small and very dirty. 

Chelsea: Did you see a lot of people? Did you live in Chinatown when you first came here? 

Mae: In Northeast. Again, because I guess we were fortunate enough. My family had money to open up the shop to dry clean. So they were able to have money to have their own business. So that was their fortune. So we were in the northeast area.

Chelsea: You come here to do work, right? I wanna know more about that. What is your relationship to Chinatown and what brings you back to this community everyday? 

Mae: I had an MBA  in marketing so I did banking, I worked for Vanguard for six years and in the beginning during that time. After Vanguard, I did marketing over there and then I switched to CNA for six years for project management. And the reason why I operate, especially in Chinatown, was first to get my kids more engaged about their ethnicity.

That's the sense of it. And that was, you know, a good call on my end to do that. My husband always said, why do you want to open in Chinatown? Because we lived 45 minutes away. So it's about an hour drive here, an hour drive without traffic. So I live, you know, in Bucks County. So traveling back and forth, that's pretty far for traffic. 

When I was at Vanguard, there was a snowstorm. It took six hours to get back. I was just sitting there so I can't take this anymore. I literally can't take this anymore. This was just ridiculous. But we know that the term like once you're stuck, you're stuck there. So it's like I get too stressed just going to work and everything. It's a great company, I have to say, but it's not a way to come back for.

So the reason was more about providing back into community because I said, there's a need. My kids, I brought them to Chinatown Learning Center and they were in one of the child care and it was very expensive and they weren't really learning. And I found the same issue when I have parents that work around that downtown area. They say my kids are not learning, they're just simply a lot of play and not learning when they went to Chinatown Learning Center. I liked the curriculum. I liked certain things, but they only accept preschool. So a lot of the parents that I spoke to, they don't have any for the younger age group.

But there's very limited space and they send their kids to China. And I said, why are you sending your kids to China? And I said, well, nobody watched them. I said, well, you have daycare here and many of you guys are able to get funding to take care of the kids. You know, it's like for you to take them to China and bring them back, I see their relationship and I teach them that your relationship with them is not the same.

They don't have that bonding. So they have a hard time, especially with boys, teaching them to  follow the rules, listen to them. They say, they're not listening to me. I asked them, well, you haven't watched them for all those years and you've just got them back. How do you expect them to listen to you? How do you build that relationship?

So my job was basically to help them bridge that and try to educate them. I said, do not send your child to China. You should keep them there. Keep them here and I will help you to apply for government subsidies. You have to do your job as a parent with the time that you spend at night with them in the evening, this time on the weekend. It's about managing that, you know? But if you have somebody to help you, that's even kind of tag that helps out, that's part of parenting. If you send them to China, it's not gonna work. I'm trying to help out with the community. ... So helping the parents to bridge with their kids about building that relationship, understanding about  adjusting their life here and the balance, because they will have to do that. Somebody has to teach them basically you have to build this relationship, you need to talk to them. So sometimes when we teach the parents from preschool, we write, it's very important that you talk to your kids every day, ask them what happened, what's going on, and discuss with them. So once you go to elementary school, that's not gonna happen. So you have to have that open dialogue, you have to talk to them, you have to help them with them. 

Chelsea: Would you say this place holds a lot of like special stories to you with such a meaning? 

Mae: It's great to see your students come back, especially during the college year and when they're married and they say, oh my goodness, how time is flying and everything, right? That's where the memory is. They enjoy what they're doing. So that is the reward. But a lot of the [daycare] centers, if you could talk to anybody, that is the most rewarding when they're able to come back and share that. Oh, I enjoy doing this, the time that we're going here.

Chelsea: So that's what makes you come back to Chinatown and keep doing this?

Mae: So you continue to carry the legacy. I'm looking into something like, how I could adjust our center into a middle-size center. For workers, you join in the contract, this is all of them getting the profit because they put in the sweat. 

Chelsea: So there's been a lot of conversation about the 76ers and the construction of that arena. How do you think that will affect Chinatown and this legacy that you're talking about?

Mae: I know, I'm sad to see that. But what do you guys think? It's already a done deal, right…? We have to be honest with each other. If you think about it, they already had a plan back then. Like when they had another stadium, the baseball one. Nothing really happened with talking to Chinatown. You know, the developers want to buy this area up, they have to talk to the neighbors who brought them out. 

Grace: I think it's true but I think that the difference is for us it's a lot of money for these billionaires. It's just pennies. I don't think it means anything to them, but I think for a lot of folks, even if it feels like the cards are stacked against our community, it's still worth fighting until the end.

Mae: That's what a lot of people are hoping. Right. Let's fight through the end and see where it takes us. We have to look at the long term. So, what are we gonna do? The same thing with FACTS. How is that gonna impact us? Over here it's a good thing that you could take the train, the transportation to the place. But again, Chinatown has everything besides the movie theater and everything. 

Chelsea: How would you describe Chinatown to people who don't come here often? 

Mae: I take my kids, my daughter's friend. Now, would you  promote ethnicity? Saying, have you tried dim sum? This is the whole point where I bring my kids to teach them to learn a little bit about their ethnicity, about themselves, before they go to suburban school. So when we bring them to Chinatown, we take them to try things. My girls, when they go to one of the things that they learned, they were in shock though I show you, they say I love the fact they go to FACTS.

They say I love the fact the FACTS is small. They say they learn a lot of the culture, culture wise. They say I love, you know, learning about different cultures. We have the dragon dance, Indonesian dance, like the African vibe, the African music, the culture. You learn about the culture and learn about different cultures. Whereas up there and I remember that too, you learn more about what is the United States. They touch just a little bit and they don't even talk about Chinese people, how China and the Chinese people, the ones that built the railroad, they pretty much ignored that piece. They ignore a lot about how Asian people contribute. They talk about some of Black history only during Black History Month. 

Chelsea: I think I was in the same situation too because a lot of my cultural immersion with China comes from Chinatown, just coming here with my friends and stuff. My dad actually forced me to go to Central. I didn't regret it, but his reasoning was that there was a lot of Asian people at Central and at first I didn't really get that because I came from a small middle school where most of them were white. So I actually learned a lot about my own culture.

Mae: That's why. Yeah. And then reverse the same thing as when you're younger. And we teach Chinese here— 30 minutes for preschoolers twice a week. Yeah, we have a lot of curriculum going on besides dancing and everything. It's basic but we encourage them to speak Chinese, because the kids will learn English any way, when they speak to eac h. We teach them English as well because our primary purpose is to teach them English and be prepared for kindergarten. At the same time, we teach them Chinese. We have Caucasian and African American parents whose kids are also learning Chinese and they appreciate it.

Chelsea: In three words, how would you describe Chinatown? 

Mae: How do you describe Chinatown from somebody from outside coming in? Family. Definitely to see that closely. Connection. Another one, diversity. I do see a lot of diversity in Chinatown. So it's not only Chinese people, we still see a lot of other individuals. 

If the 76ers move in, how much retention can we keep people? Are they gonna start moving? Remember during the pandemic, a lot of people moved out of there. That's the sad part. That's what I keep on thinking about. Oh, what's gonna happen?