The unveiling of the new bust of Anson Burlingame in the downtown library Friday night was quite the affair. More than 100 people attended to hear an excellent recap of Anson's career (delivered by Dr. George Koo and David Chai), some words about his family from family member and recently arrived Burlingame resident Lisa Lillelund along with a few politicians. Sculptor Zhou Limin spoke about his inspiration for creating the bust and we heard a few words about the Burlingame Foundation from its president, Dr. Walter Christman. All in all great event and a wonderful way to welcome Anson (and his descendants) back to B'game. Here are Lisa, Dr. Koo and the unveiled bust with the US and Chinese flags of the period. The program was also streamed to China for added viewers.
This was a SUPER event. The bust is a studied and wonderful likeness, due to the talents of artist Zhou Limin, and has a great presence in our library, for all to see.
Big kudos go to the Library staff, in particular Brad McCulley and other department heads for knocking themselves out to make it special for everyone involved--including a number of Chinese and Chinese-American resident leaders and visitors.
In particular, thanks are due to Dr. David Chai, Mayor Brownrigg and others for many years of research and work to bring Anson Burlingame's vision and ever-relevant message of inclusiveness and fairness to light in our modern times.
Posted by: Jennifer Pfaff | November 21, 2018 at 11:20 AM
I wonder if the Great Firewall of China will censor this event. Well, I guess google knows the answer, google knows all...
Posted by: J. Mir | November 28, 2018 at 04:33 PM
A commenter at the local paper website is talking down Anson Burlingame based on him having been a member of the Know Nothing party. I have never seen this person talk down members of the party that held KKK members for years and years. You know. The one that runs this state.
Posted by: The Hep Cat | December 31, 2020 at 12:49 PM