Chinese Culture Thriving In Palolo

Chinese Language Learning Center (CLLC) will have a grand opening and open house activities this weekend at its new-but-old location: The historic Hoo Cho Chinese School site in Palolo Valley.

Events run from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday and Sunday at 1342 7th Ave. and feature a cultural fair with calligraphy, paper cutting and knotting, yo-yo and jump rope games, as well as free refreshments. A lion dance is planned for 11 a.m. Saturday. For details, call 358-3507 or visit cllchi.com.

CLLC offers cultural enrichment along with Cantonese and Mandarin language classes for all ages, from pre-school to adults. Education director is Shao Ting, a Shanghai native with experience at Time-Warner in her hometown, and as a translator and Chinese language teacher in Hawaii. She has an MBA from HPU. One of her students, Dr. Peter Ko of Hong Kong, has practiced and taught medicine at USC since 1980. In 2012, he was inspired by Ting to build a Chinese language learning center for students in Hawaii. They co-founded CLLC.

Hoo Cho school opened nearly a century ago in the Liliha area to teach the children of immigrants who came from Canton to work on Hawaii’s sugar cane plantations. It settled in Palolo Valley in the mid-1970s.