Welcome to the Chinese American Abacus Association!
Although most teachers have returned to in-person classes, some CAAA teachers continue to offer classes via the web. If you are interested in abacus and mental math classes at this time, please send us a message, and we will connect you to one of our teachers!
CAAA is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of abacus culture and education in the community. With headquarters based in the heart of the Silicon Valley, CAAA extends its domain across the nation, with chapters in Arizona, the Midwest (Michigan and Illinois), and the East Coast (Massachusetts).
Please explore our website to learn more about our efforts and upcoming events!
For information in Chinese, visit our site at http://caaa-abacus.org.
Support CAAA by volunteering, donating, or even buying from Amazon!
Volunteer with us! Volunteers may assist at local community events, the annual assessment test and award ceremony, and other CAAA events.
Donate to CAAA! Your donation will help us fund our programs!
Use AmazonSmile! Using the link, you will be able to donate 0.5% of certain Amazon purchases to CAAA to help us support our programs!
Like us on Facebook!
Please explore our website to learn more about our efforts and upcoming events!
For information in Chinese, visit our site at http://caaa-abacus.org.
Support CAAA by volunteering, donating, or even buying from Amazon!
Volunteer with us! Volunteers may assist at local community events, the annual assessment test and award ceremony, and other CAAA events.
Donate to CAAA! Your donation will help us fund our programs!
Use AmazonSmile! Using the link, you will be able to donate 0.5% of certain Amazon purchases to CAAA to help us support our programs!
Like us on Facebook!
Happening in 2024
The following 2024 events are scheduled or tentatively scheduled. We expect to have a team traveling for international events in the summer. Please note that commas will be required for numbers 1,000 and greater for all CAAA assessments and competitions starting in the 2021/22 school year.
These events are currently scheduled:
These events are currently scheduled:
- 2024 Assessment Test - May 3 to 5, 2024 (May 12 for East Coast) - registration deadline: April 12
The 2024 Scholarship application is now available! Information on the scholarship is available here. The registration deadline is May 12. The Northern California Award Ceremony will be at 1:30 pm on June 2, 2024, at Fremont's Downtown Event Center (3500 Capitol Avenue, Fremont, CA 94538). - Teacher's Training Program - June 9, 2024 / January 26, 2025 at Fremont's Downtown Event Center.
- International Events
- World City Cup - July 27-29, 2024 (Penang, Malaysia)
- TCOC International Abacus & Mental Arithmetic Invitational Competition - August 4, 2024 (New Taipei)
- (Potential) World Association of Abacus & Mental Arithmetic Competition
If you would like to practice Flash Mental Math, please use this website made by Stephanie Chen!
For a tentative list of 2024 events, click here!
Changes to Community Service Award for 2023 and Beyond
The Community Service award is offered to students in Grades 11 or 12 who have done unpaid, volunteer work related to abacus or mental math in high school.
Starting in 2023, there is a minimum requirement of 25 abacus/mental math-related community service hours, which can be done in the classroom or the community. These hours must have be done in high school (Grades 9 through 12) to be eligible for this award, and these hours do not have to be done at CAAA-sponsored events. However, all hours must be tracked (from the teacher, classroom, or other person-in-charge) and attached to the application. CAAA prefers tracking to be on this sheet, but can accept other formats (i.e. the forms you use to track community service hours for school). (Understanding that some students have already transitioned to paid work, CAAA will accept a written attestation from your teacher that you did at least 25 community service hours in lieu of actual tracked hours for students applying for this award in 2023 (Classes of 2023 and 2024), and will be considered on a case-by-case basis in 2024 (Classes of 2024 and 2025).)
In addition, CAAA would like to gauge interest in becoming a certifying organization for the President's Volunteer Service Award. While most schools are certifying organizations, we understand that not all schools provide this, and some students have previously expressed interest in having CAAA's help in verifying volunteer hours (both abacus and non-abacus) for this award. A certain amount of hours are required to earn a Bronze, Silver, or Gold award, varying by age: for more information, please see this page. If you would like CAAA's help for verifying and certifying volunteer hours, please contact CAAA.
Starting in 2023, there is a minimum requirement of 25 abacus/mental math-related community service hours, which can be done in the classroom or the community. These hours must have be done in high school (Grades 9 through 12) to be eligible for this award, and these hours do not have to be done at CAAA-sponsored events. However, all hours must be tracked (from the teacher, classroom, or other person-in-charge) and attached to the application. CAAA prefers tracking to be on this sheet, but can accept other formats (i.e. the forms you use to track community service hours for school). (Understanding that some students have already transitioned to paid work, CAAA will accept a written attestation from your teacher that you did at least 25 community service hours in lieu of actual tracked hours for students applying for this award in 2023 (Classes of 2023 and 2024), and will be considered on a case-by-case basis in 2024 (Classes of 2024 and 2025).)
