Asian Immigration in the U.S. Exhibition

Last week, I had the opportunity to see the grand opening of the "Building America" Asian immigration in the U.S. exhibit at Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. It is an impressive exhibit with extensive historical photographs, essays, oral histories, and incredible memorabilia from the past and present. It was interesting to see the photographs that I had previously seen in California but this time through Taiwanese eyes. The opening of exhibit was attended by many journalists, politicians, academics, and dignitaries. I was able to hear the Vice President of Taiwan, Wu Den-yih 吳敦義 give a welcoming speech which was very inspiring. The exhibit was such an important reminder of the struggles that Asian immigrants faced when coming to the U.S. and the number of restrictions that were placed on them that made entry into the country difficult (for example, the Chinese Exclusion Act).

A few days later I had the great pleasure of having lunch with Professor Erika Lee from the University of Minnesota and many members of the American Institute of Taiwan at Formosa Restaurant. Professor Lee is a historian and an expert on Asian American immigration and Angel Island. She gave an incredible talk "Unbound Feet" The History of Immigration of Asian American Women" on the history of Asian immigration and the discrimination faced by this important group. Her stories about her own family history and the history of many invisible others was beautiful. The talk was given in the Taipei Public Library and was heavily attended by many interested people in the general public as well as many academics. I am very grateful that there is such a strong interest in Taiwan about the experiences of Chinese Americans and Taiwanese Americans living in the U.S.