<p>Confucius Plaza is Chinatown’s largest housing
project, with 762 mostly moderate-income cooperative units, 10 percent of which
are low-income. The $35-million project was mainly funded by the Mitchell-Lama
program of New York State, with additional federal, municipal, and
private-sector support.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[1]</a>&nbsp;</p><p>In
1974, Confucius Plaza began construction. Initiated by a Chinese American store
owner named Kumshui Stephen Law, who organized a development group through word
of mouth and the use of Chinese-language newspapers, the project became the
center of a significant protest led by Asian Americans for Equal Employment
(AAFEE), who decried the lack of Chinese or Asian American construction
workers. Later, joined by a host of other Chinatown organization, as well as
citywide minority workers’ groups including the Black and Puerto Rican
Coalition, the AAFEE’s demonstrations led to the hiring of roughly 40 Asian American
workers and the addition of a multitude of community and commercial facilities
to the complex.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[2]</a> </p>

<p>In front of the complex, the 15-foot bronze statue
of Confucius, the Chinese philosopher, is one of the most visited landmarks in
Chinatown. Sculpted by Liu Shih, the statue was presented by the CCBA as a
token of appreciation, and to commemorate the U.S. bicentennial. At its base, a
Confucian proverb is inscribed aside an American flag, praising a just
government with remarkable leaders of wisdom and ability.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[3]</a></p><div><div>

</div>

</div>

Photo 1_ The Confucius Plaza and the Statue of Confucius (via Google Map)

Photo 2_ The Statue of Confucius. Courtesy of Alex Cournoyer.


Photo 3_ The Confucius Plaza Apartment Building in Chinatown

The Confucius Plaza is a gigantic federally subsidized housing project. It was completed on the corner of Bowery and Division streets in 1976. This brown brick tower complex in Chinatown was the first major public-funded housing project built for Chinese use. The 44- story arc contains 762 apartments, the Yung Wing Public School, shops, community space and a day-care center.  In front of the apartment complex sits a statue of the famous philosopher. A gift from the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association in 1976, the statue features Confucius' sayings in both Chinese and English.

The Confucius Plaza and the Statue of Confucius

This centuries old neighborhood is easily distinguished by its multi-layered signage in various Chinese dialects, street vendors, and oriental motifs on doors, lights, and architectural features.

Manhattan Chinatown 

The Chinese Theater on Doyers Street was opened in 1893 to serve the cultural needs of the Chinese-American community who overwhelmingly resided in the area. This Theater in Chinatown was the first Chinese theater opened on the east coast of the United States. The next closest theater was in San Francisco. The Chinese Theater possessed a small stage with wooden benches for guests. Overtime, the Theater began attracting patrons of all ethnicities as New Yorkers gained interest in Chinese art forms.<br><br>In 1905, the Theater's cultural importance was overshadowed by violence between two rival Chinese gangs. After an evening of watching "The King's Daughter," four On Leong Tong members were shot by several members of the Hip Sing Tong. Before the shooting, the two gangs had been competing against one another for years over gambling, prostitution, and drugs, but large scale violence was rare. That changed when Mock Duck, a Chinese-American from San Francisco, came to New York to gain power over the traditional Chinese organized crime in the area. Most people believe he ordered the attack that launched a war between the two gangs. The war would last for years until both gangs realized that they were ruining business for themselves because patrons were too afraid to come down Doyers Street, which included going to the Chinese Theater.&nbsp;<br><br>The Theater was closed after declining patronage in the early 1910s. After it closed, the space&nbsp;was turned into a mission house for the Rescue Society of New York. In 2016, the old Chinese Theater was converted into a restaurant, the Chinese Tuxedo. A restaurant by the same name had been opened on Doyers Street around the same time as the Chinese Theater.&nbsp;

The Chinese Theater, also known as the Chinese Opera House, was opened on Doyers Street in Chinatown in 1893. Throughout its history, it served the Chinese-American community by providing a cultural center to congregate. However, the Theater was also part of a much more violent past as it was the site of a famous massacre involving two rival Chinese gangs. In the early 1910s, the Theater was closed, and today, it has been converted into a restaurant. 

