Abstract This oral history focuses on Yvette Lee, a Chinese American home cook who was born and raised in Pauoa Valley, Honolulu, Hawaii. The daughter of two immigrants from Hong Kong, Yvette Lee learned to cook from watching her parents in the kitchen. A pescatarian, Lee derived inspiration for her homey, eclectic cooking style from the vegan dishes her mother made when she was a child, as well as from Hawaii’s rich cultural diversity. In this oral history, Lee discusses food as a means of...

Abstract Betty Lee Sung was an author, professor, and pioneering scholar in the field of Chinese American studies. Sung has written several books, including the seminal "Mountain of Gold," one of the first comprehensive histories on Chinese in America published in 1967. Sung holds an honorary doctorate from the State University of New York Old Westbury and has taught for many years at the City College of New York (CCNY), where she founded the first program in Asian American studies on the east coast....

Abstract This oral history interviewed Fay Chew Matsuda, director of the City Hall Senior Center, a division of the Hamilton-Madison House, and her life story. Fay grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan as the first generation Chinese-American girl born to immigrant parents. Fay would describe herself as a nurturing environment with parents who never pressured her to succeed and instilled in her values of the importance of family and togetherness, and respectation. Fay attended the elite Hunter...

Abstract Harriet Tung, the grand daughter of Lt. General Ying Hsing Wen, discusses life of her grandfather life and his lasting legacy. Lt. Gen. Ying Tsing Wen (b. 1887), MOCA 2018 Legacy Awards Gala honoree, enriched the U.S. China relationship as a critical time given what seemed to be irreparable damage caused by the Boxer Rebellion. After becoming the first Asian graduate of West Point Military Academy in 1909, he returned to China and served in military and civilian positions in the Republican...

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Glenn Lau-Kee, is an attorney at Lau-Kee Law Group, one of Chinatown's oldest law firms founded by his father in 1956. The oral history begins with Lau-Kee recounting his life growing up in New York, being sent to boarding school as a child and going to Yale to study law. He then discusses the changing Chinese American community in New York and the role of Manhattan Chinatown. He ends by discussing his hope that more Asian Americans work as public officials.

Abstract Michelle Koo Hayashi and Jess Ting, M.D., New York-based philanthropist and plastic surgeon of the Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery, respectively, who are advocates for the LGBTQ+ community, MOCA 2019 Legacy Award Gala honoree. Dr. Jess Ting discusses his early life and the unconventional path that lead him to become a gender reassignment surgery specialist. In the second half of the interview Michelle Koo Hayashi, discusses her early life in Taiwan and Japan. She also...

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In this interview, Tina and John Yuan share the journey of their families from China to Taiwan, where they were born, to the US, where they met and built their own family. They mention their parents’ experiences in China, their early childhood in Taiwan, culture shocks when migrating to the US during the 1970s, adolescent school years, the encounters of Chinese communities, and fostering their son as a Chinese American.

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Lillian Cheu discusses her life moving to Bensonhurst, Brooklyn from Toishan. She recounts growing up in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood and how her parents tried to retain their Chinese culture at home. She goes on to talk about moving to Chinatown and meeting her husband. She ends by discussing gentrification in Chinatown.

Abstract Lucy Kan sits down with MOCA to discuss her family’s journey from China, then to Peru, and eventually to the United States. She discusses her grandfather’s beginning in the Peru and the shop he owned there, and then how her father eventually moved back to China to start his family. Lucy describes growing up trilingual in Peru, speaking Chinese at home, Spanish with her classmates, and doing her homework in English. She discusses being one of the few Chinese people living in her community in...