We are excited to announce that after several months of renovations to the building facilities, repair of the museum space, and revamping of the We Are Bruce Lee exhibit, CHSA will reopen its doors on Saturday, May 30.
As we re-engage with the public and re-welcome the public to visit the museum and access all of our exhibits, we would like to share some corresponding details to this announcement:
• Museum hours will be on a reduced daily schedule: Wednesdays and Saturdays only.
• Hours of operation on those days will be extended, 10AM to 5PM.
• Upcoming events this month will still take place onsite at CHSA.
• Access the updated @wearebrucelee exhibit, with particular focus on his ties the Bay Area.
Additionally, the gift shop will resume retail operations during museum hours.
We thank you for your patience and understanding during this transitional period. We look forward to seeing you soon!
For more information, visit CHSA.org.
CHSA in partnership with the SFO Museum is excited to debut the Painted Pandas Project, the first-of-its-kind transformative art initiative aimed at revitalizing community through creativity and culture and bringing joy and local pop-up artistry to the San Francisco International Airport.
This temporary public art installation exhibit and educational program features a series of eight panda statues expressively hand-painted by a curated cohort of established Bay Area artists and muralists in a collaborative effort to bring beauty to and appreciation for the greater San Francisco community. The 75-inch-tall statues made of fiberglass stand on weighted bases depict the friendly, lovable pandas standing on their hind legs, embracing a piece of bamboo across their chests. They are currently on display at the SFO Museum and CHSA Museum for up to six months.
Thank you to our amazing artists:
Adrian Arias
Elaine Chu
Norman Chuck a.k.a. Vogue
Sergio De La Torre
Nick Dong
Vanessa Espinoza, a.k.a. DJ Agana
Marina Perez-Wong
Chris Treggiari
Keith Williams, a.k.a. K-Dub
For more information, visit link in bio.
Via @reshare_app • @kqednews For many, the lot on the corner of Third and Harrison streets in San Francisco is just a place to park before heading to a Giants game or an event downtown.
On Monday, around 50 people gathered at the unremarkable concrete patch in the South of Market neighborhood for a different reason: to commemorate the 140th anniversary of Yick Wo v. Hopkins, a late 19th-century landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision.
The crowd included longtime Asian American activists, Chinatown organizers, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu and Supervisors Connie Chan, Chyanne Chen, Matt Dorsey, Rafael Mandelman and Danny Sauter.
Photos: Juliana Yamada for KQED
Today, we joined community leaders, advocates, and supporters across California to announce AB 2455, a bill introduced by Assemblymember Matt Haney to establish an official Bruce Lee Day in California on May 17, the date Bruce Lee first returned to the United States from Hong Kong.
Bruce Lee’s impact extended far beyond martial arts. He changed how Asian Americans were seen in culture, film, and public life, while inspiring generations through discipline, confidence, and self expression.
The day also included a special youth conversation and visit to Chinese Hospital in San Francisco, where Bruce Lee was born in 1940, reminding us how deeply his story is connected to this city and community.
Honored to stand alongside Shannon Lee and so many members of the community working to help carry that legacy forward.
Recognition matters. What we choose to officially honor says something about who we are and what stories we value.
Thank you to everyone who helped make this moment possible.
Amazing evening honoring the legacy of San Francisco native Bruce Lee alongside his daughter @therealshannonlee and community and political leaders like former SF Mayor Willie Brown and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan.
Earlier in the day, I reported on @asmmatthaney ‘s new legislation to make May 17 — the day Bruce Lee returned to San Francisco from Hong Kong — an official California holiday. If passed, it would mark the first state holiday honoring a Chinese American, recognizing a community that helped build California.
There’s more momentum ahead with future Bruce Lee initiatives connected to @standwithasians and community efforts. This ensures the bold trailblazer’s legacy will continue to inspire for generations.
Extra special the event was held in Chinatown, at @bluestreamwines and art gallery, which spotlights amazing Asian-American wineries.
And visit @chsamuseum for ongoing great Bruce Lee exhibit!
#BruceLee #SanFrancisco #AAPIHeritageMonth #SFChinatown wine
140 years ago, Lee Yick, owner of Yick Wo, challenged a discriminatory San Francisco ordinance enforced almost exclusively against Chinese-operated laundries. His case reached the Supreme Court, where his victory revolutionized civil rights law and ensured equal protection under the law for all. Yesterday, @sfheritage , the Chinese Historical Society, and my colleagues on the Board of Supervisors gathered to commemorate this landmark case that feels especially urgent during this AAPI Heritage Month, at a time when immigrant communities and hard-won civil rights protections are under attack.
Join the Chinese Historical Society of America, San Francisco Heritage, and city officials in supporting permanent interpretive programming at the former site of Yick Wo laundry, the birthplace of the one more consequential civil rights cases in US history.
WHAT: Commemoration of the 140th anniversary of Yick Wo vs. Hopkins
WHEN: Monday, May 11, 4PM
WHERE: Third Street @ Harrison Street
Via @reshare_app • @sfheritage 🚙 A SOMA parking lot with an outsized significance ⚖️
The site at 349 3rd Street in SF’s South of Market, currently an open-air parking lot, has no plaque or sign denoting its significance. In 1885, Lee Yick, the owner of a laundry on this site, challenged the discriminatory application of a San Francisco ordinance. In an act of anti-Chinese racism, the city had denied necessary permits to all but one of over 200 Chinese laundries while granting permits to all but one white-owned laundry.
