About This Project

The Saratoga Chinese Oral History Project investigates and documents the history and experiences of Chinese immigration and residency in the town of Saratoga Springs, NY.

Saratoga华人口述历史计划旨在了解自1970年代以来，华人移民至纽约上州Saratoga Springs并定居的经历。

Why did Chinese immigrants decide to settle down in this upstate New York town where white culture is deeply rooted? Is it because of potentially higher economic benefits linking to the prosperous entertainment culture? Is it due to the favor of landscape/cityscape? Or because of family or friends or employment or other human relationships? What stories would the Chinese here like to tell? And for the first generation of Chinese Americans here, how did the dichotomy of growing up in a Chinese family and living in an American town impact their daily experience and awareness of identity?

The multimedia project consists of audio interview and transcription, photography, mapping and writing. Background research began in spring 2015, and the primary productions were completed by Evian Pan’17 during Skidmore MDOCS Storytellers’ Institute in June 2015.

We hope that the project’s materials are useful for people who are interested in Saratoga local history, Chinese immigration history to (capital region/ upstate) New York as well as Chinese oral history in general to consult. Future development of the project includes joining in Skidmore-Saratoga Memory Project and expanding into a capital region or upstate oral history project.

Evian Pan, Summer 2015

Thanks goes to the following,
Prof. Lei Ouyang Bryant, for brainstorming with me,
Prof. Jordana Dym, Director of MDOCS, for project consultation,
Adam Tinkle & Nicky Tavares, for skill-up workshops and production,
Other student and professional fellows in Storytellers’ Institute for critique,
& To All My Interviewees,
Anna Zhu
Thomas & Andy Lu
…
You are all the "storytellers."

华人移民选择留在这里，这个位于纽约上州且白人文化根深蒂固的小城可能有很多缘由：娱乐文化（赛马、赌博等）而带来的潜在高收益，赏心悦目的城市及周边风景，或是家庭、朋友、工作等各种社会关系。在定居下来的年月里，他们每个人都分别有哪些故事？而对于出生在这里的移民第二代，由成长在中国家庭和居住在美国小城所带来的生活对比，又会对他们的经历、感受与身份认知产生怎样的影响？

Saratoga华人口述历史计划采用了多媒体（录音、摄影、地图信息与写作）的纪录形式来呈现这段历史。相关资料的研究始于2015年春季，初步的采访与制作由潘依云完成于2015年六月。

相关采访材料可供对Saratoga地方历史、华人至纽约州移民历史和中文口述历史感兴趣的同学参考。希望今后Saratoga华人口述历史计划可以成为 Skidmore-Saratoga Memory Project的一部分，或发展成为纽约州首府Albany周边地区或纽约上州的，更大范围的口述历史计划。

在此对提供过帮助的教授、同学、纪录片作者、实践者们表示感谢，
以及非常感谢所有的被采访者，你们都是故事的讲述者。