1885 SCENE An illustration by Japanese artist Yukari Mishima from Yung Stands Strong depicts nine-year-old Yung and her cat Miu Miu walking through Eureka’s Chinatown in 1885. Yukari Mishima image
LEO DAVID, MAD RIVER UNION, ARCATA, CA, OCT. 15, 2026
In 1930 a Chinese flowerpot was donated to Eureka’s Clarke Museum by an 81-year-old woman named Elizabeth Carr. With it was a note that read: “Year–1885. One day during the Chinese New Year celebration, little Yung and her two aunts came to the house to call on her teacher Mary Carr and with them they brought this bowl filled with their sacred lilies the Narcissus.”
This piece of history was the starting point for a new children’s book that focuses on a dark chapter in Eureka’s history. Yung Stands Strong: A Story of Expulsion and Resilience tells the tale of nine-year-old Yung, a real girl who was suddenly forced to leave her home when Chinese residents were driven out of Eureka in 1885.
Written by Annette Makino with illustrations by Japanese artist Yukari Mishima, the book follows Yung and her beloved cat, Miu Miu. Then following the story, another 20 pages of lively background material covers the history of Chinese immigration to the United States, Eureka’s Chinatown, and the expulsion order.
TEAM YUNG The book writing team for Yung Stands Strong: Amy Uyeki, Vicki Ozaki, Annette Makino, Alex Service, Sue Lee Mossman and Sheri Woo. Not pictured: Katie Buesch. Photo by Paul W. Blank
[This section was deeply] researched and written by members of Humboldt Asians & Pacific Islanders in Solidarity (HAPI) and local historians Alex Service and Katie Buesch.
“It’s a really unknown history. I’ve lived in Humboldt County for 40 years, I’m Asian American and I knew very little about the history of the Chinese in our area. So I imagine that the same is true for many others locally and it’s actually a really fascinating history and it’s very relevant today as we’re dealing with immigration issues and racism,” said Makino of the story’s timeliness. The expulsion order that was issued gave Eureka’s roughly 300 Chinese residents just one day to leave. “Chinese people in the community were forced to spend a night in these warehouses in Old Town and then board two big ships to San Francisco the next day. They had to leave behind their homes, their businesses, their school, their friends and all of that. We wanted to humanize that story and make it connect for younger kids so I wrote this tale about this nine-year-old girl,” Makino said.
The book is part of HAPI’s larger efforts to raise awareness of the history of Eureka’s Chinatown. “While we regularly give tours of Eureka’s historic Chinatown to adults and high school students, we conceived the book as a way to reach younger audiences with this history,” said HAPI co-founder Amy Uyeki. “The reality is pretty difficult, so we’re using storytelling and art to get the message across.” “We made her nine because in the California school system, fourth grade is when kids study California history and from the beginning we really wanted the book to be used in schools to teach about this history,” Makino said.
The book will be shared with Humboldt County schools and libraries with plans to design a tailored curriculum for teachers. In the spring, Makino brought the book to a fourth grade classroom to see how the story landed with the age group. She said she was nervous the story might be too heavy, but with the help of their teacher they quickly connected the story to their own experiences.
“For instance there’s a part where it mentions the altar that Chinese communities set up around Chinese New Year. [The teacher] asked the kids, ‘Do you know anything about that?’ And some of the Mexican-American kids said, ‘Oh yeah we know about altars from Dia de los Muertos and Day of the Dead.’ And she asked, ‘Do you know anything about being expelled from where you live?” and she had some Hmong kids in her class who said, “Yeah that happened to our family.’ When the story was done the first thing the kids asked was is there a sequel, they wanted to know what was going to happen next for Yung,” Makino shared.
“It’s a very alive story still, you can see it playing out in our communities even today. I also wanted it to be hopeful and I gave it an ending where although Yung has gone through a lot of traumatic events she has learned through that process to be courageous and she’s learned she’s very capable. I’m hoping that children and adults can see themselves in Yung and in her story be inspired to stand strong and take action to create a more just and peaceful world,” Makino concluded.
There will be a book reading and panel discussion with the author and book team at Los Bagels, 403 Second St. in Eureka on Saturday, Oct. 17 from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Yung Stands Strong can be pre-ordered online now at makinostudios.com, to ship the first week of November. It will also be available in local stores then.