Former Chinese Theater

<p>Second Lieutenant Benjamin Ralph Kimlau was born in Concord,
Massachusetts. When he was 14, his parents moved the family to New York City,
where Kimlau graduated from Dewitt Clinton High School in 1937. The next year,
after traveling in China, Kimlau enrolled in the Pennsylvania Military College
(now the United States Army War College) and went into the United States Army
Air Force, assigned to the 380th Bombardment Group of the Fifth Air Force in
Australia (known as the "Flying Circus"), which was awarded two
Presidential Unit Citations. Kimlau was among five pilots sent on a mission to
New Guinea in February and March of 1944. Their objective was&nbsp;to bomb Japanese
airbases in the region. While attacking the Japanese at the island of Los
Negros on March 5, 1944, all five pilots were shot down and killed.</p>

<p>The Lt. B.R. Kimlau Chinese
Memorial Post 1291, the largest post in New York City, was founded in 1945 by
Chinese-American veterans of World War II. The organization is involved in
numerous community service projects in Chinatown, and is responsible for the
creation of the Kimlau Memorial monument in 1962.<br></p>

The Americans of Chinese Ancestry Memorial, or Lieutenant B. R. Kimlau Chinese Memorial, stands in a small park called Kimlau Square, within New York City's Chatham Square in Chinatown. Architect Poy G. Lee (1900-1968) designed the memorial, which was erected in 1962 by the Lt. B. R. Kimlau Memorial Post 1291.

Americans of Chinese Ancestry Memorial

<i></i>The area now called Chatham Square was once a forest
clearing named Warpoes (meaning Small Hill). Fenced off for cattle, it was
granted to twelve freedmen from the West India Company in 1647, and it grew into
an outdoor market trading in horses and housewares during the 18th century.
Around the time of the 1837 depression, the square became a site of working
class entertainment, and by the middle of the 19th century had become an
"Old Times Square of sorts, only 10 times seedier" [3]<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.nychinatown.org/chatham.html]"></a>.
Flophouses and saloons dominated the square and the neighborhood around it. At
1 Chatham Square (or 2 Mott Street), where a 1977 office building now stands,
Moses Baker (in the 19th century) based his Five Points gambling operations,
private lotteries Baker dubbed "the policy business".<br><br><p>In 1872, former Hong Kong merchant Wo Kee opened a general
goods store on Mott Street (one of the many streets leading into Chatham
Square), establishing the beginning of Manhattan's Chinatown. Also in the 1870s,
Chatham Square Crossing was a busy exchange on the New York rapid transit
system; passengers had to transfer at the square to switch between the 2nd and
3rd Street El lines.</p>



<p>At 5 Chatham Square, in 1899, the first American tattoo
parlor opened after a barber named Samuel F. O'Reilly created a mechanical tattoo
needle based on Thomas Edison's electric engraving pen. In the same year, a
branch of the New York Free Circulating Library opened at Chatham Square,
replaced in 1903 by the Chatham Square Library (part of the New York Public
Library) using funds from Andrew Carnegie's 1901 gift to the city. The new
library was designed by the McKim, Mead, and White architectural firm, and had
a circulating Chinese language collection as early as 1911. The Chatham Square
Library was remodeled in 2001, but the woodwork and windows on the first floor
are original, and the lower level boasts a Chinese Heritage Collection.</p>

<p>Chatham Square is also the site of Kimlau Square (see <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://theclio.com/web/entry?id=21600">http://theclio.com/web/entry?id=21600</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://theclio.com/web/entry?id=21601">http://theclio.com/web/entry?id=21601</a>)
and Chatham Square Cemetery (see <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://theclio.com/web/entry?id=21597">http://theclio.com/web/entry?id=21597</a>).<br></p>

Eight streets converge at Chatham Square, which is named for the Earl of Chatham, William Pitt. The square has a long, rich, and (in some eras) notorious history, having served as an open-air market and a central point of the historic Bowery and Five Points neighborhoods. It is  now part of Manhattan's Chinatown.