In addition, CAAA would like to gauge interest in becoming a certifying organization for the President's Volunteer Service Award. While most schools are certifying organizations, we understand that not all schools provide this, and some students have previously expressed interest in having CAAA's help in verifying volunteer hours (both abacus and non-abacus) for this award. A certain amount of hours are required to earn a Bronze, Silver, or Gold award, varying by age: for more information, please see this page. If you would like CAAA's help for verifying and certifying volunteer hours, please contact CAAA.
Recent Events
2024 Abacus Dictation Competition
CAAA held our 2024 Virtual Abacus Dictation Competition on Sunday, March 24. Thank you to all participants! The award winners for this competition are as follows:
2023 Flash Mental Math Competition
CAAA held our 2023 Virtual Flash Mental Math Competition on Sunday, December 10. Thank you to all participants! The award winners for this competition are as follows:
2023 World City Cup
CAAA students participated remotely in the 2023 World City Cup, hosted by Chennai, India. Thank you to the hosts and all participants, and congratulations to all award winners.
Award Ceremony for 30th Annual Assessment Test
Congratulations to all award winners and thank you to all volunteers in Northern California who helped with our June 4 Award Ceremony at the Culture Center of TECO in Milpitas. We would like to congratulate the 2023 Advanced Level 10 Scholars, Ezra Moh (Mental Math and Abacus) and Lucas Lee (Abacus). Additionally, congratulations to 2023 Advanced Level 10 Elite Scholar Natalie Hii (Abacus). The 2023 CAAA Scholarship recipients are Andrea Wen, Chloe Yim, Emmanuel Mumah, Jr., Lauren Siopack, Nathan Hii, and Zihao Zeng.
30th Annual Assessment Test
CAAA held our 30th Annual Assessment Test virtually and in-person across the nation on May 5-7. Thank you to all teachers and volunteers for all your hard work to make the event a success.
Pictures from the Assessment Test - East Coast Chapter (Massachusetts)
2023 Abacus Dictation Competition
CAAA held our 2023 Virtual Abacus Dictation Competition on Sunday, March 19. Thank you to all participants, and to Sophia Siopack and Bedelia Law for hosting the event again! We apologize for the delay in announcing the results - the award winners for this competition are as follows:
2023 Annual Meeting and Second Session of 12th Teachers' Training Program
The 2023 Annual Meeting & 2nd Teacher Training Session was held on Sunday, January 15, 2023 on Zoom. Thank you to all who attended and took part in this meeting, and to everyone who helped present or help with the Teachers' Training Session, especially Dr. Betty Lin!
2022 Virtual Flash Mental Math Competition
CAAA held our 2022 Virtual Abacus Dictation Competition on Sunday, November 13. Thank you to all for participating! Award winners for this competition are as follows:
2022 World City Cup
CAAA hosted a satellite site for the 2022 World City Cup (hosted by Gunma, Japan) in Las Vegas on the evening of July 30, 2022. We had many students participate both in-person and online, and CAAA members helped organize the online test for all participants. We would like to thank everyone who helped in Las Vegas and at home.
Pictures from Las Vegas can be found in the CAAA Press Release (Chinese).
Pictures from Las Vegas can be found in the CAAA Press Release (Chinese).
Award Ceremony for the 29th Annual Assessment Test
Congratulations to all award winners and thank you to all volunteers in Northern California who helped with our June 25 Award Ceremony at the Culture Center of TECO in Milpitas. We would like to congratulate the 2022 Advanced Level 10 Scholars, all for Abacus: Natalie Hii, Nathan Hii, and Lauren Siopack. The 2022 CAAA Scholarship recipients are Allyson Lee, Chloe Lee, Lucas Lee, Yisin Lim, Ezra Moh, Olivia Jia Xuan Mou, Ashley Siu, Caden Tan, Andrea Wen, Malik Wu, Zihao Zeng, and Ziyang Zeng.
Pictures can be found in the CAAA Press Release (Chinese).
Pictures can be found in the CAAA Press Release (Chinese).
12th Teachers' Training Program
CAAA held the first session of the 12th Teachers' Training Program on May 29, 2022, at Delta Hotels Santa Clara. The second part of this program will be held in January 2023, along with the Annual Meeting. We would like to thank you all for attending, and especially thank Ellie Kuang, Kayla Luong, Kacie Fong, Janelle Wang, Aaron Chen, and George Kwong for their presentations.
29th Annual Assessment Test
CAAA held our 29th Annual Assessment Test virtually and in-person across the nation on May 13-15. Thank you to all teachers and volunteers for all your hard work to make the event a success.
