CSUSM Professor to Discuss 'First Chinese Family' of San Diego

Cal State San Marcos literature and writing studies professor Susie Lan Cassel will be one of the presenters for a virtual discussion titled “Introducing the Ah Quin Family: The First Chinese Family in San Diego's Early Chinatown” on May 10 at noon. 

You can register here to receive a Zoom link. 

Ah Quin was the informal mayor of San Diego's early Chinatown, but he was also a prolific writer who left behind 11 volumes of a diary that spans from 1877 to 1902, providing a personal account of many of the landmark experiences of Chinese immigrants in the 19th century. In 1881, he married Ah Sue, and they raised a family of 12 children in San Diego. 

This talk will introduce you to the Ah Quin family and what it was like for them to live in San Diego during the age of Chinese exclusion. It also will discuss his life as a bachelor laborer in San Francisco, some of the secrets contained within his diary and his present-day legacy.