Schedule

Sunday, March 24, 2024
4 p.m. Program 
5:30 p.m. Reception

Imagine a living, contemporary museum that serves as a landmark place on Washington D.C.’s National Mall for all people to be able to learn and be inspired by the many ways — industrial, cultural, artistic, technological — that Asian American Pacific Islanders have helped weave and strengthen the fabric of these United States.

Join us for an evening of rich dialogue, visionary ideas, and insightful perspectives on the ongoing journey to establish a National Museum of Asian Pacific American History and Culture on the National Mall. Longtime Director of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco Dr. Jay Xu will present a keynote from his perspective as a pivotal Commissioner on the H.R. 3525-established Commission To Study the Potential Creation of a National Museum of Asian Pacific American History and Culture, under the Smithsonian Institution. 

Following his keynote talk, Dr. Xu will take part in a panel discussion with Dr. Anne Chao, historian and lecturer in the Humanities at Rice University, and Program Manager at the Houston Asian American Archive, and Handel Lee, co-founder and co-chair of the Friends of the National Asian Pacific American Museum organization, in conversation with Y. Ping Sun, board chair of Asia Society Texas, about the steps being taken to acknowledge and celebrate Asian Pacific American stories at a national level.

About the Speakers

Dr. Jay Xu has served as director and CEO of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco since 2008. Dr. Xu earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in art and archaeology at Princeton University, and has had forty years of international museum experience as a research scholar, curator, and museum director. He previously served as assistant and translator for the museum director at the Shanghai Museum (1983–1990); research fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1995-1996); curator of Chinese art at the Seattle Art Museum (1996-2003); Head of the Asian Art Department and Chairman of the Department of Asian and Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (2003-2008).

In 2015, Dr. Xu became the first Asian American museum director elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2022, Xu was appointed by the U.S. Congress to serve as one of the eight commissioners on the Congressional Commission to Study the Potential Creation of a National Museum of Asian Pacific American History and Culture.

Anne S. Chao is a modern Chinese historian and community volunteer. She graduated from Wellesley College and obtained her PhD in modern Chinese history at Rice University. She is an Adjunct Lecturer in the Humanities and Manager of the Houston Asian American Archive (HAAA) at Rice University.

She co-founded HAAA ten years ago, and it has collected over 300 interviews of Asian Americans in the greater Houston region. Her current research focuses on the life and social networks of the founder of the Chinese Communist Party, Chen Duxiu. A transplant to Houston for almost forty years, Anne sits on the board of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston Ballet, Wellesley College, Cooper Union for the Advancement of Arts and Science, Dunhuang Foundation, and Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.

Handel Lee is a senior partner of King & Wood Mallesons, a global law firm with over 3,000 lawyers worldwide, and serves on its International Management Committee. Mr. Lee’s practice is in energy, renewables, power, oil & gas, data networks, as well as project finance. He is acknowledged in Legal 500 “Highly Recommended Lawyers” Projects and Energy (Asia Pacific rankings) in 2016; Who’s Who Legal  in 2017, 2015, 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010 as a “Leading M&A Lawyer” in China; Asian Legal Business in 2008, 2007 and 2006 as “China’s Top 30 Lawyers”; and Euromoney’s 2003, 2001 and 1999 "Expert’s Guide to the World’s Leading Energy Lawyers."

In the area of art and cultural development, Mr. Lee’s projects include: Founder/Director, KWM Art Center, Beijing, 2016; Senior Advisor, Hangzhou Urban Constellation Project (historical restoration, museum cluster, multi-use project) 2010-2013; Co-Founder/Partner, Beijing Center for the Arts, 2008; Co-Founder/Partner, Shanghai Gallery of Art, 2004; and Developer/Partner, Legation Quarter/Qianmen23, Beijing, 2008 and Three on the Bund, Shanghai, 2004.

About the Moderator

Y. Ping Sun came to Houston from New York City in 2004, when her husband David W. Leebron became Rice University's seventh president. A native of Shanghai, China, Ping attended Tianjin Foreign Languages School and Beijing Languages and Culture University. She received a full scholarship to Princeton University, where she graduated cum laude with an AB degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. She received a law degree from Columbia University School of Law, where she served as an editor of the Journal of Transnational Law. 

After graduation, Ping practiced law in the New York offices of White & Case LLP and Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP. In Houston, Ping is of counsel with the law firm of Yetter Coleman LLP.

Education and Outreach programs at Asia Society Texas are presented by AARP. Generous funding also provided by Asia Chemical Corporation, and Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas). Free Thursday exhibition admission presented by Regions Bank. Additional support is provided by Cathay Bank Foundation, the George and Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation, and the Friends of Asia Society, a dedicated group of individuals and organizations committed to bringing exceptional programming and exhibitions to Asia Society Texas.

 Presenting Sponsor

Additional Support

Program Partners

About Asia Society Texas

Asia Society Texas believes in the strength and beauty of diverse perspectives and people. As an educational institution, we advance cultural exchange by celebrating the vibrant diversity of Asia, inspiring empathy, and fostering a better understanding of our interconnected world. Spanning the fields of arts, business, culture, education, and policy, our programming is rooted in the educational and cultural development of our community — trusting in the power of art, dialogue, and ideas to combat bias and build a more inclusive society.

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