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Agnes Hsu-Tang

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Agnes Hsin Mei Hsu-Tang (Chinese: 徐心眉) is a Taiwan-born American archaeologist and art historian. On October 19, 2021, she became the first person of Asian heritage to be elected board chair of one of the oldest historical institutions in America, the New-York Historical Society, founded in 1804. She is chairwoman of the New-York Historical Society board of trustees[1][2] and Co-chair of The Met Museum's Objects Conservation Visiting Committee.[3] She is a distinguished consulting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.[4] Hsu-Tang works in cultural heritage protection and rescue and has advised UNESCO and the U.S. Cultural Property Advisory Committee during the Obama Administration. Hsu-Tang received IIE's Centennial Medal in 2019 for her longtime work in cultural protection and rescue. She co-founded the Hsu-Tang Library for Classical Chinese Literature at Oxford University,[5] the Tang Center for Silk Road Studies at Berkeley,[6] and the Tang Center for Early China at Columbia University.[7]

Agnes Hsu-Tang
徐心眉
Hsu-Tang in 2019
Born
Agnes Hsin Mei Hsu

1972 (age 51–52)
Taipei, Taiwan
EducationBryn Mawr College (BA)
University of Cambridge
University of Pennsylvania (PhD)
Occupation(s)Archaeologist, art historian, author, activist-philanthropist
Spouse
​
(m. 2013)​

Early life and education

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Hsu-Tang was born in Taipei and educated in the US and England.[8][9][10] Press in Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, and France have reported on her family's ancestry to two historical lineages of scholar-officials, the late Ming dynasty imperial Catholic minister Hsu Kuang-ch'i and the Qing dynasty Minister of War Chi Yun.[8][11][12][13] Her paternal ancestor Hsu Kuang-ch'i, known by his baptismal name Paolo in the West, was the late 16th-century Catholic Ming Dynasty imperial minister and statesman who, with Matteo Ricci, engaged in the first cross-cultural exchanges and translations of scientific and philosophical texts in classical Chinese and Latin, for which he has been beatified by the Vatican.[14][15]

Hsu-Tang studied classical archaeology and English literature at Bryn Mawr College and has an M.A. in Asian and Middle Eastern studies from University of Pennsylvania. In 2003, she received a pre-doctoral Mellon Fellowship to study the history of science at the Needham Research Institute[10][16] at Cambridge University, where she conducted GIS-based analysis of a set of ancient maps and published "An Emic Perspective on the Mapmaker's Art in Western Han China" in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.[17] She received a Ph.D. in Chinese art and Archaeology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004; her dissertation was titled "Pictorial Eulogies in Three Eastern Han Tombs."[18]

Career

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Hsu taught Silk Road art and archaeology at Brown University from 2004 to 2007.[19] From 2007 to 2008, she received a second Mellon Fellowship as a postdoctoral researcher in Classics at Stanford University.[16][20] and published "Structured Perceptions of Real and Imagined Landscapes in Early China" in Geography and Ethnography: Perceptions of the World in Pre-Modern Societies, edited by the Swiss historian Kurt Raaflaub and English classicist Richard J. A. Talbert.[21][22]

From 2006 to 2013, Hsu served on UNESCO scientific committees for World Heritage Sites during which she conducted three missions to Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Western China, and published a white paper "The Exceptional Universal Value of the Road Systems in Ancient Empires: A Comparative Study of the Chinese Oasis Route of the Early Silk Road and the Qhapag Ñan"[23][16] Hsu worked in the Taklamakan Desert.[24]

Hsu was active in film projects from 2008 to 2015.[16] Hsu was the host of the archaeology series Mysteries of China on the History channel,[25][26] and a contemporary Chinese art series for Discovery Channel Asia , in which she interviewed artists Xu Bing, Zhang Huan, Li Zhen, and Chihung Yang, and the series premiered during Art Basel Hong Kong in 2014 at the Asia Society Hong Kong Center.[27] Her other TV credits include "The Giant Buddha at Leshan" (2009)[28] and "Xi'an: China's Forgotten City" (2010) on Discovery USA, "China's Terracotta Warriors" on PBS (2011),[29] and Mankind: The Story of All of Us series on History Channel (2012).

