Minnesota has had a strong contemporary history in the development of Asian communities that have immigrated to the North Star State. The 70s saw the migration of Chinese, Japanese and Filipinos. Southeast Asians in the late 1970s and 1980s, including Hmong, Lao, Cambodian and Vietnamese made a home here, and more recently refugees from Tibet, Burma and Thailand have become a part of the dynamic Minnesota Asian community.
MPR has been recording decades of material that reflect the Asian experience in Minnesota directly from the voices of members in the community. The wide-ranging subject matter of immigration, civil rights, politics, arts & culture, music, education, and business are captured in the stories, recollections, adaptation, and traditions.
December 3, 1991 - Worldview’s Mike Maus interviews Thupten Dadak, founder of the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota. Dadak discusses the struggles of Tibetans in their homeland, the Dalai Lama, Buddhism, and immigrating to the U.S.
November 6, 1992 - MPR’s Chris Roberts talks to the playwright and cast behind "We are Hmong," an original play collaboratively produced in St. Paul. The play explores the generational and cultural tug-of-war that characterizes Hmong family life in America.
November 27, 1992 - MPR’s Chris Roberts reports on the annual Hmong New Year’s celebration held in St. Paul. Roberts interviews participants and describes some of the customs on display.
March 26, 1993 - Hibbing native and second-generation Korean American author Marie Myung-Ok Lee reads from her new book "Finding My Voice."
April 23, 1993 - MPR’s Mike Maus interviews Minnesotan author Marie Lee on her young adult novel If It Hadn’t Been for Yoon Jun. Following a reading segment, Lee discusses the struggles of integrating her Korean and American identities and of feeling different than most other adolescents in her youth.
October 22, 1993 - Midday presents an MPR documentary entitled Far From the Mountains, which follows the story of one of the 1,000 Tibetans resettling in the United States in the early 1990s.
January 7, 1994 - Pai Yang wrote a commentary for MPR about what happened when she left Minnesota and went to college at Harvard. Yang reflects on what it means to be Hmong.
October 18, 1996 - MPR’s Lorna Benson profiles Pua Xiong, a first-year resident who works at St. Joseph's Hospital in St. Paul. Xiong describes how her quest for a medical degree has forced her to confront a multitude of cultural barriers.
June 28, 1997 - MPR’s John Biscoff visits the teahouse in Como's Japanese Garden found at St. Paul's Como Park. The age-old ceremony is drawing people who are curious about Japan or who have simply heard that it's a good way to step out of the daily grind and enjoy a peaceful afternoon.
November 27, 1998 - MPR’s Lynette Nyman reports on thousands of people gathering in St. Paul’s RiverCentre to celebrate the Hmong New Year. It's a time of cultural and commercial significance as people visit friends and family, browse Hmong merchandise, and watch performances of both traditional and modern dances. Nyman speaks with various participants at the event.