Chatham Square

<p>Second Lieutenant
Benjamin Ralph Kimlau (1918-1944) was a Chinese American bomber pilot who died
serving his country in World War II. Born in Concord, Massachusetts, Kimlau
moved to New York City with his parents when he was fourteen. After he
graduated from high school in 1937, Kimlau first traveled to China, where he
witnessed firsthand Japanese military aggression. The next year, he returned to
the U.S. and entered the Pennsylvania Military College (now the United States
Army War College).<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[1]</a> Interested
in airborne defense, Kimlau joined Air Force and embarked on a mission to bomb
Japanese airbases around New Guinea. On March 1944, Japanese defenders shot
down his bomber and killed him.&nbsp;</p><p>In order to provide an everlasting memorial for those Chinese-Americans who had answered the call of our nation and provided the supreme sacrifice, the Lt. Kimlau Post petitioned the City of New York in 1958 for a site at Chatham Square to build a memorial. After many delays and rejections, the Post finally obtained permission in early 1961 to change the name of “Chatham Square” to “Kimlau Square” and erected a memorial to honor all Chinese-Americans who died while serving our nation. On April28, 1962, an unveiling ceremony for the memorial was conducted with a parade and a big celebration afterward. [2]</p><p>Designed by architect Poy G. Lee (1900-1968), this
Asian-inspired architecture reflects the character of the area, in the Manhattan’s
Chinese community. Inscribed on the nearly 19-foot-high arch is a dedication in
both English and Chinese to the memory of Chinese Americans who died while
serving during WWII. The arch also serves as the site of an annual celebration
to honor war veterans.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[3]</a><br></p>

<p>Lin Zexu, leading Chinese
scholar and official of the Qing dynasty, is known for his role in the events
leading up to the first Opium War between Britain and China. He was a proponent
of the revitalization of traditional Chinese thought and institutions, a
movement that became known as the Self-Strengthening Movement.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" title="Link: null">[4]</a>
The placement of the statue was carefully planned: Lin faces Northeast and East
Broadway, which some people call “Fuzhou Street” because of the prevalence of
Fujianese. In 1997, after the statue was displayed, a journalist said the
statue carries a strong political message, “it underscores the ascending power
in Chinatown of immigrants from mainland China, particularly the Fujianese. They
are quickly gaining political strength, at the expense of the pro-Taiwan Cantonese
who settled earlier in Chinatown.”<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" title="Link: null">[5]</a></p>

<p>By comparison, the
Confucius statue was financed primarily by money from Taiwan’s Nationalist
Government, and the green marble base of Confucius was mined in Taiwan; the Lin
Zexu statue was founded by Fujianese individuals and civic associations, and the
red granite base of Lin Zexu was mined in Xiamen, a major city of Fujian.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" title="Link: null">[6]</a>
People from CCBA suspected politics might have been a factor, but one should
not read too much into the divergence, while acknowledging underlying
competition among different groups of Chinese Americans. </p>

<div><div><p><br></p></div><div>

</div>

</div>

Located at the intersection of Oliver Street, East Broadway, the Bowery, and Park Row, the Lt. B.R. Kimlau Chinese Memorial and the Statue of Lin Zexu stand at the center of Chatham Square. In order to provide an everlasting memorial for those Chinese-Americans who had answered the call of our nation and provided the supreme sacrifice, the Lt. Kimlau Post petitioned the City of New York in 1958 for a site at Chatham Square to build a memorial. In 1997, the statue of Lin zexu, a Qing Dynasty official who helped to ignite the Opium War by banning the drug, was also placed at this Square. 

The Lt. B.R. Kimlau Chinese Memorial and the Statue of Lin Zexu

<p>During the First Sino-Japanese War (July 1894-April
1895), fought between the Ching Empire and the Empire of Japan, the founding
father of modern China, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, had traveled to Honolulu, Hawaii to
muster the support of overseas Chinese compatriots, and it was there that he
established the Revive China Society, a revolutionary organization committed to
save China. In 1905, the Revive China Society merged with other revolutionary
groups to form the United League (also known as the Revolutionary Alliance) in
Tokyo, Japan. Later, the United League further merged with several political
parties in Beijing to form the Chinese Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang (KMT)
in August 1912.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[1]</a> &nbsp;</p>

<p>After Sun Yet-sen’s death in 1925, leadership of
the party passed gradually to Chiang Kai-shek, who brought most of China under
its control by ending or limiting regional warlord autonomy. KMT’s political
agenda rested on Sun’s Three Principles of the People: nationalism, democracy,
and people’s livelihood. However, it is difficult to ascertain the ideological
stance of KMT because it has apparently changed over time with the change of
party leadership.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[2]</a>
Nationalism demanded that China regain equality with other countries, but the
Nationalists’ resistance to the Japanese invasion of China (1931-1945) was less
rigorous than their determined attempts to suppress the Chinese Communist
Party. The realization of democracy through successive constitutions was also
largely a myth. Equally ineffective were attempts to improve the people’s
livelihood or eliminate corruption. The Nationalist Party’s failure to effect
such changes itself derived partly from weaknesses in leadership and partly
from its unwillingness to radically reform China’s age-old feudal social
structure.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[3]</a> </p>

