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XR Tours
Chinese Americans have lived in the Santa Clara Valley region since the mid-1800s. Our long history is rooted in place, yet Chinese American's presence and contributions are not always apparent or understood. We encourage you to visit these locations to experience our heritage and history with this series of self-guided XR tours, which combines audio, photography, and 3D objects in virtual and augmented reality. Interact with people, sounds, and things in this layered look at the world.
"XR", or extended reality, uses digital technologies to blend the physical world with interactive digital content. CHCP created these tours under the tutelage of the Chinese Historical Society of America (CHSA) and released its first 3 tours featuring the Market Street Chinatown, Heinlenville, and Alviso (home of the Bayside Cannery) in San Jose. The initial project was funded by a grant from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). XR tours are formatted for use on a mobile device. However, they can be viewed from any location and also from a computer. Choose a stop in any order from the menu of the XR tour. Then follow the onscreen prompts for instructions. For additional information, contact info@chcp.org.
| Market Street Chinatown This XR tour explores contemporary downtown San José and remnants of the Market Street Chinatown, which was once the largest Chinese American community in San Jose. Through recovered artifacts and archival images, you will explore how the Chinese American community built a vibrant neighborhood rich with culture and community, families, and businesses until its destruction in 1887. Each stop in the tour illuminates everyday life and cultural continuity through stories. As you move through the tour, we hope you will recognize how a community faced loss and discrimination with unfaltering resilience, and consider the importance of preventing history from being erased. |
| Heinlenville Park This XR tour of Heinlenville Park takes you on a journey through the last Chinatown of San José, a community built in the 1880s as a refuge for Chinese residents displaced by repeated arson and anti-Chinese sentiment. In this tour, you will encounter key figures and people who shaped Heinlenville and their lasting legacy and connection to today’s Japantown. As you explore the Park, the History Path, and the magnificent steel Sheltering Wings sculpture, we shed light on a narrative of endurance. Through this tour, we encourage you to actively contemplate the history and importance of ‘community’ in reinforcing cultural continuity. |
| Thomas Foon Chew & Alviso This XR tour in Alviso explores the life and legacy of Thomas Foon Chew, a pioneering Chinese American entrepreneur whose Bayside Canning Company helped transform and sustain the area as a major port city in the early 20th Century. Through the tour, you will discover how Alviso’s waterways and fertile farmland supported an agricultural enterprise that shaped the local economy and the wider “Valley of the Heart’s Delight.” The tour highlights Foon Chew’s innovations, leadership, contributions, and his legacy as one of the many immigrants who have made the Valley thrive. We hope Foon Chew’s story will encourage reflection on overlooked stories and expand your understanding of Chinese American contributions to California and the Silicon Valley region. |
Museum Address: History Park In Ng Shing Gung Building |
Chinese Historical & Cultural Project
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