By David Li, bostonese.com
Boston, March 11, 2013, — The 2013 Wong Family Banquet was held at Empire Garden restaurant in Boston Chinatown in the evening of March 10. Lisa Wong, mayor of Fitchburg, Mass., attended the banquet with her parents. What surprised me was that Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Menino and mayor of Malden, Mass. Gary Christenson also showed up for the banquet along with close to one thousand members and guests.
Mayors Menino, Christenson and Wong pose for a picture.
There are many well-known figures in the Wong Family Association of New England, such as WWII hero, Purple Heart and Bronze Star medals winner Arthur Wong, David Wong (owner of Empire Garden), Rick Wong (president of CCBA New England), mayor Lisa Wong, State Rep. Donald Wong, Michael Wong (president of Wong Family Association of USA), Jeff Wong (president of Wong Family Association of New England) and etc. All the guests enjoyed an evening of fine dining and entertainment. Mayor Christenson mentioned that he was learning Chinese, and he was happy to get a Chinese name: 郭健新 , an idea of Gilbert Ho of Chinatown Main Street.
Mayor Menino enjoyed the lion dance by the youth of Wong Family Association of New England, and wrote down his Chinese New Year wishes on my notebook: “Happy New Year. The Year of the Snake brings prosperity and good fortune.” Mayor Christenson and Mayor Wong happily added their signatures under Mayor Menino’s. They all acknowledged the significant contributions made by members of the Wong Family Association of New England to Boston and to the state. Many members of Wong Family Association of New England expressed their wishes for continued recovery and good health for mayor Menino in the Year of Snake.
Dressed in a traditional Chinese dress, a gift from his friend Hung Goon, Mayor Christenson told me that he was at an art exhibition by North America Artist Association (NAAA) at East West Bank in Boston Chinatown the day before. He was very impressed by the art works. He invited well-known photographer Eadwn Huang (like Wong, Huang is an English translation of the same Chinese surname: 黃) to capture some beautiful images of parks in Malden.