<p>As China’s legitimate government, KMT received
financial and military aids from the United States to fight against the
Imperial Japan during WWII. The U.S. officials’ support of KMT during the cold‐war era gave the party virtually unrestricted
freedom to exercise control over Chinese‐American communities in the United States.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[4]</a> In
the late 1960s and 1970s, Every Nationalist holiday and even Chiang Kai-shek's
birthday was celebrated with flying colors and parades in major Chinatowns. </p>

<div><div><p><br></p></div><div>

</div>

</div>

Nationalist Party, also called Kuomintang (KMT; “National People’s Party”), is the political party that governed mainland China from 1928 to 1949 and subsequently ruled Taiwan for most of the time since then.  The KMT was founded by Sun Yat-sen in 1912 out of the revolutionary group, T’ung Meng Hui (Revolutionary Alliance), which was formed in 1905 in Tokyo among Chinese expatriates opposing the Imperial Ching Dynasty government.  Chiang Kai-Shek, Chinese military and political leader, joined the KMT in 1918. Succeeding party founder Sun Yat-sen as KMT leader in 1925, Chiang Kai-shek expelled Chinese communists from the party and led a unification of China. As China’s legitimate government, KMT received financial and military aids from the United States to fight against the Imperial Japan during WWII. The U.S. officials’ support of KMT during the cold‐war era gave the party virtually unrestricted freedom to exercise control over Chinese‐American communities in the United States. 

Kuomintang of China in America (Eastern Region Office)

<p>The Bowery neighborhood, though already established as an
entertainment district, was solidly working-class--mainly occupied by
cattle-yards, slaughterhouses, butchers, and taverns--when the New York Theatre
opened on October 16, 1826. Until then, most local entertainment had consisted
of drinking, blood sports such as cock-fighting and bear baiting, and horse
racing.</p>



<p>The original building was the first New York commission of
architect Ithiel Town, who was noted for Greek Revival style. It was the first
theater to be lit with gas-lights, and had the largest stage and house in
America at the time, with a capacity to seat an audience of 3,000. The
theater's backers were not disappointed in their effort to attract elite
guests, though tradesmen and working-class locals attended shows regularly,
too--some of the notable audience members included Walt Whitman, Charles
Dickens, and Presidents Adams, Jackson, Van Buren, and Tyler. Whitman noted the
"long-kept-up tempests of hand-clapping peculiar to the Bowery--no dainty
kid-glove business, but electric force and muscle from perhaps 2000
full-sinew'd men," [5].</p>



<p>The first performance at the New York Theatre was a play
entitled <i>The Road to Ruin</i>.
Shakespeare was performed along with comedy, melodrama, and musical
performances. In May of 1828, the theater was destroyed for the first time, by
a fire which spread from a nearby livery stable. Rebuilt by August of the same
year, the original marble building was replaced by a stucco structure with
seating for an additional 500 theatre-goers. Officially renamed the Bowery
Theatre, the establishment offered affordable, fixed prices and the addition of
horse shows and novelty acts to its repertoire. For better or worse, the theatre
was an early venue for Thomas "Daddy" Rice, who popularized minstrel
shows as a form of theatre; he became a regular performer at the Bowery in
1832. The first annual Volunteer Fire Department's ball was held at the Bowery
Theatre in 1829; many of these volunteers belonged to the Bowery Boys gang, who
were headquartered next door to the theatre.</p>



<p>Despite
(or because of) its association with the Bowery Boys and the fire department, the
second incarnation of the Bowery Theatre burned down on September 22, 1836, and
was rebuilt the following year, reopening in January of 1837. The Doric architecture
of the new building was modeled after the Temple of Athena in Greece, with
accommodations for a menagerie and circus called the Bowery Zoological
Institute; performances of Shakespeare were interspersed with variety shows and
the unique Five Points invention, tap dance, which was born of a blend of the
African American and Irish American cultures residing in the area. African
American tap-dancer Master Juba (aka William Henry Lane) was a regular
performer at the Bowery Theatre (among others) until his death at age 27 in
1852.&nbsp;

