Boston area overview
The Culture Center of TECO in Boston overseas five states in the New England region: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, and Rhode Island. Boston is both the hub of New England and the capital of Massachusetts.
New England regional state governments and legislatures maintain friendly relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan) and support its participation in international organizations. For example, the ROC National Day on October 8th, 2016 received a lot of attention. The Culture Center of TECO in Boston, along with 25 overseas compatriot community organizations, unveiled a pair of bronze plaques at the base of the Chinatown gate in Boston. The plaques contain eight traditional Chinese characters--the four characters facing Surface Road translate to "A world shared by all," while the four characters facing Beach Street read "Humility, Integrity, Justice, Civility." Both the United States flag and Republic of China flag are engraved on one plaque.
In December of 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau found that the population of ethnic Chinese in the North-east U.S. was about 130,000 people, with 110,000 of them living in Massachusetts. The majority of ethnic Chinese immigrants are mainly located in Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Lynn, Lowell, Lawrence, Quincy, Newton and Brockton. There are about 10,000 ethnic Chinese living in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, and about 4,000 ethnic Chinese living in Rhode Island. There are more than 90,000 ethnic Chinese in the Boston area and surrounding towns (with about 4,000 of them being overseas Taiwanese people ).
Structure of overseas compatriot organizations
The Taishan (Chinese) people were early Chinese settlers in the Massachusetts Colony. They lived mainly in the suburbs and worked in the catering and grocery business; interim immigrants to the United States in the 1960s were mostly professors, doctors, or engineers. Current immigrants are mostly working professionals, engaged in banking, insurance, real estate, and trade.
There are about 250 overseas community associations; this includes more than 50 traditional overseas Chinese organizations, more than 100 new overseas compatriot organizations, and more than 10 Taiwanese associations. The Boston area New England Chinese School Association, formally established in 2002, actively hosts various cultural and educational activities to promote common good and overseas compatriot education. It is also very supportive of Taiwanese governmental policies, and has held overseas compatriot school teacher workshops annually since 2011. In recent years, the association has begun to use a remote digital teaching style for education seminars and has hosted traditional Taiwanese folk arts events.
Introduction of the Culture Center in Boston
The Culture Center in Boston was established on September 14th, 1991. Its goal was to serve compatriots in the New England region, strengthen ties with overseas compatriots, and promote education and counseling. Though originally located on the sixth floor at 65 Harrison Avenue in Boston’s Chinatown district, the Culture Center was relocated to Newton Highlands on February 21st, 2007. The new location has two classrooms, a multi-function room, a library, and facilities for all overseas compatriots to use. The center often works with overseas community organizations or overseas compatriot professionals to organize clinics, seminars and employment shift courses, and lectures in English, Chinese, computers, calligraphy, dance, taxes, law, and medicine. It also often holds various art and cultural exhibitions, concerts and other activities to enrich expatriate life as well as the community, and interacts with local celebrities to broaden the social horizons and strengthen the employment skills of compatriots. This works to assist expatriates in the integration into mainstream society.
