<![CDATA[Chinese-American museums in US grow in number as community gains in prominence - but how to tell those stories?]>

A gravestone. Massive rocks. A mouldy qipao that has been sitting in an attic for 80 years.

Among the challenges for America's hundred or so private museums devoted to showcasing Chinese culture is how to turn down beloved donations from the public.

This is just one of the hurdles Chinese-American museums face as they increase in number and prominence in line with the community.

Even as the soon-to-officially-open Chinese American Museum in Washington scrambles for artefacts to fill out its collection, established museums routinely turn away old postcards, souvenirs from some recent holiday in China or dusty statues of obscure deities " without hurting prospective donors' feelings.

"Someone's garbage is someone else's treasure," said Nancy Yao Maasbach, president of New York's Museum of Chinese in America, or MOCA, the nation's largest Chinese-American museum, with some 85,000 artefacts.

It traces its roots to the 1970s, and two "dumpster diver" founders who started grabbing valuable heirlooms that were being tossed out by Chinatown residents.

The Chinese American Museum of Chicago has been offered fake antiques, unsuitable art, and a bulky Chinese wedding bed that had to be picked up within hours before its owner moved to Florida.

Recently, it was offered three eight-foot-tall decorative limestone Taihu stones from Jiangsu province that weighed 2,000 pounds (900kg) each. It ultimately accepted one and politely referred the others to a nearby art museum. "I don't know if he took them," said Soo Lon Moy, the museum's executive director.

San Francisco's Chinese Historical Society of America has turned away qipao, traditional Chinese dresses, that aren't museum-quality and photos taken during recent Chinese vacations. "That would be considered outside the scope of our collections," Pam Wong, the museum's deputy director, said diplomatically.

Seattle's Wing Luke Museum regularly declines World War II war memorabilia and "Asian souvenirs purchased by Caucasians".

This can be tricky, added collection manager Robert Fisher: "You don't want to offend a potential financial donor."

Among MOCA's more memorable rejections was a chipped tombstone, cumbersome to store and bad feng shui for superstitious visitors. The museum pivoted, asking its owner for an oral history while politely declining the stone itself. Other museums write a collection policy to make decisions appear more objective.

But there are also times when seemingly worthless items are warmly welcomed, including old Chinese menus detailing the concoctions Chinese chefs crafted for American taste buds. These range from egg foo yong and orange chicken to fortune cookies, crab rangoon and General Tso's chicken.

"All those moo goo gai pan menus, dishes that no Chinese from the Northeast would ever recognise " this captures the story of such a large portion of early Chinese immigrants," said Yao Maasbach.

Because migration and ethnic politics are so fundamental to American society, museums often mark a community's rising social status, affluence, political clout and struggle for acceptance, while papering over internal divisions.

Recent popular Chinese-American exhibition subjects include the 1882 Exclusion Act that effectively barred Chinese immigration for eight decades; the 150th anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad, which was largely built with Chinese labour; and past examples of discrimination.

A racist 1886 cartoon in the Chicago museum collection, for example, promotes the "George Dee Magic Washer"; makers of the appliance claimed it would replace, and therefore allow America to deport, Chinese laundry workers.

"Yes, you want to make people aware of the Exclusion Act. But it's very import for these museums not to become just victim museums," said Selma Holo, executive director of museums at the University of Southern California and an expert on ethnic museology. "There's pain, suffering, victimhood. But it's also about belonging and their contribution to America."

An image from the Chinese Historical Society of America's new permanent exhibition, which looks at the history of the Chinese in America. Photo: Chinese Historical Society of America alt=An image from the Chinese Historical Society of America's new permanent exhibition, which looks at the history of the Chinese in America. Photo: Chinese Historical Society of America

Chinese-American museums have proliferated in line with the community's growing stature. Of the 29 Chinese-American museums and cultural organisations profiled in "Gathering", an exhibit at MOCA celebrating Chinese in America, nearly 40 per cent opened after 2002.

This has sparked a cooperative push. In late September, representatives from nine prominent Chinese-American museums and cultural centres met in San Francisco to discuss a more collective approach after years of limited exhibit sharing.

"It's been, with a fair amount of accuracy, zero," said Hoyt Zia, recent past president of the Chinese Historical Society of America's museum and organiser of the September meeting. "We should've been doing this 20 years ago. In unity there is strength."

But widespread sharing could take a while among local museums protective of their turf and collections " including a few nearly a century old. "You can't get too far ahead of yourself," said Zia.

This comes as Chinese-Americans grapple with how best to tell their story amid growing prominence, in good ways and bad.