Award ceremonies for each region will be announced separately. Scholarships will be awarded at the respective award ceremonies.
Award ceremonies for each region will be announced separately. Scholarships will be awarded at the respective award ceremonies.
Pictures from the Assessment Test - East Coast Chapter (Massachusetts)
Pictures from the Northern California Chapter Test (Newark)
2022 Virtual Abacus Dictation Competition
CAAA held our 2022 Virtual Abacus Dictation Competition on Sunday, March 20. Thank you to all for participating, and to Sophia Siopack and Bedelia Law (again) for hosting the event! Award winners for this competition are as follows. Congratulations to all winners!
2022 Annual Meeting
CAAA held our Annual Meeting and First Teachers' Seminar on Sunday, January 16. Thank you to all member teachers for participating and for your insight as we move forward with our program for 2022!
2021 Assessment Test - East Coast
The East Coast region held the 2021 Assessment Test in December! We thank all teachers and volunteers for making this happen, and all participants for their hard work and patience. Congratulations to everyone!
Additionally, CAAA would like to thank all students, teachers, parents, and volunteers for their help in making all our 2021 events a success! Hosting multiple conferences and competitions, including the World City Cup, and an assessment test during this pandemic year was a great undertaking, and we would like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding while we learnt from our mistakes and successes! We hope to see you in 2022, where we will continue to host a mix of in-person and virtual events! Please stay safe and in good health through this holiday season, and we hope to be able to see you again soon!
Additionally, CAAA would like to thank all students, teachers, parents, and volunteers for their help in making all our 2021 events a success! Hosting multiple conferences and competitions, including the World City Cup, and an assessment test during this pandemic year was a great undertaking, and we would like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding while we learnt from our mistakes and successes! We hope to see you in 2022, where we will continue to host a mix of in-person and virtual events! Please stay safe and in good health through this holiday season, and we hope to be able to see you again soon!
2021 Virtual Flash Mental Math Competition
CAAA held a virtual Flash Mental Math competition on Sunday, November 14. Thank you to all participants and volunteers for helping make this event a success! The winners are listed below:
World City Cup Teacher Conference
The World City Cup Teacher Conference was held on the night of Saturday, October 23. CAAA would like to thank all presenters, participants, and organizers for three hours of knowledge sharing of abacus teaching practices and advances from around the world during this pandemic. We hope to be able to see everyone at next year's World City Cup in Japan!
2021 World City Cup
The 2021 World City Cup was held virtually with almost 400 competitors from around the world on the night of August 21. CAAA would like to thank all teams, team leaders, and teachers for their support and patience over these last few months in our attempt to pivot from an in-person event to a virtual event, and we are proud to have been able to hold a virtual event for students around the world. Thank you all again.
On our end, CAAA would especially like to thank Josephine Tai and Aaron Chen for hosting the event, and Kenny Chen, Mandy Chou, Melissa Hung, Bedelia Law, Sophia Siopack, and Adam Wu for competition logistics on the day of the competition and for their work for many weeks before. Thank you to all of you and the many others who helped out before, during, and after the event.
On our end, CAAA would especially like to thank Josephine Tai and Aaron Chen for hosting the event, and Kenny Chen, Mandy Chou, Melissa Hung, Bedelia Law, Sophia Siopack, and Adam Wu for competition logistics on the day of the competition and for their work for many weeks before. Thank you to all of you and the many others who helped out before, during, and after the event.
2021 Assessment Test
The Assessment Test was held June 25-27 in most regions and virtually. We would like to thank all teachers and volunteers for their help in this year. An award ceremony for Northern California students was held at Fremont Central Park on July 25.
CAAA would like to recognize and congratulate the following students:
Advanced Level 10 Scholars: Ethan Chen, Natalie Hii, Sophia Siopack
2021 CAAA Scholarship Recipients: Ethan Chen, Valerie Huang, Lucas Lee, Fiona Liu, Ezra Moh, Olivia Jia Xuan Mou, Augustus Soedarmono, Nicholas Wang, Adam Wu, Malik Wu
We would also like to recognize and thank the students from the Class of 2020, 2021, and 2022 for service to CAAA and the community.
CAAA would like to recognize and congratulate the following students:
Advanced Level 10 Scholars: Ethan Chen, Natalie Hii, Sophia Siopack
2021 CAAA Scholarship Recipients: Ethan Chen, Valerie Huang, Lucas Lee, Fiona Liu, Ezra Moh, Olivia Jia Xuan Mou, Augustus Soedarmono, Nicholas Wang, Adam Wu, Malik Wu
We would also like to recognize and thank the students from the Class of 2020, 2021, and 2022 for service to CAAA and the community.
