NCAJA History

The National Chinese American Jewelry Association (NCAJA) was founded in November 1987 as a non-profit organization aimed at providing assistance and services to mainly first generation naturalized Asian American jewelers in the United States. When NCAJA was founded, it consisted of twelve founding members and a dozen general members. Since then, membership has grown to over Two hundred members and our services have expanded to cover the interests of all American jewelers. NCAJA has headquarters in New York City and Dallas and has members in many cities across the United States.

Past and current Presidents of N.C.A.J.A.
Roy Su (1987-89, 1st)
Johnny Lu (1990-91, 2nd)
John Tsai (1992, 3rd)
Irene Chen (1993, 4th)
Felix Chen (1994, 5th)
Michael Wang (1995, 6th)
Kan Ng (1996-1997, 7th)
Johnson Lu (1998-1999, 8th)
Yu Ray Lo (2000-2001, 9th)
James Pen (2002-2003, 10th)
Jade Tzu (2004-2005, 11th)
Felix Chen (2006-2007, 12th)
Leo Wong (2008-2009, 13th)
Johnny Wang (2010-2011, 14th)
Victor Wu (2012-2013, 15th)
Felix Chen (2014-2015, 16th)
Johnson Lu (2016-2017, 17th)
Victor Wu (2018-2019, 18th)

The current president of NCAJA is Victor Wu of Pan Lovely Jewelry co.

Some of our accomplishments in the past and objectives for the near future include:

  1. Lobbying for reduction (1992-93) of the import tariff on semi-precious jewelry into United States. As a result of the lobbying, the tariff on semi-precious jewelry was reduced ten folds (from 21% to 2.1%). This accomplishment protected the prosperity of the American semi-precious jewelry industry as well as the interest of United States consumers.
  2. Sponsoring Jewelry Education Classes (seven times) to train and guide potential young American jewelers. More than 250 apprentices have graduated from these programs and a significant number of these apprentices have advanced themselves to become professional jewelers of the trade.
  3. Facilitating shipping and insurance services for members to and from New York and Tucson, during the annual February Tucson Gem and Jewelry shows, thereby helping members save tremendous amounts of time, money, and energy.
  4. Hosting and sponsoring the annual Chinese New Year’s party (for the past fourteen years) during the February Tucson Gem and Jewelry show; to promote solidarity within the community of Asian American Jewelers and to promote interactive relationships with international dealers. The annual Chinese New Year’s party has gained much recognition internationally in the jewelry trade. NCAJA annually donates $5,000 dollars to the city of Tucson in order to help support the lives of the children and the elderly.
  5. Publishing newsletters, yearbooks, and setting up a website (http://www.ncaja.com) to provide members with the most current information on the Jewelry Industry. These publications offer members opportunities to communicate and interact, as well as provide tips on professional knowhow’s.
  6. Applying for and retaining booth space for members attending some of the largest and most prestigious shows in the United States, such as the New York JA show and the Las Vegas ASD and JCK shows.
  7. Making monetary contributions to areas hit by natural, or other, disasters. Among them include the 1991 Flood Catastrophe in China, the 1999 Central Taiwan Earthquake, the 2004 Southeast Asia Tsunami, the 2005 Katrina Hurricane, the fight against AIDS, the 2008 China Earthquake, the 2009 Taiwan Morakot Deluge, and more.
  8. Launching a “Mother’s Day” special celebration party in selecting model mother in New York City Chinese community (2003). First association ever to provide such a community service. This proclamation has since become a stable celebration in New York Chinese society.
  9. Sponsoring an AIDs foundation in China for $1,000 dollars annually.