</p><p>In spite of the 1837 depression, when the Bowery Theatre
burned down (yet again) in 1838 and again in 1845, it was rebuilt in grand size
and scale, though in the coming years it would increasingly cater to working
class, rather than elite, patrons. New York City theater, in general, shifted
away from upper-class, educated audiences, and the Bowery Theatre was no
exception. Perhaps, in part, the need for spectacle over wit was due to the
influx of immigrants during this time period, as shows would need to appeal
across language barriers. Nevertheless, the Bowery Theatre was criticized often
in James Gordon Bennett Junior’s <i>Herald</i> for its "hack" performances. The character of Mose the
Fireman, New York's all-American tall tale folk hero, debuted on stage in 1848
(though not at the Bowery Theatre). Mose was depicted as a stereotypical Bowery
Boy with a "stove pipe hat and soap locks" [3], who rescued women,
children, and tourists from trouble in the big city; he quickly became a favorite
at the Bowery Theatre. Shakespearean actor Edwin Forrest (famous, in part, for
instigating the Astor Place Riots
of May 10-11, 1849) appeared regularly at the Bowery, where his
Americanized performances of Shakespeare's characters made him popular with the
local audiences.</p>



<p>After
the Civil War, variety shows and Westerns (such as Buffalo Bill shows) became
popular, and though the Bowery Theatre was sold and re-sold several times
between the 1850s and late 1870s, it was able to keep up with the times and
remained "well-attended" [3]. The Bowery Theatre became the Thalia Theatre
on September 11, 1879. William Kramer, who owned the Atlantic Garden (a German
beer garden of substantial proportions, opened in 1859) opened the Thalia with
entirely German-language programming, primarily plays and operas. Subleased for
the year of 1889-1890 to H. R. Jacobs, a Jewish company of actors performed in
Yiddish during the season. The Thalia featured Italian vaudeville from around
1915 until the 1920s, when it began featuring Chinese theatre instead. When it
burned down for the last time in 1929, it was under the name of Fay's Bowery
Theatre.<br></p>

Jing Fong restaurant has occupied this address since the 1970s, making a name for itself as one of the best dim sum restaurants in New York. But long before the restaurant opened, this lot was home to the Bowery Theatre, one of the most important institutions in early New York City. The Bowery opened in its first incarnation in 1826 and closed permanently on June 5, 1929. In the rough-and-tumble Bowery neighborhood, the introduction of the New York Theatre (as the establishment was originally known) was an effort by local elites to transform the area. Renamed three times and rebuilt after four of the five times it was consumed by fire (in 1828, 1836, 1838, 1845, 1913, and finally 1929), the Bowery Theatre brought in a wide variety of shows and audiences, including German, Jewish, Italian, and Chinese audiences in its 103-year run.

The Bowery Theatre, 1826-1929

<p>The CCBA is a historical Chinese association
established in various parts of the United States and Canada with large
populations of Chinese.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[1]</a> It
is the largest and longest-running Chinese mutual-aid society in the United
States. In the nineteenth century, the Chinese in the Americas created a
variety of organizations to fight the anti-Chinese movement that ultimately led
to hash and restrictive immigration policies. Locked out of many economic
opportunities, prevented from acquiring American citizenship, and discriminated
against in ways that often led to violence, the Chinese created their own
support networks based on mutual ties in China.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[2]</a>
Before the first CCBA was formally established in 1882, six companies, the Sam
Yup Company, Yeong Wo Company, Kong Chow Company, Ning Yung Company, Hop Wo
Company, and Yan Wo Company, in San Francisco were operating as separate
entities with some degree of mutual coordination. Thus, the resulting alliance
was often referred to as the “Chinese Six Companies.” Later, companies’
officials renamed themselves to the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association
of San Francisco (CCBA-SF).<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[3]</a> Close
upon the heels of the founding of CCBA-SF, Chinese diplomatic officials
encouraged the formation of CCBAs in other large Chinese communities to lead
and represent the communities. Thus, CCBAs were founded in New York City
(CCBA-NY, 1883), Portland (Before 1887), Honolulu (1884), Victoria, British
Columbia (1884), and Lima, Peru (1885).<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[4]</a> </p>

