After two years, dozens of endorsements, petitions and mailings, the Utah Organization of Chinese Americans and its several community partners are  pleased to announces that our proposal to change the name of a natural rock arch near Promontory Point in Utah has been formally approved and adopted.

 The proposal to change the name from Chinamans Arch to Chinese Arch was approved at the U.S. Board on Geographic Names meeting held on Thursday, February 9, 2006.  Formal notification will be sent to all interested parties in two to four weeks and the change will be reflected in the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), the nation's official geographic names repository in one to two weeks.   The term "Chinaman" was used to derisively refer to the Chinese workers who tirelessly labored to complete the Transcontinental Railroad.  To be described as a “Chinaman was an insult implying a person was unclean and unsuited for anything but performing hard manual labor for little wages.  "We are delighted that the board agreed to remove a degrading and derogatory name from the Golden Spike National Historic Site," said Michael Kwan, founder and current chair of UOCA.  "The arch was meant to honor the thousands of Chinese immigrants who help this nation achieve the single most important economic development project in our nation’s history, but the evolution of the name prevented the honor from being fully enjoyed."

 Thank you all for your support and encouragement in this important news for Utah and OCA.  Special thanks to Past Chair Jeanny Wang along with the project committee led by Karen Kwan, Phuong Nguon Le and Miki Kawakami for their leadership and tireless efforts.