| Liverpool Chinatown Museum |
|
|
|
| Community | |
| Friday, 27 July 2007 | |
|
THE CHINATOWN PROJECT International Institute for Transcultural and Diasporic Studies LIVERPOOL HOPE UNIVERSITY Museum of Chinatown History within Chinatown My name is Gregory Lee. I am responsible for the Chinatown Project, which comes under the umbrella of the International Institute for Transcultural and Diaspora Studies, an institute in which the universities of Liverpool Hope, Lyon (France), Sun Yat-sen (Canton) all collaborate. Since I am also Professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Lyon, I act as Director of both the Liverpool and Lyon branches of the IITDS. Liverpool Hope's Chinatown Project aims to record and preserve the history of Liverpool Chinatown and its inhabitants. But rather than just establish a research centre within the walls of the university, we would like to work in partnership with the Chinese community and to establish a Museum of Chinatown History within Chinatown, preferably in one of the now derelict or abandoned properties in Nelson Street. Our vision for the Museum would be along the lines of the New York, San Francisco and Melbourne Chinatown museums. For instance, the New York Chinatown History Museum founded in 1980 as the New York Chinatown History Project, changed its name to Chinatown History Museum in 1991, and in 1995 became the Museum of Chinese in the Americas. AS Liverpool is the site of Europe's oldest Chinatown, we can envisage a similar future role for Liverpool's Chinatown History Museum. The Museum would also incorporate a photographic and text archive. We shall launch an appeal for photographs and documents. The Museum would also serve as a research documentation centre for international academics, and as a learning centre for the community and its schools. A new Liverpool Hope MA in Chinese Cultural and Diasporic Studies (co-taught with Canton's Sun Yat-sen University) will start up shortly, and will furnish research students who will work on Chinatown history and culture and participate in the recording of oral histories of Liverpool Chinatown inhabitants. Several members of the Chinese community (Joe Phillips, Mr. Chung of the Far East Restaurant, Alvin Tso) have expressed their enthusiasm and see the Museum as a focus for the regeneration of Chinatown. Moreover, the project is a major priority for Liverpool Hope University and the Vice-Chancellor, Gerard Pillay, is 100% behind it. We aim to have the museum up and running within 24 months. We have tentatively fixed a date (the evening of 18th October 2007) to hold a meeting to discuss and launch the project with members of the local community, L1 Partnership, and Liverpool Council representatives. A temporary Chinatown History exhibition will also be on display. The meeting and exhibition will take place in the banquet room of Berry Street's Far Eastern Restaurant which Mr. Chung has kindly made available. All those interested are invited to contact me at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it . Gregory Lee, Director, The Chinatown Project, Liverpool Hope University http://www.chinatownmuseum.org/ |
|
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
