

Hugo Nakashima-Brown Joins History and Innovation
Boston-based furniture artist draws from classical Chinese designs, tradition and craftsmanship F or wood sculptor Hugo Nakashima-Brown ,...
Adam Smith
Sep 14, 2025


Kristina Wong’s Hunger for Change: ‘#FoodBankInfluencer’ comedian on pranks, activism & economic injustice
Courtesy photo: #FoodBankInfluencer J ust minutes into an interview with comedian and activist Kristina Wong about her upcoming Boston...
Adam Smith
Sep 5, 2025


Kitchen by Day, Easel By Night: Kuang Ching Mei was born into the Chinese revolution and toiled away at Quincy’s Chinese restaurants. But he never gave up his passion for painting.
A fter moving to the United States with his family in the 1980s, Kuang Ching Mei led a life like so many of his peers of his time. Born ...
Adam Smith
Sep 5, 2025


Athenaeum Gives Peek Into China Trade Past
Boston Athenaeum; photo by Adam Smith I f you were a big deal in Boston back in the 1850s, there’s a good chance you owned a work by the...
Adam Smith
Sep 5, 2025


Nguyen’s Intense ‘To Save and to Destroy’ Essays Find Voice Within the Empire
The legendary 19th-century poet Arthur Rimbaud wrote for only five years, quit by the time he was 21, but left us with one of the more...
Christopher John Stephens
Aug 22, 2025
‘Elijah’ Tells Story of Belonging and Identity
Directed by Razid Season, “Elijah” is a deeply moving film that captures the inner journey of a teenage girl discovering and embracing...
Vaibhavi Badve
Aug 22, 2025


Tehching Hsieh on Art, Life and Pain - How the artist broke with tradition and broke a couple bones, too.
From a young age, Tehching Hsieh knew he wanted to follow his dream of becoming an artist. The native of Taiwan had read the works of...
Harmony Witte
Aug 8, 2025


From Art to Activism, Ivy Wong uses etymology and images to craft signs of protest
Walk through Chinatown today, and you might see some colorful bilingual posters in the windows of upstairs apartments and ground-level...
Lydia Lowe
Aug 8, 2025
Fear And Loathing of the Past and a Possible Future: A Review of Lisa Ko’s ‘Memory Piece’
There are fortuitous moments when a text can be both testimony of the here and now and a carefully constructed potential harbinger of...
Christopher John Stephens
Aug 8, 2025


Asian American Motherhood Has Always Been Political
On August 24, 1874, Chy Lung stood on the deck of the steamship Japan, watching San Francisco’s harbor come into view. After a long,...
Jennifer Chowdhury
Jul 25, 2025


Venture into Wondrous ‘Garden’ of Ming Fay
Chinese American artist Ming Fay died earlier this year, but his works will continue to plant the seeds of imagination and inspiration in...
DongDong Yang
Jul 25, 2025
Asian Artists in State Are ‘Making Waves’ Yet Still Largely Neglected
Powerful. Fractured. Rich. Neglected. These are all words that respondents to the statewide survey “Making Waves,” released just last...
Doris Yu
Jul 11, 2025


Raveena Emanates Calm, Wholeness at Boston Show
Seeing Raveena live is a special experience. Her performance at the Paradise Rock Club on May 15 not only featured her signature silky...
Virginia Sun
Jul 11, 2025


Rocking the Boat
Sampan chats with Eric Antoniou about his book ‘Rock To Baroque’ and the immigrant experience. The first face we encounter in Eric...
Christopher John Stephens
Jul 11, 2025


On a Personal Note: For violinist Alyssa Wang, the Boston Festival Orchestra’s 5th anniversary concert hits close to home
When violinist Alyssa Wang lost her father to liver cancer, she was at a loss for words. So, she turned to music. “After he passed away,...
Liam Crampton
Jul 2, 2025


Rising Above: Rapper Kold Kwan turns heartbreak and living like an outcast into raps of resilience
As an Asian American rapper, Kold Kwan is aware that he’s challenging the status quo. “I know that I’m not gonna be everyone’s cup of...
Esther Wang
Jul 1, 2025


Banana Yoshimoto’s ‘The Premonition’Appears Too Clever for Its Own Good
When a reader has to walk that vulnerable space between style and substance, falling deeply into the former at the sake of the latter,...
Christopher John Stephens
Jun 19, 2025


Artist Draws From Childhood, and Uncovers a Model for Care
As artist Maggie Wong talks about her early childhood in Oakland, California, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, she pauses. Stopping...
Adam Smith
Jun 19, 2025


‘Pleasure’ Takes Unflinching Look at Disability, ‘Token’ Feel-Good Politics
When It’s a Motherfking Pleasure begins, writers-performers Samuel Brewer, Aarian Mehrabani, and Chloe Palmer introduce themselves with...
Melissa Teng & Natasha Ansari
Jun 19, 2025


With Greenway Exhibit at Chin Park, Cambodian-American Artist Humanizes Refugee Experience
At a time when immigrants and refugees in the U.S. are increasingly coming under threat of detention, deportation and having their legal...
Adam Smith
Jun 19, 2025

