The Museum of Chinese in America opened its doors in Manhattan’s Chinatown in 1980 as a grassroots organization dedicated largely to preserving immigrant stories.

On Tuesday, supporters and designer Maya Lin will usher in a new phase in its history of documenting, interpreting and explaining by welcoming guests to its new 14,000-square-foot home.

Located at 215 Centre St., the museum - which reportedly cost $8 million – faces Manhattan’s Chinatown and incorporates modern lines in its entrance as well as an untouched, sky-lit courtyard in what was a machine shop.

In the above video posted on YouTube, Lin discussed her thoughts behind the museum design:

As you enter the museum, it will talk about this combination of our past and our present, old and new. And that is a dance that is played out throughout the design of this space.

The main exhibition is “With a Single Step: Stories in the Making of America,” which examines Chinese American history since the 1850s. The exhibition is centered around the courtyard and uses film as one device to illustrate history.

The new museum also features galleries, interactive kiosks, an auditorium, a classroom and a research center.

Museum co-founder Charles Lai told The Associated Press:

When people come to Chinatown, they are saying, ‘Oh, look there’s the Buddhist temple, the place where ducks hang from the window and let me get to the place with the knockoff Coach bags….There is another part of the story. There are complexities and realities in the Chinese American community.

Those complexities and experiences will have much more room to be showcased and discussed, compared to the museum’s former location which occupied 2,000-square-feet and sat about half a mile away at 70 Mulberry St.

Museum Director S. Alice Mong talked about having more exhibition space in a statement posted on the organization’s Web site:

Our new location will allow the museum to look at that experience through many different lenses and bring 160 years of our history to vivid life through innovative art and history exhibitions, films, panels and educational and cultural programs.

Said Lin in the same statement:

The space was designed to show the dynamic presentation of the Chinese American story, as an integral part of the greater, and continually evolving, American story.

To launch the new site, the museum will have free admission from Tuesday through Saturday.

In addition to Lin, who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., the museum received support from architect I.M. Pei, playwright David Henry Hwang, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and film director Ang Lee, according to an Associated Press article by Suzanne Ma.

There are many organizations in the United States that focus on Chinese American history.

Among them:

• The Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
• The Chinese Historical Society of America
• The Chinese Historical Society of Southern California
• The Chicago Chinese American Historical Society
• The Chinese American Museum of Chicago
• The San Diego Chinese Historical Museum
• The Chinese American Museum

But in the Seattle to New York City corridor, there are two museum bookends – of sorts.

Although The Wing Luke Asian Museum is a pan-Asian institution, it sits near the Pacific Ocean just as the Museum of Chinese in America rests near the Atlantic Ocean.

Note: I want to thank the Museum of Chinese in America for letting me know about the opening, as well as Associated Press reporter Suzanne Ma for filing her informative story.

Also, thanks to the Chinese Historical Society of America for linking to other organizations, which I listed above.

Update: The New York Times covers the new museum location in an article by Edward Rothstein, who also visited Seattle when the new Wing Luke Asian Museum opened last year.

My mom’s friend, John Jung, also sent this story about Stockton, Calif. resident Bonnie Lew, who had plans to attend the opening.

Her family’s story will be featured in a multimedia exhibition.