Meet The Initiators

As a group of individual Chinese Americans with various professional backgrounds, we came together to successfully organized the National Conference Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act on December 5, 2023. During this event, we discussed the critical importance of Civil Rights and Equality for all Americans, and the need to learn about the history of the Civil Rights movement.

The 60th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act provides everyone with an opportunity to appreciate and understand how the Civil Rights movement has affected and benefited all Americans. We hope all ethnic communities will commemorate this historic anniversary and renew our collective resolve to continue Dr. King’s Unfinished Dreams.

Lewis Liu

After graduating with an MBA from NYU, Lewis had a long successful career more than 22 years as a seasoned executive in global financial services that included international assignments in North America, Western Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Lewis has participated in numerous community services, volunteer activities, poll workers on election days, etc. in the Chinese American community in New York City. Lewis is currently a public affairs specialist at the U.S. Census Bureau responsible for media relations with Asian American communities.

Xiaoyan Zhang

Xiaoyan Zhang, Ph.D. is an entrepreneur, social scientist, community activist, and columnist on internet media. He served as the former Chairman of the Board (2018-2020), a current board member of United Chinese Americans (UCA), and an honorary Chairman of the American Chinese United Association (ACUA). He led the effort of drafting the 2018 Chinese American National Convention Manifesto “From Sojourner to Citizen”, the 2019 National Civic Leadership Forum joint statement “A Commitment for Civic Engagement of Asian Americans Pacific Islanders (AAPI)”, and the “Joint Statement on Chinese American Unity” at the 2022 American Chinese Collaboration Summit. Dr. Zhang published many articles in both English and Chinese on Internet and social media advocating active civic engagement by Chinese American and Asian American communities. He received the President’s Volunteer Service Award in 2022.

David Sun

David Sun has served as a journalist, director, artistic director, producer, president of a cultural company, and CEO of a business group. Engage in business activities and cultural exchanges between the United States and China. He often participates in social welfare activities in American communities, participates in Chinese American civil rights organizations, helps elected officials campaign, directs and plans campaign fundraising activities, and participates in planning community activities for Chinese Americans. He is currently the vice president and secretary-general of the USA-China Trade and Culture Association, vice chairman of the American-Chinese CEO Society, and a founding member of the Chinese American Community Action Planning Committee.

Celine Fang

Celine Fang is a skilled marketer specialized in website development, video creation, graphic design, social media, and small business consultant with focus in start up and small business funding, tax credits, grants, receivable factoring, etc. Actively involved in community service, she has promoted the East Coast’s largest Asian Culture Festival and the Commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of the Repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Celine supports numerous business chambers and is a member of the World Conference of Mayors. As a mother of two boys and two girls, she advocates for gender equality, believing in unrestricted opportunities for all. Celine also advocates the right to be different, that only when people acknowledge their own individuality then they can breakthrough their own barriers set by norms and comformitities and to make differences. Her current project, Busi-Boost, helps individuals gain insights and advance through enhanced ethics, leadership, and strategic thinking.

Zhida Song-James

Dr. Zhida Song-James is a hydrologist, engineer, and writer. She had served leadership roles in multiple nationwide programs in her professional fields and held membership in the Federal government’s cross-agency expert teams for decades. She championed diversity in professional organizations and workplaces and was an inaugurating American Water Resources Association Diversity Committee member. She also served on the United Chinese Americans Board and the Nevada Chinese Association. In recent years she devoted her efforts to advocating and educating Chinese American history and contributions to the Chinese American community and the public, especially in K-12 schools. Her works have been published in a recent book, Historical Record of Chinese Americans. 

Ji Su

Dr. Ji Su is a materials scientist at a NASA research center and the Chair of the National Council of Chinese Americans (NCCA). He has served as President of NCCA and co-chaired significant events, including the 2016 Inaugural Chinese American Conference and the 2022 Summit of Cooperation of Chinese Americans. Dr. Su played a key role in the 2023 Memorial of the 80th Anniversary of the Repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act and the congressional apology for the 1840 Chinese Exclusion Act. He co-founded the NASA-Langley AAPI committee and organized projects like adding Chinese captions to PBS’s “Asian Americans” documentary and the first nationwide AAPI month seminar series. Dr. Su actively defends the social rights of Chinese Americans and has led local organizations, including the VA-Peninsula Chinese American Association. He was awarded the President’s Volunteer Service Award in 2022 for his community service.

Wenbin Yuan

After immigrating to the United States, Wenbin Yuan worked as a construction contractor for 28 years, specializing in government environmental projects and managing over $100 million in contracts across various states. He has been actively involved in community culture and education, served as an adjunct business professor at Concordia University, and co-authored the book “The Image of America: Chinese in Milwaukee.”

Yuan also helped establish Milwaukee’s Chinese school, Chinese Community Center, Milwaukee Times, and the Wisconsin Chinese Chamber of Commerce. After retiring from contracting, he served as the Chamber’s executive director until the end of 2023, using his entrepreneurial experience to secure funding and provide guidance to members. A firm believer in equality, he became an initiator of CRCEA80 in 2023, writing on equality and inviting diverse community leaders to speak at the conference.

Heping Xu

Heping Xu graduated from the Foreign Language Department of Nanjing Normal University in 1977. He used to be a middle school teacher and a researcher on the tourist economy. In 1980, he started to research Mrs. Pearl S. Buck who was an American woman writer and Nobel Prize Winner of Literature in 1938. Heping Xu wrote and published his first book “Reproduction on Pearl S. Buck” in 2022 in memory of her 130th anniversary. Now he runs his business in the Cross-board eCommerce industry.

Qian Huang

Ms. Qian Huang is a retired software engineer who, in recent years, has focused on researching and compiling the history of Chinese Americans as an independent scholar, writing numerous related articles.

Ms. Huang is also an advocate for the rights of Chinese Americans and a social activist, initiating, organizing, and participating in various social activities.

Let's Embrace Unity

If you have marched anytime, anywhere, for any distance by yourself or with any organized event and would like us to post it on our website, please send us your pictures or videos, social media post links, along with a positive message about Civil Rights Progress. You can use the "Share How You Celebrate" form, or email us at info@cra1964.net.

Through our fundraising and recognition efforts, we may select individuals or groups to offer various gifts for their efforts to embrace unity.