Charlie Chin

SAN JOSE — The second annual Spirit of Japantown Festival, to be held Saturday, Oct. 4, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., will feature a variety of performers on its main stage, which will be located near the intersection of Jackson and 4th streets.

Scheduled to appear at 3 p.m. is Charlie Chin, a musician, author, historian, and classically trained storyteller who has been performing, writing and teaching for decades.

A pioneer in Asian American arts and theater, he recorded “A Grain of Sand: Songs from the Birth of Asian America,” (Paredon 1973) with Nobuko Miyamoto and Chris Iijima, a work that social historians have called “the music that inspired a movement.” He later recorded an album with Iijima, “Back to Back.”

Chin’s concerts, solo theater and presentations contain songs, stories and monologues that use humor, wit, and insight to celebrate the Chinese American experience from the Gold Rush of the mid-19th cenury to the arriving immigrants of today.

In 1989, the Smithsonian Institute presented him with the Community Folklore Scholar Certificate in recognition of his work in Asian American studies.

Chin released “Jataka Tales” on Bindu Records and has performed with Los Angeles-based Great Leap for many years, most notably as a member of the Grain of Sand Reunion Trio.

He is the author of “China’s Bravest Girl: The Legend of Hua Mu Lan,” illustrated by Tomie Arai, and is the director of San Mateo Buddhist Temple’s taiko group.

Chin, a former New York resident who now lives in the Bay Area, is also known for his solo performance as the Yee Fung Cheung, who was lured to California by the discovery of gold but found out that his services as an herbal doctor were needed by the Chinese miners. His herb shop, Chew Kee Store, still exists as a museum in Fiddletown.

The artist-in-residence at the Chinese Historical Society of America (CHSA), Chin recently performed in Woodside at the site of the Chinese Walls at Folger Estate Stable, part of a network of trails and roads built by Chinese immigrants.

Chin’s appearance at Spirit of Japantown is sponsored by CHSA board member Connie Young Yu, author of “Chinatown, San Jose, USA.” She recently oversaw an archaeological dig at the Corporation Yard site in Japantown.

“It is important to include the Chinese as Japantown used to be Chinatown 121 years ago. The Japanese came three years later,” said Jeanne Katsuro, co-founder of Spirit of Japantown.

There will also be a booth with information on San Jose’s Chinatown.

For more information: www.spiritofjapantownfestival.org.