Rising economic, political and military tensions between Beijing and Washington have spilled over, leading to mounting suspicion of Americans who look Chinese, even as the Federal Bureau of Investigation ramps up investigations of scientists and students of Chinese descent.

Most museums are quick to stress their American roots and lack of ties with, or funding from, Beijing as Confucius Institutes come under suspicion as vehicles for espionage.

"How do you cover the Chinese revolution? How do you cover the situation in Hong Kong?" said David Uy, executive director at the new Washington museum. "We're a museum of Americans. So naturally we assume we have a pro-democracy point of view. But we also have a pro-China view, although not necessarily pro-Chinese government."

Chinese-American museums also find themselves navigating deep political fissures involving the mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Uygurs and Tibetans. "These are confusing times, complex political and social times for Chinese-Americans," Uy added.

Museum directors pushing for greater Chinese-American recognition have debated whether to lobby for a new Chinese-American Smithsonian museum, a permanent display at the Smithsonian's American history museum, or settle for better coordination among existing private museums, said Ted Gong, executive director of the 1882 Project Foundation, the name of which references the Exclusion Act. Gong is also a partner in the new private Washington museum.

America has some 33,000 museums, around 60 per cent of the global total. Most are privately managed. But the federal government's Smithsonian Institution runs 19 museums, including those devoted to American-Indian and African-American heritage, that are among the nation's most prestigious.

Congress has resisted funding new "hyphenated American" Smithsonian museums " Korean-Americans, Italian-Americans, Irish-Americans " fearful of opening a floodgate.

"If you had a Chinese-American museum, there would have to be a Japanese-American museum" and numerous others, said Holo. "And pretty soon the [National] Mall is drowned."

The 146-acre (59-hectare) National Mall is an area of Washington flanked by the US Capitol and the White House, and features several iconic American monuments.

The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in May 1869, in what was then Utah Territory. Chinese workers were excluded from the photograph. Photo: Andrew J. Russell via Beinecke Library, Yale University. alt=The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in May 1869, in what was then Utah Territory. Chinese workers were excluded from the photograph. Photo: Andrew J. Russell via Beinecke Library, Yale University.

Alternately, the Chinese-American community could push for a permanent exhibit in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, although this would require lobbying, funding and some of the same "me too" resistance.

In July, Representative Grace Meng, a Democrat from New York, introduced a bill to study funding, potential locations and artefact collection for a possible Asian-American museum in Washington, potentially part of the Smithsonian. Prominent Asian-Americans have also launched a US$25 million fundraising drive in support of the initiative.

While some argue that joining with other Asian-Americans enhances their clout " Chinese-Americans comprise some 1.5 per cent of the US population while another 19 Asian-American groups comprise 4.1 per cent " others believe it is an artificial construct.

Finding a unifying theme is difficult, and combining detracts from efforts to address unique Chinese-American concerns, they say.

"China is not Japan, Japan is not Korea, Korea is not Thailand," said Holo. "There are enmities and friendships, racism. To be lumped into an Asian-American museum, I'd be real careful."

Yao Maasbach believes it is too early to create a national Asian-American or even a Chinese-American museum in Washington, favouring instead more organic museums rooted in local Chinatowns.

Pei Ming, a 23-year-old Columbia University pre-med student from Henan province, wandered through MOCA's "Gathering" exhibition on a recent rainy afternoon, hoping to better understand the Chinese-American experience.

Most mainlanders have little knowledge or even interest in Chinese-American history given China's long history of cultural insularity, she said.

"From the Chinese-American perspective, I think they're sometimes confused about their identity, especially because the US is so multicultural," Pei said.

Efforts among Chinese-American museums, historical societies, associations, temples and foundations at sharing exhibits come as technology sparks a broader debate over the importance of artefacts, given the wider reach of digital collections.

But even these require significant investment. MOCA, which boasts 35,000 digital renditions of Chinese-American items, the world's largest collection, estimates that a proper website showcasing its collection will cost US$500,000.

The new Washington museum seeks a balance. It has spent heavily on one floor of multimedia exhibits, including video testimonials and a digital timeline of Chinese in America, while relying on photographs and soliciting "legally and ethically obtained artefacts" for other parts of the museum.

Started with funding from the family foundation of Philip Qiu, a wealthy entrepreneur based in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Los Angeles, the new museum plans to launch officially later this year after soft openings featured exhibits on the contribution of Chinese women and a history of Jews in China.

"We realised there was no such museum in DC, this land of museums. It's an under-represented story," said Uy.

Starting a Chinese-American museum these days has its challenges.

"We're working so hard to be neutral, non-political, non-geopolitical. It's hard because history is unfolding before our eyes," said Uy. "But even if we were in a different time, this story would still be relevant."

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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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