"It's a Great Camp For Us All"

In the 1950s Midwest, that exposure was far from a given; there simply were not enough Asian, much less Chinese, people for regular engagement with Chinese culture to be possible. While Asian Americans are 3% of the Midwest’s population today, in 1960, they made up a mere 0.001% of the population.

Most parents, who had come to the United States as students, had initially expected to return to China after graduating. However, after the Communists won the Chinese Civil War, it became near impossible for them to return to their homeland and their families.

With the help of organizations like the CSAS, these students found ways to meet one another, start families, and assimilate into American culture. As highly educated immigrants, many found work as doctors, engineers, and researchers, and lived in majority-white suburbs.

And yet, the yearning to share their culture with their American-born children and form a Chinese American community persisted. Through that yearning, Midwest Chinese Family Camp, and its many musical traditions and complications, was born.

One of the elements of camp that emerged during this period was the camp mission, as CSAS leadership began to refine the purposes and community expectations for camp.

“TO SHARE THROUGH A CREATIVE ENVIRONMENT AND GROUP LIVING THE EXPLORATION OF BASIC VALUES OF THE CULTURES OF EAST AND WEST SO THAT OUR CHILDREN MAY PROUDLY ACCEPT THEIR CHINESE HERITAGE AND AMERICAN IDENTITY IN ORDER THAT THEY MAY BEST SERVE THEIR FELLOW MEN” -- Camp Mission, 1968

This grappling between "the cultures of east and west" was readily apparent in the music traditions that were formed during the early days of camp. While many of the first songs sung at camp were traditional Chinese folk songs, the repertoire quickly expanded. Mirroring their gradual assimilation into American culture, most of the early musical traditions of camp were shaped by a variety of influences beyond traditional Chinese music and culture.

One of the first songs written for Morning Sing, a daily tradition where campers come together to sing camp songs at breakfast, was the Camp Grace.

The song's origins are tied to the CSAS's affiliation with various Christian churches. Chinese-speaking Christian missionaries like Reverend Ellen Studley helped begin the CSAS and supported initiatives for Chinese students in the aftermath of the Civil War.

Many Chinese students who became affiliated with the CSAS were already Christians, and were introduced to the CSAS through missionary networks; many others were attracted to the CSAS through their immigration and resettlement services, and later converted to Christianity.

Sung each morning, Camp Grace became a way to affirm a Christian faith, whether new or old, while also teaching children Chinese language.

Written by the Yang and Tchen families during the long car ride from the suburbs of Cleveland to camp in the mid-1960s, "The Camp Song" is sung to the tune of "It's a Small World" (which is the most played song of all time). The song is sung daily at Morning Sing, as well as a final rendition at Festival Night, the last night of camp.

With this very familiar, pop-cultural tune as a backdrop, the song represents a mission statement for the camp; one that emphasizes family togetherness, having fun, and an eye toward growth in the future.

“The Camp Song” began a long tradition of taking the tunes from American classics and putting a Family Camp-twist on their lyrics. While these songs represent the inevitable integration of American pop culture into the lives of campers, they also represent an attempt to make those songs into something new, and their own.

The parents of CFC, many of whom were professors, engineers, doctors, and other professionals, in many ways represented the pinnacle of the model minority ideal. Knowing that their children would still face racial discrimination, parents pushed their children toward the forms of success that mirrored their own.

"There was a lot of pressure, but that’s just the way our parents thought. The underlying motivation for that… was that they realized that because we were Chinese, we would face bias. We would face discrimination. And we had to be better than everyone else." -- Mark Chow

At camp, this manifested in noticeable and often intense competitiveness between families, particularly when it came to classical music performances.

Beyond having enough violin, cello, flute, and clarinet players to create a camp orchestra helmed by parent and physicist Lee Teng, individual performances were conducted at mealtimes, Festival Night, and the infamous Talent Night.

Campers recall these high-pressure performances as being judged not only as a representation of their own musical talent, but also the successful assimilation of their entire family.

"There are many ex-campers I've talked to who will never, never, never attend camp again because they were so emotionally traumatized by Talent Night." -- Allen Yang, former camp director

"Especially in Chinese families, the guitar was somewhat disreputable." -- Mark Chow

One breakthrough moment in camp musical history that occurred in this era was the introduction of the guitar to camp. Previously, the guitar was frowned upon as an instrument for rock and roll music, rather than the classical instruments that the parents preferred.

Despite parental disapproval, once young campers started bringing their guitars to camp, new musical avenues were opened.

"The Wawasee Blues" originated as a Festival Night skit, written by Wilbur Pan. It was later incorporated into Morning Sing, by the camp's new (and young) musical directors. The song uses a simple blues riff and a bluesy vocal performance to talk about the small annoyances of daily life at camp in a humorous way.

Beyond commenting on daily rituals like morning Tai Chi and teen ed, the song also incorporates small snippets of Mandarin, such as the Chinese exclamation "ai ya!" as a prominent part of the chorus. Like "The Camp Song" and others before it, "The Wawasee Blues" took an element of American pop culture and added a CFC twist. More than just a CFC twist, the song also represents a new interpretation and use of CFC musical motifs, in a way that matched the younger generation's experiences and attitudes.

Through their innovations, the writers and performers of "The Wawasee Blues" inspired other campers to build new musical traditions. Nearly 20 years later, campers Allen Yang and Mark Chow revived the Wawasee Blues tradition, creating new classics like "Sweet and Sour Pork."

Throughout Chinese Family Camp History, music has been both a divider and a uniter. Even as the specific musical traditions have shifted over time, however, camp music has always been a way for campers to navigate, negotiate, and claim their Chinese American identities. To explore the evolving sounds, songs, and sights of camp, watch any of the videos below.