Bomb-making master

He’s not sure exactly how it happened. One day, he was just an obedient Chinese-American teenager, and the next day he was an ordnance specialist.

Al Wong Jr.’s first stint as the official bomb-maker for Marysville’s Bomb Day celebration was overseen by Jim Pon of Gridley.

“I was like an expectant father,” says Wong, who was 19 at the time.

On that auspicious Sunday, he watched about a dozen of his freshly made explosives rolled out to the ring-catching circle on First Street just before the Bok Kai Festival’s grand finale.

Wong, now 34, looked at those cartoon-like red cylinders, and thought, “please work, please work, please work.”
His bombs exploded, but they did so oddly.

Pon, who was in his late 70s, pinpointed the mistake, shared a last bit of wisdom with young Grasshopper Wong, and died soon afterward.
Wong, ready or not, was the new master.

Bok Kai celebrations, which date to 1880 in Marysville’s Chinatown, feature an elaborate parade and Bomb Day to honor Bok Eye – the Chinese God of water and good fortune. The historic Bok Kai Temple, which sits just beyond the levee at the junction of the Yuba and Feather rivers, is named for the deity.

This year’s stockpile of 111 bombs took Wong two months of weekends and evenings to manufacture by hand.
He wrapped old magazine pages, packed them with tissue and black powder, taped each bomb, and covered it in red paper. While doing so, he watched more than 20 movies on DVD to stave off boredom.

Some were “old, cheesy Kung Fu movies” – one of his favorite genres.

Wong says he once saw a scene in which Chinese students from two competing schools surround a big firecracker-like explosive. Instead of the red satin good-luck ring used in the Marysville event, the detonation sent a baton-like object skyward.

“Wait a minute,” Wong said to himself. “That’s kind of like Bomb Day.”

Fists and Elbows

Like in the historic Marysville event, the movie version featured a dramatic battle over the object.

“It’s not a play-nice type event,” says Wong’s cousin, Sami Nall, 25. “It’s violent.”

Nall, who has taken over many of the Bok Kai Parade responsibilities since her own teenage years, says that among younger generations, she and Wong are the last who consistently work to carry on the Chinese community’s traditions.

“That puts a lot of responsibility on us,” she says.

Nall traveled from UCLA to Marysville several weekends last year for Bok Kai preparations. She now lives in Sacramento – a much easier commute.

“But there are never enough bodies to do everything now,” says Wong.

Wong lives in Yuba City and is, therefore, on hand for all manner of heavy lifting and gopher-type duties during the mad late-winter rush toward the Bok Kai festival.

But the day he is able to transport the bombs from his secret bomb-making facility to the Bok Kai Temple for sale and storage is always a relief, he says.

Last Friday was the big day.

A few of the bombs have already been sold. They are a primary source of funding for Chinatown restoration projects, and sometimes bring in hefty donations.

But 10 will be saved for the 4 p.m. finale spectacle.

Bomb Day participants in Marysville often include Chinese men from Sacramento or the Bay Area. Some are descendants of Marysville’s earliest Chinese residents, Wong explains.

One regular participant, George Chu, has become something of a local legend for his success in capturing the numbered satin rings, and holding on to them in spite of elbows, punches and headbutts that come his way.

An out-of-towner, Chu is about 6 feet 3 inches tall, “and he knows how to time his jump,” Wong says.

“He’s good, and he’s big for an Asian,” says Gordon Tom, 66, who grew up in Marysville’s Chinatown with Wong’s parents.

Wong boasts that his bombs send the coveted rings up 80 feet or more, where, according to Chinese legend, they are blessed by the Gods before plummeting down toward the participants.

Mysteries and Surprises

Wong says the details of putting his bombs together are “an ancient Chinese secret,” though he acknowledges the unlikelihood of ancients using duct tape and Kleenex.

Marysville imported its ballistics from China until the Communist takeover in 1949. Jim Pon had learned the craft from an earlier local bomb maker, modernized it a bit, and then selected his own disciple over dinner one night with Wong’s parents.

Wong says he didn’t grasp the significance at the time. He just thought he was going to learn how to make bombs, and that it sounded pretty cool.

He still thinks it’s pretty cool.

His hands turn red, and then pink, from the task, and they attract attention during his work hours as a cashier at Save Mart.

Recently, a woman asked if he had been eating pistachios. He caught himself before divulging the activity that had caused his hands to change color.

“Why, yes,” he told her, “I was eating pistachios.”

Sometimes a customer recognizes him.

“Are you the bomb-maker?” they ask.

The question piques the interest of everyone within earshot.

“These days, with all the weirdos and wackos,” he says, “you have to be careful what you say.”

A bit of film footage taken in Marysville’s Chinatown during the 1920s, Wong says, reassures him that most of what modern spectators see at the festival is the same as it was back then.

“It’s all very ritualistic,” he says.

But the symbolism and the origins of Bok Kai festival traditions are unknown to him.

Sami Nall shrugs too. “No one knows much about that,” she says.

“You do it this way because your grandma told you to,” Wong says, laughing, “and you don’t really ask why.”

On Sunday, the last 10 explosives will be wheeled out to a tree stump.

Again, Wong will pray to his ancestors’ Gods that the bombs detonate properly.

“I still get nervous, even though I’m not a rookie anymore,” he says. “The bad thing about a bomb is that you can’t test it out.”

Bok Kai Festival

Weekend events:

Saturday

• Bok Kai 5K Run/walk – 9 a.m., registration at 8:15 a.m., starting in front of Bok Kai Temple, First and D street, Marysville. Registration: $20. Call 790-6746

• Bok Kai Parade – 11 a.m. at Sixth and D streets, Marysville.

• Bok Kai Festival 1 to 4 p.m. at Yuba County Library, Second and C streets, Marysville.

• Bomb Day Lecture Series – 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Chinese American Museum of Northern California, 223 First St., Marysville.

• Chinese American Museum of Northern California Award Dinner 6 p.m. at Szchewan Restaurant, 223 First St., Marysville. Tickets: $12

Sunday

• Bomb Day Lecture Series – 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Chinese American Museum of Northern California, 223 First St., Marysville

• Bok Kai Firing of the Bombs – 4 p.m. at First and C streets, Marysville

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Nancy Pasternack at 749-4712 or at npasternack@appealdemocrat.com