Yick filed suit along with Wo Lee, another laundry operator, and what happened next was of momentous significance to US civil rights history.
In a unanimous ruling on May 10, 1886, the US Supreme Court held that a law applied in a racially discriminatory way violated the constitutional guarantee of equal protection to “all persons”—citizen or not. The decision in Yick Wo v. Hopkins remains foundational to American civil rights law and has been cited in hundreds of cases.
💻 Read more about our efforts to recognize this signficant site with @chsamuseum and a host of community partners and officials 🔗 in bio
🎟️ Now on Eventbrite, link at madelynpostman.com (link in bio).
📆 Saturday, May 30, Oakland @shoongculturalcenter
🀄️ Join us for this special community event with author Madelyn Postman to talk about her new book, family, and the roots of Oakland Chinatown.
🐉 Oakland Chinatown History Book Talk: Staring into the Sun with author Madelyn Postman
🔥🐴 Join us for a special community event: we will learn and celebrate the rich history of Oakland Chinatown with author Madelyn Postman, the great-granddaughter of Joe Shoong, founder of the Shoong Family Chinese Cultural Center (SFCCC) in Oakland Chinatown.
🇬🇧 Madelyn is coming from London to give a reading and kick off the release of her book, Staring into the Sun. Her book blends memoir and narrative nonfiction, exploring her family history alongside the broader story of Chinese American life, the early days of Oakland Chinatown, and the founding of the SFCCC.
📸 In a community event, we will share archival photos and documents from the opening of our Center in 1953, and reflect on the legacy of the Center together with former and current students. Madelyn will read from her book and discuss her research and writing process. Come to meet the author, buy a signed copy of her book, and share your memories of the Shoong Family Chinese Cultural Center.
🥠 The event is free and snacks will be provided.
🫶 With kind support from @chsamuseum@shoongculturalcenter@oaklandchinatownchamber@chineseindiecollective
🙏🙏🙏 Huge thanks to Enabling Auntie @annasophiesufei 🙏🙏🙏
Bruce Lee’s legacy lives on in San Francisco!
On May 13th, join us as I announce my bill to create an official Bruce Lee Day here in California to honor his impact on culture, discipline, and community. We’ll also hear from Bruce’s daughter, Shannon Lee in a special youth engagement focused on carrying that legacy forward.
This is more than a celebration, it’s a reminder of the values that continue to inspire generations.
@sfpubliclibrary@therealshannonlee@bruceleefoundation@chsamuseum@standwithasians
Join Victor K. Wong, researcher with the Chinese History Project, as he unveils the untold story of the Chinese who built the final leg of the Pacific Railroad from Sacramento to the San Francisco Bay. Don’t miss this deep dive into the most well-documented portion: Alameda Canon (known as Niles Canyon) in the East Bay. Come and see forgotten and newly found photos of the original tracks hand-carved through this narrow canyon; they declare to all the Herculean handiwork of the unseen workers and bear witness to the strength and tenacity of the Chinese builders.
Join the conversation via Zoom. Visit link in bio.
🎟️ Now on Eventbrite, link at madelynpostman.com (link in bio).
📆 Saturday, May 30, Oakland @shoongculturalcenter
🀄️ Join us for this special community event with author Madelyn Postman, to talk about her new book, family and the roots of Oakland Chinatown.
🐉 Oakland Chinatown History Book Talk: Staring into the Sun with author Madelyn Postman
🔥🐴 Join us for a special community event: we will learn and celebrate the rich history of Oakland Chinatown with author Madelyn Postman, the great-granddaughter of Joe Shoong, founder of the Shoong Family Chinese Cultural Center (SFCCC) in Oakland Chinatown.
🇬🇧 Madelyn is coming from London to give a reading and kick off the release of her book, Staring into the Sun. Her book blends memoir and narrative nonfiction, exploring her family history alongside the broader story of Chinese American life, the early days of Oakland Chinatown, and the founding of the SFCCC.
📸 In a community event, we will share archival photos and documents from the opening of our Center in 1953, and reflect on the legacy of the Center together with former and current students. Madelyn will read from her book and discuss her research and writing process. Come to meet the author, buy a signed copy of her book, and share your memories of the Shoong Family Chinese Cultural Center.
🥠 The event is free and snacks will be provided.
🙏🙏🙏 Huge thanks to Enabling Auntie @annasophiesufei 🙏🙏🙏
CHSA Spotlight:
THE STRENGTH OF WATER
by Karin Jensen
In 1920s Detroit, King Ying stands on a box to iron clothes in her parents’ laundry business, endures taunts of Ching-Ching Chinaman on the playground, and tries to reconcile what passes for normal in Jazz-Age America with her father’s vastly different cultural values.
She dreams of a home, the elegance of her Jane Arden paper dolls, and winning her stern father’s affection. But when Ba incurs steep debts during the Great Depression, he sends her far from hope to his ancestral village.
In remote Tai Ting Pong, in the Guangdong Province of China, she feels as foreign in the land of her heritage as in the country of her birth. She must survive hunger, dangerous superstitions, and Japanese invasion as the Sino-Japanese War begins.
When guardian angels help her return to the U.S., it’s a chance to seize her American dream.
In this inspiring and heartfelt memoir, Karin K. Jensen records her mother’s transpacific quest for identity, survival, and new world dreams.
Join the conversation.
WHEN: May 16, 1:30PM
WHERE: CHSA Museum
ADMISSION: $15
For more information, visit CHSA.org.
