0:00 - Introductions, Joseph states his name in Cantonese and in English, talks about his childhood, born in 1933 in Toishan County, Guangdong Province, China, after liberation, moved to Hong Kong, life in Hong Kong, moving to the United States, first in San Francisco and then to New York. Life in San Francisco – worked as a busboy in the House of Chan, remembers how many workers there were, the types of customers, going to Chicago to help a friend open a restaurant, getting married in 1996
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6:34 - Children, recounts the births of his three daughters, studying at Long Island University, started work in the New York Chinatown Senior Citizen Centre, talks about its history and how they got started, where it was located, how St. Andrew’s church played a role in its founding, moving to 70 Mulberry Street increased the Senior Citizen Centre’s membership, what the membership demographic was, how many staff there were and how many seniors were enrolled.
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11:45 - How the New York Chinatown Senior Citizen Centre helps it’s members, social work – benefits, fill forms, read letters and answer welfare questions, help with applications for Medicaid, food stamps and senior housing, the difference between the seniors who immigrated to the United States in the 1960’s compared to now. Role of the staff members tells of how the seniors don’t want to leave Chinatown neighborhood despite living in deteriorating and squalid conditions.
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19:09 - Membership at the Center, the types of activities that the seniors engage in, what the Center is used for, how the seniors like to socialize, what type of field trips that they go on, where the seniors live, and what kind of jobs the seniors held when they were young and newly immigrated. What types of problems the seniors face nowadays compared to back then, how they have become more complicated, and how family dynamics play a role.
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31:16 - Senior Housing and the problems a lot of the seniors face when receiving affordable housing, recounts how some are lucky and are able to get into a senior housing building straight away and how some are unlucky and will need to wait, how the seniors put up with being mugged every day, hardships endured by the seniors while living in the Chinatown neighborhood, public safety getting worse and how it has improved while Giuliani was mayor.
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36:09 - Where he was on September 11th 2001 and what he was doing – taking a group of seniors on a field trip to Long Wood Garden in Pennsylvania, witnessing the planes going into the towers, going on the field trip anyways but nearly getting stranded in Pennsylvania, the mood changes when they reach the Garden, wanting to turn back and the long journey home.
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44:08 - Recounts the events of his eldest daughter’s day on September 11th 2001, describes the day of how their seniors coped with no public transportation, fears the seniors had at being stranded at a faraway location from their homes, talks about the seniors and how they did not feel fear from the events but fear for their children and grandchildren’s futures, they lived through World World II, the great famine, and other struggles, they were afraid of economic collapse and possibility of war.
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51:05 - Environmental effects and the air quality being worse, Chinatown being close to the World Trade Centre directly affected the neighborhood’s health, the reaction of the government to provide assistance, benefits, and relief for the neighborhood, betterment of the senior’s lives and help in financial situation, Chinatown suffered economically and many tourists did not come back for a long time.
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55:48 - Seniors feeling more confident to come back to the Senior Centre several weeks after but lost confidence as public transport have been rerouted and couldn’t cope with too many transportation changes – explains why the seniors do not feel confident taking public transport over the weekends, talks about other senior centers throughout the city, specifically ones in Brooklyn and Queens, where social services were available for the seniors after September 11th 2001 and housing assistance.
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60:49 - Senior housing and the complicated bureaucracy when applying for senior housing, direct assistance runs out and some small businesses in the neighborhood has to close, memories of World War II and China’s internal struggles, the communist party of China, compares the tragedies of China to September 11th and it seems minor, but acknowledges how the world changed afterwards and become worried about the heavy burdens of the younger generations, explains the common problems that seniors experience.
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68:03 - The senior citizen’s desires to live close to Chinatown and being part of the enclave, feeling comfort and security with places, people, and things that they know, the different immigration waves of the past decades, ethnic and regional differences between the groups of Chinese, the commonalities they share but language differences and occupations divide them, the struggles of new immigrants who are professionals back home but are forced to take menial labor intensive work here in America.
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72:47 - Language barriers of the elders, describes the streets that divides the neighborhoods and different ethnic enclaves that make up the Chinatown, Little Italy, and Lower East Side, new senior centers that opened beyond Chinatown, how the seniors have memberships at multiple centers for different purposes, the seniors are divided amongst them based on ethnic background and language.
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81:40 - Financial and medical care problems faced by seniors, the types of social benefits and welfare they are eligible to apply for, what types of assistance is available for that population, social agencies that help new immigrants, providing English or employment training, more services for Chinese than in the past, what his wishes are for the future and recounts the struggles that many women face as the garment factories close down to just a few and skilled labor shortages.
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