<p>As the Ching Dynasty ended in China and the
political situation there became increasingly unstable, the CCBA also became inevitably
involved in Chinese politics. In the 1920s to 1930s, KMT leaders in the U.S.
recruited party members among CCBA directors in an effort to control the
political capital of the Chinese in America. After 1949, the Communist takeover
of the mainland China, the CCBA remained steadfastly pro-KMT, forming
anti-Communist leagues and organizing propaganda to encourage support of the Chiang
Kai-shek’s regime in Taiwan.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[5]</a> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>With the growth of the native born American
population, the liberalization of American immigration laws, and the
recognition of the mainland regime in the 1960s, the role of CCBA in Chinese Americans
lives weakened. Chinese Americans were no longer concentrated in Chinatowns and
no longer dependent on CCBA’s leadership to defend against the racism in America.
Still, the basic concept of a Chinese mutual aid society has been retained, and
today’s CCBA continues to provide social services to its fellow Chinese
immigrants. </p>

<p>&nbsp;</p><div><div>

</div>

</div>

The Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA) is the oldest community organization in the United States. Grow out of its parent organization, the Chinese Community Center which was founded in 1883, CCBA has represented and served the needs of Chinese Americans in America even since. Based on its official website, the CCBA has performed a quasi-governmental role in the Chinese community, and through its history, business ownership has been a goal of many residents of Chinatown, and has been supported both financially, and through training by the CCBA. In New York City, the CCBA is an umbrella organization of 60 member organizations representing a cross-section of New York’s Chinese community.  

Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA)

<p>MOCA was established in 1980, first as an
organization called New York City’s Chinatown History Project, which was
founded by historian Kuo-Wei Tchen and activist Charles Lai.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[1]</a> It
was originally located in an old public school facility in Chinatown as a
community-based organization, and three decades later, it moved to its current
location, 215 Centre Street, in October 2009. It has a 14,000-square-foot space
with new interior that was designed by Maya Lin, a long-time support of MOCA
and renowned artist and designer.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[2]</a> </p>

<p>MOCA aims to engage visitors in an ongoing and
historical dialogue, in which people of all backgrounds are able to see
American history through a critical perspective, to reflect on their own
experiences, and to make meaningful connections between the past and the
present, the global and the local, themselves and others.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[3]</a>
This dialogic approach was explored and conducted by Tchen and Lai during the
museum’s Memories of New York Chinatown Exhibition. It promotes communications
among different understandings of the history of Chinese in America and helps
shape and reshape identities on the individual and collective levels through
individuals’ discovery of the past. Dialogs took place in various forms,
ranging from casual to formal, including inviting a local organization like
Asian Americans for Equality or a writer for a Chinese newspaper to hear
people’s voices on the street, partnership with local schools for educational
programs and a Chinatown artist association with organize exhibition of the
works of its members.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[4]</a> <b></b></p>

<p>MOCA gathers photos, letter, documents and other
artifacts to tell compelling stories of Chinese Americans’ customs, rituals,
and their struggles and achievements in the United States within the context of
American history and culture. MOCA’s current exhibits include “With a Single
Step: Stories in the Making of America” and “Fold: Golden Venture Paper
Sculptures.” The former exhibit presents the diverse layers of the Chinese
American experience, while examining America’s journey as a nation of
immigrants. This exhibit is organized thematically and chronologically by
section: “Go East! Go West! (1784-1870)” “Down with Monopolies: The Chinese
Must Go! (1870-1930s)” “Imagined and Intimate (1900-1930s)” “Welcome to
Chinatown!” “Building Community” “The Rising Spirit” “Allies and Enemies
(1940-1950s)” “Towards a More Perfect Union (1960-Present)” “Many Voices, One
Humanity”.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[5]</a> The
latter exhibit presents the story of the passengers of the Golden Venture a
ship carrying 286 undocumented Chinese passengers that ran aground in the New
York City in 1933. Over forty sculptures collectively created by the immigrants
while detained for years at York County Prison are on the display.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[6]</a></p><div><div>

</div>

</div>

Founded in 1980, the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) is dedicated to preserving and presenting the history, heritage, culture, and diverse experiences of people of Chinese descent in the United States. The museum promotes dialogue and understanding among people of all cultural backgrounds, brings 160 years of Chinese American history to vivid life through its innovative exhibitions, educational and cultural programs. Current exhibitions include “With a Single Step: Stories in the Making of America,” MOCA’s new core exhibit featuring four Chinese-American artists’ works, and “Fold: Golden Venture Paper Sculptures,” another exhibit engaging visitors in a conversation about immigration issues. 

Manhattan Chinatown

The Confucius Plaza and the Statue of Confucius

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources