At Chinatown Museum’s Lunar New Yr Party, Protesters Accuse its Leadership of Selling Out

To herald the Year of the Dragon, the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) threw a ticketed, family-friendly party on February 17 featuring a dragon art hunt and folk dances by the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company. It also drew a picket line of angry locals and community activists who charge the museum with selling out Chinatown for city money. A few would-be party attendees made conversation with the protesters and turned away in solidarity; most, however, ignored them and entered the museum despite a torrent of boos and shouts of “don’t go in!”

According to interim MOCA president Nina Curley, the protests did not deter families from enjoying the event. “The museum hosted families from all over the city who came and enjoyed crafts, performances, and cooking demonstrations, all of which highlighted traditions from this important holiday,” she said.

In addition to preserving collections of items across 200 years of Chinese-American history, MOCA hosts regular programs that they say spotlight politically conscious issues and contribute “to a fuller and more nuanced and layered American narrative in highlighting the stories of this immigrant community.” But protest organizers say that whatever MOCA’s cultural role, the museum has cynically used it to cover up corrupt bargains that have harmed the neighborhood and its working people.

The most recent sticking point was the city’s $39.4 million gift to MOCA, which the museum is using to pay the mortgage for the 215 Centre Street building it recently purchased for a total of $51.1 million. MOCA had lobbied for a grant of this size since it began renting out the address in 2009 during the Bloomberg administration. The city memorandum finalizing the grant in 2019 called it a “community investment.”

Local activists say that “bribe” or “giveback” is a more accurate term, since the money appeared to come hand-in-hand with an effort to placate neighborhood institutions over a new 300-foot prison tower planned for construction in the middle of Chinatown. “Since announcing the [prison] site at 124/125 White Street, the Administration has worked with the Council to engage the community on the plan as well as to hear the community’s concerns and ideas for potential investment,” the memorandum says.

Then-president of MOCA Nancy Yao Maasbach provided a willing voice when then-Mayor Bill de Blasio, Council Member Gale Brewer, and other city officials came in 2018 to pitch the jail plan and hear suggestions for Chinatown funding. “Maybe if we help invest in more education and in historical institutions like ours and many others here like the American Legion, we equip people to understand and resolve implicit biases [against Chinese-Americans],” she told them. “So I guess my big ask is, why don’t we consider a museum like MOCA as [part of the Cultural Institutions Group]?” When Brewer asked about the museum’s ambition to purchase its building, Maasbach suggested an initial city investment of $32 million.

“It’s clear now that [MOCA] was fishing for a bribe,” said Gary He, a member of the Chinatown-based organization Youth Against Displacement. “They took $39 million from the de Blasio administration in the name of representing the community, for their own benefit. The jail, which the museum is now silent about, will have a direct negative impact on foot traffic and the economic livelihood all around Lower Manhattan.”

Members of Youth Against Displacement, the Chinese Staff and Workers’ Association (CSWA), and other groups have been organizing protests outside MOCA’s entrance since 2021. The museum responded in 2023 with an FAQ on their website, in which they claimed to have “no control over where city hall decides the location of new jails or has influence over criminal justice reforms.”

He attended the February 17 gathering with about 20-30 other protesters, with the number fluctuating over time as people came and went. Many of the picketers still embodied the Lunar New Year spirit by carrying signs bearing dragon-themed art and wearing headdresses resembling a dragon’s head, though one time-strapped attendee had to bring the placard he used for the Year of the Rabbit (2023). Two drummers used plastic buckets to maintain a steady beat of discontent while chants of “Boy-cott!” reverberated across the block. Across the guardrail, a MOCA security guard and tripod-mounted camera stood watch at the museum entrance.

“This protest in front of MOCA is to let people see clearly how they are using the so-called nonprofit status to destroy Chinatown and the Lower East Side,” said Vincent Cao, a CSWA organizer. “We want to unite the whole community to fight against the jail, against the upzoning... everyone here, not just Chinese but also Latino, Black, etc., are all facing the same issue.”

Organizers handed out leaflets that listed their grievances against the museum, which included the alleged prison deal and the business activities of MOCA board co-chair and landlord Jonathan Chu. They accuse Chu of shutting down the iconic Jing Fong Banquet Hall dim sum restaurant to make way for luxury developments, laying off over 100 unionized workers there, and pushing for a Soho/Noho upzoning plan that would yield him hundreds of millions of dollars in air rights. Jing Fong Banquet Hall has relocated to a much smaller location at 202 Centre Street, with about 10 percent of the former staff working there. Meanwhile, developers appear to be preparing the old site on 20 Elizabeth Street for a new izakaya eatery called Norimen.

Popular ire was also directed at a plan to give the MOCA building a $118 million expansion and glow-up, which protesters said would, together with the Chu-endorsed upzoning plan, drive up rents and property taxes for Chinatown residents and businesses. MOCA said that it is unable to comment on those accusations at this time.

“Jonathan Chu and the city are colluding to gentrify the neighborhood and kick out the people living here,” said Yolanda Zhang, a member of Youths Against Displacement. “He uses this Asian-American facade of, oh I’m Chinese, I represent Chinese people in Chinatown—it’s this new face of racism that allows Jonathan Chu and the city to come together and destroy the neighborhood.”

Nelson Mar, President of the 318 Restaurant Workers’ Union, told Our Town Downtown that although much damage has been done already, it is not too late for the museum to reverse course. “If MOCA really cares about Chinatown, they should give the $39 million mortgage to struggling businesses rather than spend it on their big vanity projects,” he said.

His view is supported by Council Member Christopher Marte, who joined protests over the past year but could not attend on February 17 due to a caucus meeting in Albany. “I know MOCA took out a mortgage, but they still have a lot of those funds in their account,” he said. “They should give the money back to the community and invest it in affordable housing, in small businesses, in services that people actually need. It’s a bad precedent when the government uses nonprofits as a shield to do what they want with the community, including large-scale projects that can inflict a lot of harm.”

About halfway through the event, the constant drumming stopped abruptly. A few curious protesters gathered around to investigate, and saw egg yolk splattered across the surface of a bucket-drum and dripping off the side. One of the drummers, pointing to another cracked egg that landed on the sidewalk, told Our Town Downtown that the fragile projectiles came from the upper floors of the MOCA building. A museum representative said that they were unaware of the incident and could not comment on it.

Eggs or no eggs, Zhang said that she was determined to continue protesting until MOCA met the community’s demands. “We are fighting for Chinatown’s survival, and we won’t stand for the museum’s exploitation of Chinatown so that they can line their own pockets.”