Current Exhibits

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Extension Featured Exhibit

Speak of Good Things: Nianhua and Chinese Folk Tradition

Nianhua 年畫or “New Year Pictures” are essential decorations for the Chinese New Year Festival, the most joyous occasion in the Chinese calendar. Traditionally, peasants carved these auspicious images into woodblocks and printed festive designs to adorn homes and public places all over China. These images became especially popular in the Ming (1368-1644 CE) and Qing Dynasties (1644-1911 CE), but they feature timeless symbols of good fortune, such as chubby babies, folk heroes, and symbolic animals. Dragons and images of guardian deities also serve to ward off bad luck and misfortune. These thrilling pieces of folk not only illustrate a broad array of symbols featured in Chinese art, but they also represent a form of cultural expression shared and understood by elite scholars and illiterate masses alike. Then and now, these festive images transcend geographic, linguistic, and socio-economic barriers to unite people in a common language of cultural symbolism and festivity.

 Special thanks to Sally Yu Leung who kindly loaned many pieces from her personal collection for this traveling exhibit originally featured at the UC Berkeley Institute of East Asian Studies Gallery.  Ms. Leung specializes in Chinese culture and folk art, often producing and curating cultural exhibits. She has also had many active roles at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum and has served on the Commission of the Asian Art Museum. In addition, she has served on the boards of the Society for Asian Art, Chinese American International School and the Chinese Cultural Foundation.

Interwoven Traditions: Chinese Minority Costume & Jewelry

The intricate embroidery and dazzling silver ornaments in this display are as complex and fascinating as the peoples who created them. The Han majority makes up 92% of China’s population, but 55 officially recognized minority ethnicities lend diversity to a nation that many think of as homogenous. The Miao 苗 people of southwest China, who are closely related to the Hmong of Southeast Asia, craft fantastic garments and elaborate jewelry that have been internationally acclaimed, and are best represented in this collection donated by Dr. James Kemp. The Miao and many other Chinese minorities historically lacked a written language, so their myths, histories and cultures often would be woven into their traditional costumes. This exhibition includes fine embroidery from the Dong 侗, Shui 水, Yi 彝, Li 黎, Gejia/Hakka 客家, and Thai/Dai 傣 minorities, as well as the Han majority to form an exciting panoply of extravagant adornment from the diverse peoples who have been woven together over thousands of years to form the multicultural China of today.

From China to Gold Mountain’s Finest City

San Diego International Airport
Terminal 2 / Baggage Claim

When the first Chinese immigrants arrived in California, or “Gold Mountain” 金山 as they called it, they encountered a great deal of legal and social discrimination. In 1882, a federal law excluded all Chinese who were not established merchants or related to someone in the United States from immigration, and numerous state and local ordinances made life difficult for those Chinese already living in the U.S. San Francisco and the mining towns of the Northwest were home to the most Chinese immigrants and the harshest intolerance, so many Chinese fled Northern California for the growing Chinatowns of Los Angeles and San Diego.

During the 1860s and 1870s, Chinese immigrants began settling around Third Avenue downtown, where the Stingaree red-light district provided cheap rent and safe haven. Now, the Chinese Historical Museum is located in the heart of this historic Chinatown at Third Ave. and J St. Its home is an old mission building that once housed the Chinese Community Church, a source of guidance, English lessons and even lodging for new immigrants.