In the fall of 1974, a group of Chinese American parents felt the need for their children to learn Chinese culture and language. With the help of Rev. Steven Tsui, they took the steps to form the first Chinese language school in the Twin Cities area. Rev. Tsui, then a pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Minneapolis, arranged to have three classrooms made available in his church. CAAM agreed to be the sponsoring organization, with the stipulation that the school be financially self-sufficient.

On January, 1976, Twin Cities Chinese Language School opened with John C. P. Huang as the first principal. The initial enrollment was 62 students, a number far exceeding the original estimate. Due to the wide range of the students' ages, five classrooms were used instead of three. In that first cold winter, many parents had no place to go during the school hours on Saturday mornings, so a Tai Chi class was added for the parents.

Enrollment continued to grow in the following years, and Westminster became too crowded to accommodate everyone. The second principal, T. C. Lee, began negotiations with the Twin City Chinese Christian Church in Lauderdale. Jacob Lin, a deacon of the church who became the third principal, helped to finalize the agreement. The school moved to the Twin City Chinese Christian Church in the fall of 1976 where it remained until fall 1995. Subsequent principals in the first decade were Tina Wu, Cathy Ouyang, Richard Cheng, C. S. Chow and Susan Ho.

Many parents, teachers, and volunteers helped to make the school prosper. In the early years, Teddy Wong and Fred Hsiao families provided financial support. Four regional contact families, Susan Ho, Wen Lee, I-Fei Ouyang and Theresa Wu, formed the administrative staff. With the student enrollment having increased to over 100, a school board was formed after the move to Lauderdale. At the insistence of the first school board chair, I-Fan Cheng, a bylaws was written to provide a solid foundation for operating the school.

Over the years, the school has become a place for parents and youngsters to share ideas and to have fun. More importantly, the school has not only met its original goal but has inspired many graduates to continue their study of the Chinese culture by taking Chinese language and history classes at the college level.