Lunar New Year: Gong Hay Fat Choy! (Happiness and Fortune to All!) Refresh Chinatown, Tuck High Co. Store

On View Through March 2, 2025

In celebration of the 2025 Lunar New Year, the New York State Museum is thrilled to announce exciting updates to the ongoing exhibition of the Tuck High Co. Chinatown Store, including refreshed graphics and the addition of contemporary artworks and artifacts. Additionally, we invite you to immerse yourself in a special temporary exhibit which shines a spotlight on the rich traditions of Lunar New Year celebrations.

Lunar New Year and the Spring Festival are celebrated in Asian countries and countries around the world where immigrants have settled—including in many communities across New York State! Come learn about how Lunar New Year is traditionally celebrated while exploring the historic Chinatown store, Tuck High Co. Uncover the rich history of this iconic establishment and discover how three generations of the Lee family served their local community while operating the store. Also on permanent exhibit are goods from two other bygone establishments, Sun Goon Shing Co. and Quong Yee Wo & Co.

Featured Artifacts and Artwork

Red Lunar New Year Greeting card
Greeting card

Quong Yee Wo Store collection, Chinatown, Manhattan
New York State Museum H-1980.149

During Lunar New Year, it is tradition for adults to gift money to children in red envelopes. This red card was produced by the Quong Yee Wo Store as a gift to customers.

Ceramic lid and circular tray with sections for food items and candies
Togetherness Tray, version 2

Tiffany Saw for Wing on Wo & Co., 2024
Porcelain
New York State Museum H-2024.84.2

A Tray of Togetherness is used to offer treats and abundance to guests in Chinese homes for the new year. Traditionally round, representing fullness and bounty, it holds six or eight compartments for luck or good fortune.  

Tiffany Saw is inspired by traditional Chinese and Burmese pottery. Her work combines American and Chinese wheel throwing techniques with porcelain carving she studied in Jingdezhen, China. 

The Togetherness Tray will be on view in the galleries in the windows of the Tuck High store exhibition through March 2nd.

Natural wood jar with "W.O.W. NY" inscribed in black
Ginger Jar, from the series Passages (those that carried us), 2024

Vivian Chiu
assembled crate wood
New York State Museum H-2024.84.1

Artist Vivian Chiu created the vessels in her series Passages (those that carried us) with historic wood crates gifted to her by Wing on Wo & Co., the oldest operating store in Manhattan’s Chinatown.

Chiu describes: “Each crate is meticulously deconstructed, cut into hundreds of individually faceted pieces, and reassembled to resemble the ceramic vessels they once held...the crates' stampings and markings [serve] as tangible traces of their journey from Asia to the United States, symbolically mirroring the migration shared by both the Lum Family at W.O.W. and myself. “

Related Information

Entrance to Tuck High at the NYSM

The Tuck High Co. Chinatown Store

Take a step back in time and visit the historic Tuck High Co. store nestled in the NYSM's New York Metropolis Hall. Originally owned and operated by three generations of the Lee family in Chinatown, NYC, the Tuck High Co. store was the oldest continuously operating business in Manhattan’s Chinatown at the time of its closure in 1980. To preserve its significance, the Lee family transferred many of the store's original contents including counters, a cash register, lamps, tools, and receipts to the museum.

Lunar New Year at Tuck High Co. Graphic