Get Your Educainment On!

Featuring a vivid collection of the 160-year-history of Chinese Americans, the MOCA (Museum of Chinese in America) is a fascinating cultural stop for families of all ages in New York City. 

The MOCA was created in the early 1980s as an opportunity to create a better understanding of Chinese American culture, history, and community, in part from the pressing concern that aging generations of Chinese Americans would not have a documented history.  Permanent collections in the museum share stories of Chinese Americans, both past and present.

Recovering Chinatown: The 9/11 Collection
New York's Chinatown is just a few blocks away from Ground Zero.  The residents of this area collected videos, pictures, artwork, and more that historically documents the impact of 9/11 on the Chinatown community.

Fly to Freedom Collection
123 intricate paper artwork sculptures created by many of the nearly 300 detained passengers arriving to the United States in 1993 on the Golden Venture are collected here.  The traditional Chinese art form is used here as a method of protest and cry for help.

Oral History Collection
Seven collections of oral history covering everything from gentrification in NY's Chinatown, to singing and dancing, to the unification of humanity are housed at the museum. 

Qipao/Cheongsam Collection
Over 367 original Chinese dresses, including the traditional Qipao from the Chinese Mainland.  Topics explored include the role of fashion in acclimating to and holding on to a traditional culture.

Marcella Dear Collection
A private collection of the Chin family's books, records, games, photographs, signs, furniture, and letters that span over 150 years of history. 

Hazel Ying Lee Collection
The first Chinese American woman to fly for the US Military, Hazel Ying Lee overcame numerous cultural and gender barriers.  The collection features personal letters, newspaper articles, and photographs from her time as an aviator in the 1930s and 1940s.
 
The current rotating exhibit, With a Single Step: Stories in the Making of America follows the history of both Chinese Americans and America as an immigrant nation.  The chronological exhibit showcases the history of Chinese immigration in both an easy to understand, and a beautifully designed layout. 

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photo: monica-wong