The Chinese American Museum DC (abbreviated CAMDC) is a cultural museum in Downtown Washington, DC established through the efforts of The Chinese American Museum Foundation, private benefactors, and the general public. The museum focuses on the history of Chinese in America with an emphasis on the

Chinese Exclusion Act The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. The law excluded merchants, teachers, students, travelers, and diplom ...

of 1882, racial and social issues, cultural topics, and the achievements of past and contemporary

Chinese Americans Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from ...

. The project began in late 2017, first with the bequest of a 1907 historic, 5-story building in the

Embassy Row Embassy Row is the informal name for a section of Northwest Washington, D.C. with a high concentration of embassies, diplomatic missions, and diplomatic residences. It spans Massachusetts Avenue N.W. between 18th and 35th street, bounded by ...

section of Washington four blocks north of the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

. On November 9, 2018, the project was first announced at an event at the

Willard Hotel The Willard InterContinental Washington, commonly known as the Willard Hotel, is a historic luxury Beaux-Arts hotel located at 1401 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Downtown Washington, D.C. It is currently a member oHistoric Hotels of America the offi ...

to a group of 160 people from museum, historian, and

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...

and community leadership. The museum had been open to visitors during its development and has recently reopened to the public after pandemic restrictions.

Programs and exhibits

In October of 2019, the museum completed the first phase of permanent exhibits for its reception lobby and first floor including a digital photo-wall featuring personal stories and images of "everyday" Chinese Americans as well as an interactive digital timeline highlighting historical dates, figures, and pivotal moments in Chinese American history. The museum also hosted two conferences and corresponding special, temporary exhibits including Chinese American Women in History and Safe Harbor: Shanghai, a lecture and exhibit on Jewish refugees that sought shelter in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

and later immigrated to the United States. In March of 2021, the museum held a virtual gala, "Build it together!" hosted by television journalists

Joie Chen Joie Chen (born 28 August 1961) is a Chinese American television journalist. She was the anchor of Al Jazeera America's flagship evening news show ''America Tonight'', which was launched in August 2013. In January 2016, the channel announced it ...

and

Richard Lui Richard Lui is an American journalist and news anchor for MSNBC and NBC News. Lui is currently a breaking news anchor for NBC and MSNBC, broadcasting from 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. prior to that role he was a co-h ...

. Honorees included Ambassador

Julia Chang Bloch Julia Chang Bloch (; born 1942) is a Chinese American businessperson and diplomat, who was the first U.S. ambassador of Asian descent. She is the founder and president of the US-China Education Trust. Life and political career Bloch was born ...

, television journalist

Connie Chung Constance Yu-Hwa Chung (born August 20, 1946) is an American journalist. She has been an anchor and reporter for the U.S. television news networks NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, and MSNBC. Some of her more famous interview subjects include Claus von Bülow ...

, astronaut

Taylor Wang Taylor Gun-Jin Wang (; born June 16, 1940) is a Chinese-born American scientist and in 1985, became the first person of Chinese origin to go into space. While an employee of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Wang was a payload specialist on the Sp ...

, advocate and CEO of TIME'S UP Now,

Tina Tchen Christina M. Tchen (born January 25, 1956) is an American lawyer and a former official in the President Barack Obama Administration. She was CEO of Time's Up from 2019 to 2021, when she resigned following allegations that she provided legal ai ...

, the inventor of the N95 mask technology, Dr. Peter Tsai, screenwriter

Adele Lim Adele Lim is a Malaysian American film and television producer and screenwriter. She is best known as a screenwriter for the 2018 movie '' Crazy Rich Asians''. She has given support to young writers as mentor and speaker for the Coalition of Asia ...

(

Crazy Rich Asians ''Crazy Rich Asians'' is a satirical 2013 romantic comedy novel by Kevin Kwan. Kwan stated that his intention in writing the novel was to "introduce a contemporary Asia to a North American audience". He claimed the novel was loosely based on h ...

and

Raya and the Last Dragon ''Raya and the Last Dragon'' ( ) is a 2021 American computer-animated fantasy action-adventure film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The 59th film produced by the studio, it wa ...

), and Daphne Kwok, VP of Asian American and Pacific Islander Audience Strategy at

AARP AARP (formerly called the American Association of Retired Persons) is an interest group in the United States focusing on issues affecting those over the age of fifty. The organization said it had more than 38 million members in 2018. The magazin ...

. Entertainment was provided by

America's Got Talent ''America's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated as ''AGT'') is a televised American talent show competition, and is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle (as well as distribut ...

winner, magician

Shin Lim Liang-Shun Lim (born September 25, 1991), known professionally as Shin Lim, is a Canadian-American magician, recognized for his use of card manipulation and sleight of hand. He is known for elaborate close-up card magic routines, during which ...

, a cappella group, Ethnobeat, contemporary and traditional artists, including a classical

guzheng The zheng () or gu zheng (), is a Chinese plucked zither. The modern guzheng commonly has 21, 25, or 26 strings, is long, and is tuned in a major pentatonic scale. It has a large, resonant soundboard made from ''Paulownia'' wood. Other co ...

player, and opera singer Huanhuan Ma. Currently, the museum is developing permanent exhibits that are divided into thematic sections: Identity and Diversity, Gold Mountain (

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...

), Building America (

railroads Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

and early industry and commerce),

Exclusion Exclusion may refer to: Legal or regulatory * Exclusion zone, a geographic area in which some sanctioning authority prohibits specific activities * Exclusion Crisis and Exclusion Bill, a 17th-century attempt to ensure a Protestant succession in En ...

and the Fight for Equality, Chinese American Communities, Service to Country (military, civil, diplomatic, and uniformed service), and individual exhibits highlighting contemporary Chinese American figures and accomplishments. Recent special exhibits include "Dora Fugh Lee: A Lifetime of Art," a retrospective of the Washingtonian artist, Dora Fugh Lee Willard Hotel 2004 CAMDC

"Golden Threads: Chinese Opera in America," "Wild Cranes" a visual poetry and calligraphy exhibit. , Enchanting Stitches and Stories: Embroidery, and China from China: Porcelain & Stories of Early American Trade.

References

External links

*{{official, http://www.chineseamericanmuseum.org/ Chinese-American museums History museums in Washington, D.C. Downtown (Washington, D.C.) Ethnic museums in Washington, D.C.