In the East Bay Saturday, a festival focused on the culture of the Iu Mien.
The sun was scorching at the 26th Annual King Pan Festival in East Oakland. But many proudly wore their traditional clothing at the Lao Iu Mien community center and temple. Visitors came from as far as Merced and Fresno to the festival.
Kouichoy Saechao helped found the Lao Iu Mien Culture Association. Saechao said King Pan is considered the culture’s forefather and where the 12 surnames in the culture derive from.
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The King Pan festival is a way to connect and reconnect with their culture and community. There are performances, vendors, and also traditional Iu Mien food.
“What we would like them to know is we are a friendly neighbor,” Saechao said. “Come here, we would like people to taste our food, to know our culture,” he said.
Iu Mien are an indigenous group from China that migrated to southeast Asia. The group helped in a covert U.S. led operation during the Vietnam War that eventually landed thousands of them in the states.
Saechao said there are about 8,000 Iu Mien in the Bay Area and about 50,000 in the U.S.
