Jackie Chan, Amy Tan and Publisher William Yukon Chang
Honorees at New York's MoCA Celebration

     The Museum of Chinese in the Americas's (MoCA) celebrates its 20th Anniversary June 23rd with its "20th in 2000" Legacy Dinner at Windows on the World, at One World Trade Center. The evening commemorates 20 years of historical preservation, provocative exhibition-making and public programming about the Chinese American experience and community.

     A Silent Auction and Raffle will take place during the event. A pair of roundtrip tickets to Tokyo will be a highlight of the raffle. 

     The dinner-dance celebrates the influential work of three distinguished Legacy Honorees selected for their contributions to the larger Chinese American community:      William Yukon Chang (journalist and founder/publisher of the first English-language NYC Chinatown newspaper, Chinese American Times), Amy Tan (author, The Joy Luck Club), and international film star Jackie Chan (accepting the award via video presentation).

For information call (212) 619-4785
or visit www.moca-nyc.org
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Jackie Chan began his career when he was apprenticed to a Beijing opera troupe at the age of six. He has trained in all aspects of traditional operatic performance including acting, singing and the martial arts. Mr. Chan started his film career as a stuntman and his talent and enthusiasm for film-making enabled him to advance from stunt coordinator to movie star, director, and producer.

Mr. Chan has received numerous awards: Best Actor by Japan's Road Show Magazine for seven consecutive years; the award of the Insignes de Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the Cinematheque Francaise; honoured as one of the Five Most Outstanding Young Chinese of the World by the Taiwan Government in 1992; and conferred the Honorary Doctorate of Social Science by the Hong Kong Baptist University in 1996.

Mr. Chan is actively involved in charities, public service, and education. In 1988 he founded the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation providing annual scholarships to sponsor students of the performing and technical arts, to support youth projects, and to assist performing artists who have suffered hardship and injury.

William Yukon Chang was born and raised in Honolulu,Hawai'i. His family was one of the many Hakka migrants from China to settle in Hawai'i and the Asia Rim. He lived in China for a period, working as an editor/reporter for the The China Press, and English instructor at  Shanghai College. In 1948, Mr. Chang left China on a trans-Pacific  exploratory survey flight to the United States and remained due to the takeover of China by the Communists.

Mr. Chang received his B.A. in Journalism from St. John's University and his MA in Education from New York University. An active member of the New York Chinatown community, Mr. Chang was a journalist for The China Press and the founder/publisher of the first English-language NYC Chinatown newspaper, Chinese American Times. Mr. Chang has also been a member of the Manhattan Borough President's Community Planning Board #1, Parent Development Program. He is a charter member of the Chinatown Lions Club, and a co-founder of the Chinatown Planning Council. 

Amy Tan was born in Oakland, California in 1952, several years after her mother and father emigrated from China. At the age of eight, Ms. Tan received her first prized accomplishment in writing with her essay, "What the Library Means to Me." Later in her life, while attending five universities over a period of seven years, Ms. Tan received degrees and awarded honors in English and Linguistics.

In 1989, The Joy Luck Club was published, and through word-of-mouth endorsements by independent booksellers, became a surprise bestseller, logging over 40 weeks on The New York Times list. The book was nominated for the National Book Award, received the Commonwealth Gold Award, and was adapted into a feature film in 1994. Ms. Tan's second book, The Kitchen God's Wife, was published in 1991, followed by The Hundred Secret Senses in 1995. Both books appeared on The New York Times bestseller list.  Her books are often included as part of the multicultural curriculum of high schools and colleges and her work has been translated into over 20 languages. 

Museum of Chinese in the Americas (MoCA) is the first full-time, professionally-staffed museum dedicated to reclaiming, preserving, and interpreting the history and culture of Chinese and their descendants in the Western Hemisphere.  Through an ongoing and historical dialogue that shapes MoCA's collections, programs and exhibitions, people of all backgrounds are able to explore the diversity and complexity of our history and culture, while gaining unique access to the images, papers, oral histories and artifacts which document the story.  

HOURS: Tuesday-Saturday, 12 noon-5pm.
REGULAR ADMISSION: $3 adults, 1 seniors/students, free for children under 12 and MoCA members.

For further information, please call the Museum at (212) 619-4785 or visit www.moca-nyc.org.