01
Archiving Chinese Graves at Valhalla
We have mapped, photographed, and cleaned 300+ Chinese burial markers/headstones found in plots 18a, 20, 6, FH1 and FH2 and entered biographical information found on stones into an Excel spreadsheet.
02
Communication
Continuously communicated with the management team of the cemetery of the cleanup work we are doing, and of our interest to preserve the history. Shared our findings with the community, including with the Missouri Historical Society's Chinese Collection Initiative.
03
Fundraising and Advocacy
In Spring 2023, we applied for a UCA Community Grant to establish the commemorative plaque, and in Fall 2023, we received a grant of $3500. Our GoFundMe campaign raised $1866.25, $1,000 of which was donated to the Missouri Historical Society's Chinese Collection Initiative. We received a $1,000 donation from Mr. Ko, a respected elder in the Chinese community. This brings us to a total of $5366.25 as of November 25, 2023.
November 8, 2022
Going to Valhalla to clean graves and document them.
January 16, 2023
January 16, 2023
April 15, 2023
June 7, 2023
Valhalla Chinese Cemetery Team Interviews
Check out these short interviews from our fieldtrips to the Cemetery. Hear our team members talk about what were standing out to them during those visits.
01
Ivy Liao
shows the camera the graves of Shirley A. Y. and Yick K. Leong, two that were in danger of being covered up by weeds at the time
02
David Lin
talks about how majority of the older burial markers were from Guangdong, or Canton, province, including two earlier ones from the 1930s.
03
Max Zeng
discusses finding a relative of Dr. Leong, a math teacher in Clayton, whose family is a well established family in St. Louis Chinese community.
04
Andrew Wang
shares how the On Leong association helped the local Chinese community in times of need, especially who lost their loved ones.
05
Maggie Zeng
discusses the burial marker of Audrey Wei Ping, a 9-day old girl buried in the Chinese plot at Valhalla.
06
Yijia Mao
discusses how important it is to maintain the memory of early Chinese people living in St. Louis, through work like the preservation of Chinese cemetery.
07
Dr. Liu
discussed the disappearance of two burial markers, which the group had previously found to be hidden in overgrown weeds, and covered in mud. In October 2023, we found out that these two markers, which our group had archived, had disappeared. The cemetery management team is still figuring out what happened to them. (Update: the cemetery put new headstones where they were.