In 2015, Hsu-Tang joined Columbia University as an adjunct senior research scholar.[30] In 2018, Hsu-Tang was appointed distinguished consulting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.[30]

Philanthropy, activism and honors

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Hsu-Tang is known to be actively engaged in social justice projects, including providing leadership support for New-York Historical Society's exhibitions: Chinese in America: Exclusion/Inclusion (2014-2015) and Dreaming Together (2020-2021), Opera Saint Louis's An American Soldier, Santa Fe Opera's Dr. Sun Yat-sen[31] and M. Butterfly.[32]

Hsu-Tang leads New-York Historical Society's capital project to build a 70,000 square foot annex designed by Robert A. M. Stern Architects, with one floor dedicated to collaborative efforts with the American LGBTQ+ Museum and state-of-the art classrooms for N-YHS's Tang Academy for American Democracy.[33][2] She also developed and supports the New-York Historical Society–CUNY Museum Studies program.[34][35] The Tang Academy for American Democracy, a program that teaches democracy to fifth and sixth grade students in New York City public schools, is among the many projects that Hsu-Tang has supported at the New-York Historical Society.[36]

Hsu-Tang was a managing director on the board of the Metropolitan Opera from 2014 to July 2021 and is known to support new works and contemporary productions such as Exterminating Angel, L'amour de loin, and Akhanaten.[37][38][39][40] In October 2021, Hsu-Tang became chair of the New-York Historical Society board of trustees.[41]

In 2018, Hsu-Tang and her husband Oscar Tang were listed among Town and Country's 50 most influential American families in media, art, and culture.[42]

During the COVID pandemic, she co-founded The Yellow Whistle campaign to combat anti-Asian violence and historical discrimination against Americans of Asian descent. The campaign distributed 500,000 free customized yellow whistles emblazoned with the slogan "WE BELONG" at rallies and through a national alliance of activist organizations and has received extensive national press coverage to raise awareness.[43][44][45][46]

In December 2021, Hsu-Tang and her husband donated $125 million towards renovations at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[47]

On March 15, 2023, Hsu-Tang received The Met Museum's Women Leaders Award, with New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Congresswoman Nydia Valesquez, and curator Jasmine Wahi.[48] Hsu-Tang received the Statue of Liberty Ellis Island Award on May 25, 2023, at the historical great hall on Ellis Island, with Grammy-winning American record executive Clive Davis and Liberty Mutual's CEO and Chairman David H. Long.[49]

Personal life

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Hsu married philanthropist and financier Oscar Tang in a private ceremony at the 17th-century Historic Christ Church with celebrations at the Tides Inn Resort in Lancaster County, Virginia on May 18, 2013.[10]

