Linking Our Lives: Lucie's Life Exploration: Film Screening

Monday, February 11, 2013 at 12:00 p.m.
The Presentation Room, Charles E. Young Research Library (11348 YRL), UCLA Library

"Linking Our Lives: Lucie's Life Exploration" is a documentary film directed by Editor-in-Chief at CommonWealth Magazine Group Diane Ying about the life of pioneering social scientist Lucie Cheng, and which won the 2012 Golden Harvest Award for best documentary. Inspired by Cheng's groundbreaking book published in 1984, Linking Our Lives, the film "portrayed the courage of Chinese American women in Los Angeles as they settled and built their communities in a foreign land. The documentary aims to spread the key message that Cheng promoted throughout her life: 'None of us are powerless, but we have to learn how to use the power we have.'"

Professor Lucie Cheng was the first permanent Director of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center and Professor Emeritus of Sociology at UCLA. Under her leadership, the university saw the development of the Asian American Studies Center during the early years of Ethnic Studies as it was being institutionalized. In addition, "the [Asian American Studies] Center developed key areas of the Center's programming and structure, including the M.A. program which has produced hundreds of scholars, writers, and community leaders throughout the United States.

During her tenure, many of the center's founding core faculty and scholars were hired, including: Profs. Stanley Sue, Don T. Nakanishi, Robert Nakamura, Paul Ong, King-kok Cheung, Valerie Matsumoto, and the editor of the Center's Amerasia Journal, Russell Leong. During this time, the Center published publications which served as curriculum material for classes in Asian American Studies, including Roots, edited by Amy Uyematsu and others, and Counterpoint, edited by Emma Gee. Prof. Cheng also helped establish the first endowed chair in Japanese American Studies."

Read more about Lucie Cheng's life and career on the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California blog, as well as about how the film commemorates Cheng's legacy and impact.

The above-selected passages were cited from an article published by Commonwealth Magazine Group. Read the Chinese version and English version.