CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.- The Chinese-American Museum of Chicago opened this Saturday. Besides holding monthly lectures and working to set up a museum, the Chinatown Museum Foundation sponsors various special events aimed at fundraising, publicity, and increasing public awareness of the history of Chinese-Americans in the United States. Future and recent non-lecture events include: the opening exhibition, 21 May 2005; the first media showing of CAMOC's new exhibition space on 2 April 2005, a roundtable on Ethnic-Specific Museums at the AAS meetings in Chicago, also on 2 April 2005; the Annual CMF Banquet on 13 Nov 2004; a one-day Archaeology project on 6 Nov 2004; the Mid-Autumn Festival at Chinatown Square on 19 Sept 2004, with two Mid-Autumn Poems, and the fundraiser at the Dragonfly Mandarin Restaurant featuring Yuen Wai-Chee's Barbeque Talk, on 22 July 2004.

The opening exhibition is the first exhibition anywhere to focus on the Chinese of the Midwest. It tells the stories of early Chinese immigrants to Chicago and neighboring areas. Many of the stories will seem familiar to members of other ethnic groups. A few are unique to the Chinese-American experience.

The 150 photographs and 70 objects in the show have been assembled from a dozen private and public collections in the Midwest as well as the West Coast. Most are shown to the public for the very first time.

The exhibition features a reconstructed hand laundry, historic furnishings, and magnificent traditional textiles. The laundry display recalls the several hundred Chinese laundries that once flourished in Chicago, of which not a single one has survived. Many of the furnishings are from the founding Chinese organizations that helped build Chinatown. The textiles were embroidered and used by Chinese-Americans for festival celebrations. Their fine design and flawless craftsmanship reflect the owners' pride in their heritage.