AiCenter, Inc. is a re-name of the better known Wossing Center for Chinese and Wossing Learning Center  , “Wossing” (pronounced like the “o” in “lore”) for “Harmonious Stars” in Cantonese. As of 2003, the Center took on the Mandarin “Ai” for love and fellowship, undeniably stepping up in the phone book listing but really in keeping with the spirit of China and its increasingly global identity.

The Wossing Center was first established in 1991 when New York Chinatown was still quite an enclave unto itself populated strictly by Cantonese people with generations that trace back to the days of the railroads. Back then, Mandarin was hardly even heard since it was almost impossible for northern Chinese without birth or marital ties to ever dream of visiting the United States. Today, Chinese people of all dialects from different provinces of China end up in New York; and it is these people with their dreams, labor and lucrative ideas who now re-energize Chinatown, fostering lively connections between the old country and America, and the rest of the world.

Being of both the old and the new, AiCenter sees itself as the Gateway to China, advancing her traditions and tapping on her strengths; as an open forum for bridging and learning, AiCenter draws on the new and ever complex connections of our time and seeks to clear the way for a more loving and compassionate world.