2021 Virtual Abacus Dictation Competition
CAAA held an Abacus Dictation competition virtually on Sunday, April 25. Thank you to all for participating, and to Sophia Siopack and Bedelia Law for hosting the event! Award winners for this competition are as follows:
2021 Annual Meeting & First Virtual Teaching Seminar
The CAAA Annual Meeting was held virtually on January 17, 2021. The first virtual teaching seminar for CAAA members also took place on this date. We thank all advisors and members from around the US for attending, and also thank the member teachers who presented and helped with the seminar!
2020 Assessment Test
The 2020 Assessment Test was held in the Midwest regions only. The 2020 CAAA Scholarship was cancelled for this year. If you have further questions regarding the cancelled assessment tests in the other regions or the scholarship for this year, please contact CAAA.
We apologize to all students who worked hard throughout the year in hopes of an assessment test and applied for the scholarship, and hope you will apply again next year.
We apologize to all students who worked hard throughout the year in hopes of an assessment test and applied for the scholarship, and hope you will apply again next year.
2020 Teachers' Training Seminar
The first session of the 11th Teachers' Training Seminar was held on January 19, 2020. The second session was held virtually on July 26, 2020.
2020 World City Cup
The 2020 World City Cup has been cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak. CAAA would like to thank all teachers and volunteers for their work in preparation for the event. CAAA and its members hope to see our friends around the world at future World City Cups!
2020 CAAA Annual Meeting
The 2020 CAAA Annual Meeting for CAAA members was held at the Milpitas Community Center on January 19, 2020. Thank you all for attending the meeting!
2019 International Competitions
CAAA competed in two international competitions in the summer of 2019: the World City Cup in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam and the TCOC International Abacus & Mental Arithmetic Invitational Competition in New Taipei City.
2019 Assessment Test
The 26th Assessment Test was held in all regions in early May 2019. Additionally, the 5th Flash Mental Math & Math Competition will be held concurrently at the Newark testing site. CAAA would like to thank all parents, advisers, teachers, and volunteers for helping to conduct a successful event, and congratulate all students and medal winners for a job well done.
CAAA would like to recognize our three Advanced Level 10 Scholars from this year: Ethan Chen (Abacus & Mental Math), Kayla Luong (Abacus), and Bedelia Law (Mental Math).
CAAA would also like to congratulate the 2019 Scholarship recipients: Aaron Cheung, Natalie Hii, Nathan Hii, Johnathan Jen, and Augustus Soedarmono.
CAAA would also like to congratulate the 2019 Scholarship recipients: Aaron Cheung, Natalie Hii, Nathan Hii, Johnathan Jen, and Augustus Soedarmono.
2019 Annual Meeting
CAAA held its annual meeting on January 20th in Millbrae. Thank you to all who attended, and thanks to Cathy Xue for hosting!
2018 International Competitions
CAAA participated in 3 international competitions in 2018: the World City Cup in Hong Kong, the WAAMA Mental Arithmetic Competition in Indonesia, and the TCOC International Abacus & Mental Arithmetic Invitational Competition in Taiwan.
CAAA would like to thank SuperMicro Computer their continuing support, including sponsoring our participation at the 2018 international competitions.
CAAA would like to thank SuperMicro Computer their continuing support, including sponsoring our participation at the 2018 international competitions.
25th Annual Assessment Test
The 2018 Assessment Test was in 9 locations across the United States, including in Chicago, Illinois and Scottsdale, Arizona for the first time on May 4th through 6th. Award ceremonies were held in May and June of 2018. Additionally, the 4th Abacus Dictation and Math Competition was held concurrently at the Northern California (Newark) testing site. CAAA would also like to thank New York Life for conducting a seminar at the Newark testing site.
CAAA would like to congratulate the 2018 Scholarship recipients: Jacob Choi, Natalie Hii, Julie Khou, Divya Koya, Jasmine Liu, and Darren Zeng, and acknowledge the achievements of Apoorva Panidapu for her performance on the TV show Genius Junior.
CAAA would like to congratulate the 2018 Scholarship recipients: Jacob Choi, Natalie Hii, Julie Khou, Divya Koya, Jasmine Liu, and Darren Zeng, and acknowledge the achievements of Apoorva Panidapu for her performance on the TV show Genius Junior.
10th Teacher Training Course
CAAA held its 10th Teacher Training Course on January 7 and February 11, 2018 at the Culture Center of TECO in San Francisco in Miplitas. CAAA would like to thank everyone who helped make this program a success, and our advisors and guests who spoke to the students. Congratulations to our new teachers! (Press release in Chinese)
2018 Annual Meeting
CAAA held its 2018 Annual Meeting on January 7th in Milpitas. Thank you to all who attended!
For previous CAAA events, please visit our archive.
