Located in San Jose Park off Phelan Avenue, there are various cultural museums that showcase the rich history of different cultures in San Jose and the broader South Bay Area. Among these museums, the Ng Shing Gung Museum, also known as the Chinese American Historical Museum, stands out with its intricate decorations.
“The idea was to replicate the original temple based on its architectural drawings,” explained Gerrye Wong, the founder of the Chinese Historical and Cultural Project. “Our aim was to depict the history of Chinese-American communities starting from the early 1850s up to the present day.”
“Our main objective,” added Anita Wong Kwock, the governing trustee for the Chinese American Historical Museum, “is to educate, preserve, and promote the rich heritage of Chinese-American culture.”
The museum boasts a full-scale timeline wall, documenting key events as far back as the 1850s, and breaking them up by location: in China, in the U.S., and in San Jose. The first 100 years of events are displayed in a traditional format, but the museum recently installed an interactive touch-screen monitor, allowing guests to find specific events of the last 85 years.
Throughout the rest of the first floor, visitors will find a number of artifacts recovered and preserved, such as clothing, pottery, silverware, and even toothbrushes.
“This building is a replica of a building that stood in San Jose’s last Chinatown from 1888 to the late 1940s,” said Gerrye Wong.
At its peak, there were five Chinatowns in San Jose.
“This building was a community center,” adds Kwock, “a place for people to gather. It was a place for Chinese schools. So, kids would go to regular school and then come here from five o’clock to eight o’clock to learn how to read, write, and speak Chinese.”
The Ng Shing Gung was known as the Temple of the Five Gods, the altar for which was beautifully recreated on the top floor of the building.
“This altar is the largest existing altar in a museum being presented in the United States,” said Wong. “We are so proud of it because it took many people thousands of labor hours to preserve it.”
All the pieces of the altar were found stored under the bleachers of a nearby municipal stadium. Wong says the pieces were not in great shape and needed to be cleaned and pieced together to create the replica of the altar.
The Chinese American Historical Museum serves as a testament to the rich Chinese history of San Jose and the South Bay.
“New immigrants don’t know that much about Chinese-American history,” said Wong. “The sacrifices and the hard struggles that the early immigrants faced when they were here.”
“I think with more understanding,” adds Kwock, “then you have better communication and everybody’s better.”
The museum is located at 635 Phelan Avenue in San Jose and is open most Saturdays from 11:00 am to 3:30 pm, free guided tours of the museum can also be requested by contacting Anita Kwock at [email protected].
For more information about the museum you can visit CHCP’s website.
