Growing Up Chinese American: Childhood Toys and Memories

November 5, 2006- April 8, 2007

Our childhood toys and experiences can deeply influence how we remember the past, understand our place in the world in the present, and lead grown up lives in the future. Growing Up Chinese American: Childhood Toys and Memories is an exhibit that explores this relationship by presenting children’s toys from the Chinese American Museum permanent collection, as well as personal stories of their owners.

By exploring facets of everyday life for children of Chinese descent coming of age in a rapidly changing 20th century America, Growing Up Chinese American presents a complex picture of how childhood can shape our grown up lives in subtle but meaningful ways. The toys and stories featured in the exhibit also suggest by their multiple and varied frames of reference that a broad spectrum of Chinese American childhood experiences exists, and it is from this rich diversity which Chinese American history and Chinese American futures stem.

This exhibition was made possible in part through the generous support of Union Bank of California and Megatoys.