(gentle music)
- [Woman] Wing on Wo itself being here,
throughout five generations is a radical act.
And the fact that we're opening our doors to engage
with our community in another way,
takes that to the next level.
- To bend the word threat.
(clapping)
- [Mei Lum ] Trying to integrate a social mission
into the work that we do here;
for me it's also cultivating my own
relationship with Chinatown as it changes.
- [Narrator] This Great Big Story
is brought to you by Delta.
When we venture out into the world,
we see all that we share.
- My name is Mei Lum.
I'm the fifth generation owner of Wing on Wo
and also the founder and director of the Wow Project.
Wing and Wo is the oldest continually
run store in Chinatown.
It was started by my great-great-grandfather in 1890.
Today Wing on Wo, sells a collection of porcelain.
Wing on Wo is completely family run.
The store has been throughout the years,
like our family living room.
It's where we meet up, where we hang out.
There's a kitchen in the back.
We're not only selling porcelain pieces,
but we're also supporting the community
through the work that we do with the Wow project.
And we're doing that through arts and activism.
At the time when Chinatown was forming,
we had no other place to go.
We were being pushed out and marginalized,
so we had to in order to survive, create these Chinatowns,
to pass a safe space.
There's still recent immigrants
that are coming to America and needing a space to land.
But Chinatown's around the country
are at a very pivotal moment with their longevity
and reassessing their purpose
in serving these immigrant communities.
A lot of different Asian Americans
who aren't even Chinese, come to Chinatown to grocery shop
to learn about their culture and their identity.
For me, the store itself has been a landing
and launching pad in my life to understand
my Asian-American identity;
to understand Chinese culture and history
as well as my sense of self and sense of grounding
in this community.
After I graduated college I decided to live and work abroad
for eight years.
I came back hoping to apply to grad school,
but right before I hopped on the plane back,
my dad had called me and told me,
we are thinking about selling the business and the building.
I always had relied on having this space as a constant.
So when I realized that this was not going to
be here anymore that's when you start thinking about,
how can I continue this legacy?
(melancholic music)
I never ever thought that I would be taking over the store,
but I started learning about gentrification
and displacement.
And that really opened my eyes to the larger context
that my family situation was existing in.
I had to make that decision,
if I was going to do something about it.
When I took over I had a lot of interactions
with all these people in my community about
what they care about,
and I was in a position to do something.
So we started a community initiative
out of the store front called the Wow Project.
We do host different public programs
in the storefront space, like screenings, talks, readings.
- It seemed as if there were serpents and ocean.
I fought to be with my son.
(clapping)
- [Mei Lum] We have a storefront residency program
that we offer up to an emerging Asian American artist.
We also have the youth internship program.
It really runs the gamut.
The largest event that we hold
is our anniversary fundraiser.
And we've outgrown the store, so just to see
how many people came out, it was really incredible.
Chinatown has been such a safe haven for me,
and I'm happy that I was able to grow up in this space
because it's grounding me.
So for me it's amazing to hear that, that's the same thing
for other folks.
That's the dream right?
- So much of this year has been about
strengthening our community.
So to the Wow team,
thank you for your heart soul creativity and imagination.
- We want people to be able to cultivate themselves,
nurture themselves here and be able to like do
even bigger and better things beyond this.
(gentle music)