Her mural \u201cThis Asian American Life<\/a>,\u201d is the most recent in a series of works commissioned by the Asian Art Museum for the Lui Art Wall on Hyde Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the series of panels, Cheung-Miaw invites the public to experience San Francisco\u2019s Chinatown the way a child would: The aroma of a bowl of noodle soup, the feeling of a redwood leaf in one\u2019s hand, the wonder of a wild poppy growing from the crevice of the sidewalk.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe point of the mural was to capture the quiet, mundane moments,\u201d Cheung-Miaw said. \u201cWhen you are just walking on the street and suddenly see a beautiful wildflower, why don\u2019t we take a pause and look at that?\u201d<\/p>\n The mural was inspired by Cheung-Miaw\u2019s six-year-old son, Jiakai, whose chubby cheek is featured in one of the panels. \u201cHe\u2019s the one who would stop and say, \u2018Hey, look at this cool bee!\u2019\u201d Cheung-Miaw said. (The bee made it into the mural.) \u201cHe\u2019s the one who pays attention and notices those things and teaches adults to pay attention.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Jiakai shows up a lot in her drawings in whimsical poses, like the time he stuck his tongue out to taste the rain. But, Cheung-Miaw said, she has also learned from his drawings \u2014 often a bunch of lines that don\u2019t have any particular meaning. \u201cHe inspired me to remember that art is play and a vehicle to be free,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cheung-Miaw\u2019s own experience of American Chinatowns began in the gritty streets of New York. Born in Hong Kong, she moved there with her parents at 10.\u00a0<\/p>\n Far from the warmth and humidity of Hong Kong, New York felt cold all the time, she remembered. The occasional playgrounds were rundown and smelled of piss.\u00a0<\/p>\n She and her friends, however, would always find places to grab dim sum and hang out. The library was her safe space, where she got lost in books and escaped her dad\u2019s yelling.\u00a0<\/p>\n In Hong Kong, Cheung-Miaw had loved manga \u2014 her favorite was \u201cDragon Ball<\/a>\u201d \u2014 but she was too daunted by the artists\u2019 talent to attempt her own. \u201cI can never draw like that, you know?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n After moving to New York, she encountered underground comics like \u201cBitchy Bitch<\/a>\u201d by Roberta Gregory and \u201cHothead Paisan: Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist<\/a>\u201d by Diane DiMassa. \u201cImagine an angry Chinese American kid growing up in New York City, angry at the world,\u201d she recalled. \u201cAnd you found these comics that call bullshit on sexism and patriarchy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat gave me the audacity to do something like that to express my anger and dissatisfaction with the world,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n After graduating college in 2006, Cheung-Miaw was drawn to organizing and moved to the Bay Area because it was \u201cthe mecca of Asian American movements.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Through Chinese Progressive Association<\/a>, she organized hotel and restaurant workers in San Francisco. She worked on the 2014 campaign for workers at Yank Sing<\/a>, a renowned dim sum restaurant, and helped win a $4 million settlement<\/a> for back pay for 280 employees.<\/p>\n That experience is reflected on her mural on Hyde Street, which features Chinatown workers: A bus driver waving to a passenger. A cook sitting on the curb on break, with half a dozen cigarette butts scattered next to him. It was a scene dear to Cheung-Miaw: her father was a restaurant worker who also \u201csmoked a little too much.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI came from generations of workers,\u201d she said. \u201cGrowing up, I thought, \u2018How come my parents work such long hours but they can\u2019t afford to move us to a better place to live?\u2019 They get yelled at by their boss and come home and yell at us.\u201d<\/p>\n Her mural on Hyde Street is not her first work to depict the lives of working class Chinese Americans in the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2018, Cheung-Miaw painted a mural in Chinatown named \u201cHome<\/a>,\u201d which depicted clothes lines with hanging laundry, a restaurant cook taking a break, and a multigenerational family taking a walk. It also gave a nod to the historic U.S. Supreme Court case of Chinese laundry owner Yick Wo<\/a>, which established equal protection for noncitizens.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis was a chance to educate tourists about what our community is about, but also to have our community look at the mural and say, \u2018Hey, this is me, this is my story,\u2019\u201d Cheung-Miaw said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just dragons and lanterns.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Now living in North Carolina with her family, Cheung-Miaw is still organizing. The minimum wage there is $7.25, and there is work to be done, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou can make art, you can do organizing, you can raise your child, and you can also still enjoy life,\u201d she said. \u201cRight now is really the time to go all in, but also, take a breath and hold on to joy as well. Don\u2019t let oppressors take that away.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis Asian American Life\u201d is on view on Hyde Street (between McAllister and Grove streets) through Sept. 28.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ProtestBW-1024x707.jpg\")
Neighborhoods all over San Francisco rallied to protest the closure and rebuild of St. Luke\u2019s in 2010. Here, teenagers from Chinese Progressive Association rally outside the hospital in August, 2010. <\/p>\n