Abstract This is an oral history interview with Maxine Hong Kinston on Nov 15th 2018 by Nancy Yao Maasbach for MOCA Legacy Award tribute video and a family journey. Maxine Hong Kingston born on October 27, 1940, is a Chinese American author and Professor Emerita at the University of California, Berkeley, where she graduated with a BA in English in 1962. Kingston has written three novels and several works of non-fiction about the experiences of Chinese Americans. This interview talked about her...

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Rita and Patrick Lee are first-generation Chinese Americans. In this interview, they address memories including Patrick’s journey from Hong Kong to America, the development of Patrick’s financial career, his business philosophy, their parenting philosophy, and their Chinese identity. They also bring family photos to the interview and give a short description to each of them.

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Richard and Jane Liu briefly talk about their early lives in China and Taiwan. Richard discusses his time working for a newspaper in Taiwan before moving to NY to work as an editor for a newspaper in Chinatown. The two further discuss their thoughts on child rearing and the current political climate of country for Chinese Americans.

Abstract The four sisters Grace Chin Chan, Judy Chin Wong, Anna Chin Tze, and Jennifer Chin Dussich sit down with MOCA to discuss their family history. They begin by describing growing up in Brooklyn and the communities and activities that they participated in there. They recount family stories from vacations and being rebellious teenagers. The sisters take turns discussing how grateful they are for their parents’ sacrifices, but also how they feel so grateful to have been raised with their parents’...

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Washington SyCip recounts his experience enlisting in the US military during World War II. He goes on to talk about incarceration of his father during the Japanese occupation and how he helped his father rebuild after the war. He goes on to talk about how he began to establish his own accounting firm and finally discusses his home life in the US and Manilla. His son George also chimes in to discuss incidents of discrimination growing up and in the business world.

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In this interview, Wong family representatives, David, Nancy, and their mother discuss their early lives in Colorado, move to California and LA, their lives in San Francisco at school and at their grocery store, and family history of paper sons. This interview was conducted in English with few conversations in Toishanese.

Abstract Tina Yao & William Yao talk about their immigration life experience, their family tradition and the cultural legacy they want to leave to their offspring. William Yao talks about his childhood in Shanghai, his father who worked in the silk business died of a stroke when he was young. Although three of her five children lived with her brother it was still hard for William mother to raise her children, financially. After WWII William went to the Shanghai provincial State High School, later...

Abstract Thomas C. Ahn is the current vice president of the Real Estate Division of Mount Sinai Hospital. He received MOCA 2018 Legacy Gala Award for his participation in the construction of the Central Street side of the museum, his service as a board member, and plenty of contributions to the community. In this interview Mr. Ahn discusses his childhood raising by a single mother, assimilation into American society, careers in gymnastics, engineering, construction, and real estate, and his...

Abstract Tzi Ma, pioneering actor whose stage/TV/film performances have delighted audiences worldwide, challenged Hollywood stereotypes and broken down barriers for Asian American/Pacific Islanders. MOCA 2019 Legacy Awards Gala honoree, talks about growing up on Staten Island and working in his parent’s restaurant. He goes on to discuss how he got into theater during grade school and how it drove his acting career. The conversation progresses to his acts of activism during his teens and his...

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Victor Chen is a writer. In this interview, he discusses how his family came to America and settled in New York in 1949; his education on the Upper West Side, in boarding school, and at university; and his work at The New Yorker in the 1970s. He also mentions his books, which tell how he has been led to believe in a number of fictions and myths in history. (His doctor says that the shakiness of his body in this interview may be a side effect of his medication.)