Chinese American Museum of Chicago

The Chinese American Museum of Chicago (CAMOC), governed by Chinatown Museum Foundation (CMF), is the only Chinese American museum in the Midwest that focuses on the experience of Chinese people immigrating to America. We strive to meet the need of a museum to reflect the history of the organizations, families and individuals that shaped Midwestern Chinese American Society.

Our mission is to advance the appreciation of Chinese American culture through exhibitions, education, and research and to preserve the past, present, and future of Chinese Americans primarily in the Midwest. 

Our vision is to work with organizations, visitors, and community leaders across the country to tell the story of Chinese Americans primarily in the Midwest and to build a community around a continuous dialogue illustrating how Chinese American culture and contributions are an important part of the American fabric. 

The museum building, formerly the Quong Yick Co., is located in Chicago’s Chinatown, at 238 West 23rd Street in Chicago. The Museum opened to the public on May 21, 2005. After a devastating fire in September of 2008, the Museum was closed for renovation and reopened in 2010. Since then, CAMOC has presented unique exhibits as well as scores of public events and programs all while raising the funds to renovate the four-story building. 

We create and produce programs and events that communicate our Chinese American cultural heritage to share with members of the Chinese American community and other Chicagoans to open dialog, advance intercultural understanding, and contribute to the rich experience of diversity. We have presented numerous exhibitions relating to the Chinese American experience and history of the United States and specifically to the Midwest and Chicagoland. We have also launched a wide variety of programs including film screenings, book talks, arts and crafts, music and live performances that aimed to bring programming that could educate, surprise, and delight audience of all races, places and identities. We are also busy with community activities, such as Chinatown Summer Fair, Mid-Autumn Festival, Chinese New Year Parade, Dragon Boat Festival and others, that always draw in huge crowd of people from all walks of life who want to experience or learn the Chinese culture and history. We promote our activities in both local Chinese and mainstream media. 

We provide an important community interface with and have the support of other museums, including the Field Museum, the Chicago History Museum, and the Heritage Museum of Asian Arts.