Fairfax County Board Chairwoman Sharon Bulova’s trip to Asia last week was the latest chapter in ties between the county and the continent — one that dates to the 19th century.
Her journey across the Pacific was to announce a formal partnership with the jurisdiction of Songpa-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
“We were treated very well,” she said. “It is a big deal for them.”
Teacher exchanges between the two regions was one result of the trip. A Korean teacher interested in teaching English could come to Fairfax, for example, and a Fairfax County teacher could head overseas to learn more about the Asian culture and develop his language skills.
Bulova, with Cora Foley, is co-organizing the Fairfax County Asian American History Project, which comprises online articles, oral histories and a book on the history of Asian residents due out in May.
“I’m doing the fundraising; Cora’s doing the writing,” Bulova said.
Foley said she was able to trace the first Asian resident in Fairfax County, a Chinese student named Suvoong, back to 1867.
“Isn’t that incredible?” she said. “Before the Civil War, it was very difficult for someone who wasn’t white — or black, I suppose — to come to Fairfax County.”
She described the find as “very fitting — for years, the magnet for Fairfax has been education.”
Foley said the Asian population simply wanted an opportunity to share its story.
“They want to share their culture,” she said. “I don’t want the county’s history to have a blank space for 160,000 of its people.”