References

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  1. ^ "Agnes Hsu-Tang elected next chair of New-York Historical Society's Board of Trustees".
  2. ^ a b "New-York Historical Society selects new trustee chair | AP News". Associated Press. 19 October 2021.
  3. ^ "Statue of Liberty Ellis Island Awards". Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island. 2023-02-03. Retrieved 2023-03-18.
  4. ^ "Participant Bios" (PDF). upenn.edu. 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  5. ^ "The Hsu-Tang Library of Classical Chinese Literature".
  6. ^ "First U.S. center for Silk Road studies opens at Berkeley - Light the Way: The Campaign for Berkeley".
  7. ^ "New Center for Early China at Columbia Named for Asian American Philanthropist – AsAmNews". 5 October 2015.
  8. ^ a b 新浪收藏 (2017-03-14). "中国山水画名迹《溪岸图》正式成为大都会藏品". Sina Corporation. Retrieved 2021-12-03.
  9. ^ Gammage, Jeff (2021-06-03). "Whistle". The Philadelphia Inquirer. pp. A6. Retrieved 2021-12-03.
  10. ^ a b c "Hsin-Mei Hsu, Oscar Tang". The New York Times. 2013-05-19. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2013-05-23. Retrieved 2021-12-03.
  11. ^ "徐光启后人当主持 带老美探秘金沙_文化频道_凤凰网". Culture.ifeng.com. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  12. ^ "徐光启后人来徐家汇寻根- 中国日报网". Covid-19.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  13. ^ "Who are Chinese-American couple that gave the Met US$125 million?". South China Morning Post. 1 December 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  14. ^ "A Chinese Saint in the making? | The World from PRX". 2 August 2016.
  15. ^ "Chinese Catholic layman to be beatified – Jesuit Asia Pacific Conference". 24 June 2011.
  16. ^ a b c d "Agnes Hsu-Tang". Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. Retrieved 2021-12-03.
  17. ^ Hsu, Hsin-Mei Agnes; Martin-Montgomery, Anne (October 2007). "An Emic Perspective on the Mapmaker's Art in Western Han China". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 17 (4): 443–457. doi:10.1017/S1356186307007535. ISSN 1356-1863. S2CID 161203598.
  18. ^ "Pictorial eulogies in three Eastern Han tombs - ProQuest". ProQuest.
  19. ^ "Conference Schedule". Brown.edu. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  20. ^ "State power and social control in ancient China and Rome" (PDF). Web.stanford.edu. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  21. ^ Hsu, Hsin-Mei Agnes (10 December 2009). "Structured Perceptions of Real and Imagined Landscapes in Early China". Geography and Ethnography. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp. 43–63. doi:10.1002/9781444315653.ch4. ISBN 9781444315653. Retrieved 10 December 2021 – via Wiley Online Library.
  22. ^ Raaflaub, Kurt A.; Talbert, Richard J. A., eds. (10 December 2010). Geography and ethnography: perceptions of the world in pre-modern societies. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 9781405191463. Retrieved 10 December 2021. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  23. ^ Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. "The Silk Road: An AMNH/UNESCO World Heritage Expedition through Central Asia". Whv.unesco.org. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  24. ^ Gammage, Jeff (3 June 2021). "Thousands of Yellow Whistles are given out in a blow against anti-Asian violence". Inquirer.com. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  25. ^ "Titles - Mysteries of China Series produced by BAM, BAM946". Mcintyre.ca. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  26. ^ "MYSTERIES OF CHINA". Trakt.tv. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  27. ^ "An Art Salon on 'Chineseness'". Asiasociety.org. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  28. ^ "Director's Talk and U.S. Premiere of The Giant Buddha at Leshan | US-China Institute".
  29. ^ "China's Terracotta Warriors | Preview | Secrets of the Dead | PBS". PBS. 2 May 2011.
  30. ^ a b "Agnes Hsu-Tang". Columbia University. Retrieved 2021-12-03.
  31. ^ "Press Release | Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts".
  32. ^ "M. Butterfly 蝴蝶君 | Santa Fe Opera".
  33. ^ "Agnes Hsu-Tang elected next chair of New-York Historical Society's Board of Trustees".
  34. ^ "Master of Arts in Museum Studies | CUNY School of Professional Studies | CUNY SPS". 24 April 2019.
  35. ^ "New-York Historical Society | Master of Arts in Museum Studies".
  36. ^ Tugend, Alina (2023-04-26). "At This Museum Sixth Graders Learn Lessons in Democracy". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
  37. ^ "The page cannot be found".
  38. ^ "Metropolitan Opera Live in HD Transmission: Die Zauberflöte".
  39. ^ "l'amour de loin" (PDF). metopera.org. 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  40. ^ "Who are Chinese-American couple that gave the Met US$125 million?". South China Morning Post. 2021-12-01. Retrieved 2021-12-03.
  41. ^ "New-York Historical Society selects new trustee chair". Associated Press. 2021-10-19. Retrieved 2021-12-03.
  42. ^ "50 Most Influential Families in the Worlds of Media, Television, Movies, Books, and Art". 17 October 2018.
  43. ^ "Yellow whistles serve as symbol and signal to call out violence against Asian-Americans | South China Morning Post". 20 April 2021.
  44. ^ "The Yellow Whistle Co-Founder Dr. Agnes Hsu-Tang Interview with ABC7's Dion Lim". YouTube. 2 August 2021.
  45. ^ "How the yellow whistle became a symbol against anti-Asian hate".
  46. ^ "Press — THE YELLOW WHISTLE".
  47. ^ Pogrebin, Robin (2021-11-30). "With $125 Million Gift, Met Museum Jump-Starts New Modern Wing". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-03.
  48. ^ @metmuseum (March 17, 2023). "Wednesday night The Met hosted its annual Celebration of Women, honoring four women who are making a difference in government, philanthropy, and the arts" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  49. ^ "Statue of Liberty Ellis Island Awards". Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island. 2023-02-03. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
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