750 Kearny St., 3rd
floor
(inside Holiday Inn)
(415) 986-1822
www.c-c-c.org
The Chinese Culture Center
is a treasure trove of art, music and educational programs
designed to highlight historical as well as contemporary Chinese
and Chinese American culture.
Housed in an unusual
setting — the San Francisco Redevelopment Commission agreed to
let the Holiday Inn build on the site if it provided facilities
for cultural enrichment — the center also hosts traditional
arts classes, such as Chinese painting, music and flower
arranging.
The center's event
schedule is varied and ever-changing: one day it might feature a
cook-book signing from a leading Chinese chef, or a discussion
of which Western wines go best with Chinese food; a lecture from
a visiting professor, or a dance concert.
Major exhibitions of
historical importance have included Contemporary Chinese
Paintings; Stories from China's Past: Han Dynasty Pictorial Tomb
Reliefs and Archaeological Objects from Sichuan Province,
People's Republic of China, which toured to eight U.S. cities in
1987-88; Chinese of America: 1786-1980 (a documentary exhibition
on the history of Chinese Americans); Chinese Women of America -
A Pictorial History; Symbol and Adornment: Traditional Costumes
and Jewelry from China's Minorities (in collaboration with the
Cultural Palace Museum of Nationalities, Beijing, China); and
Shiwan Ceramics: Beauty, Color, and Passion, which received
funding support locally and from abroad.
The exhibits place the art
in a cultural context in way perhaps more evocative than a
typical museum. A recent show by photographer Chung Wah Nan,
"The Art of Chinese Gardens," focused on the elegant
gardens of China's private citizens. Many of the gardens were
confiscated by a succession of imperial governments from the 16th
to the 20th century and used as offices, even as
dormitories for soldiers, or ruined and reduced to rubble later
by Mao's Red Guards. Some gardens, however, have miraculously
survived or been restored to their former splendor.
Another recent show, Urban
Yearnings: Portraits of Contemporary China by Liu Qinghe, Su
Xinping, and Zhang Yajie, ran parallel to a major exhibition on
modern Chinese art at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA);
this exhibition of 24 paintings, oils and ink, focused on the
artists' visions of cosmopolitan life in a rapidly changing
society.
The activities of the
Center focus on art exhibitions, which are presented on a
continuous, year-round basis — some organized by the Center
and others on loan from other museums or cultural institutions.
The center is a major community-based, non-profit organization
established in 1965 to foster the understanding and appreciation
of Chinese and Chinese American art, history, and culture in the
United States. The facilities of the Center, totaling 20,000
square feet, include a 350-seat auditorium, two 2,935
square-foot galleries, book shop, classroom, and offices.
Centrally located between Chinatown and the Financial District,
the Center attracts a broad spectrum of audiences from the
Chinese community, the city at large, and the greater Bay Area,
as well as visitors from all over the country.
It's also a great place to
start a tour of Chinatown; walking tours ($15) can be arranged
on weekends at 2 p.m.
Hours:
Tues.-Sun. 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Admission to the exhibits
is free.
CHINESE
CULTURAL CENTER
ATTRACTIONS
