As 2025 comes to a close, host Melissa Karmen Lee and producer Rosalie Gunawan join forces for a special episode reminiscing on the last two years of The School Room podcast. 

Tune in for a journey across Canada, South Africa, Hong Kong, and Australia to look back on some of our favourite stories about overseas Chinese communities that stuck with us.

To learn more about the Chinese Canadian Museum or book tickets, visit https://www.chinesecanadianmuseum.ca/.

Ann Hui (Hui On-wah) is one of the leading figures who ushered in the Hong Kong New Wave – a new age of Hong Kong cinema that began in 1979. With a career spanning more than 4 decades and 28 feature films, Ann has cemented her name as one of the greats of Chinese language cinema. Her work often focuses on ordinary people and their daily lives, speaking to themes of human consciousness, politics and migration, and national identity.

Tune in to this episode of The School Room to hear about the ways Ann recreates authentic scenes in her films, her philosophy on giving back to society, and her concerns about Maggie Cheung playing the leading role in “Song of the Exile” (it’s not what you think!).

“Dream Factory: Cantopop Mandopop 1980s-2000” is now on view at the Chinese Canadian Museum in Vancouver’s Chinatown until May 2026. Monthly curator tours are available in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin. To learn more or book tickets, visit https://www.chinesecanadianmuseum.ca/.

Rainbow Chan is an award-winning vocalist, producer, and multi-disciplinary artist. Since moving to Australia with her family in 1996, Rainbow has built a celebrated career while tracing her maternal roots to Weitou people—one of Hong Kong’s indigenous groups who settled in the region prior to British colonization in 1898. Her creative practice, deeply informed by ideas of homeland and diaspora, has earned her recognition as one of Australia’s most innovative contemporary musicians.

In this episode, Rainbow shares how she weaves her maternal Weitou heritage into song and performance, reflects on what her mother’s heritage language has meant for her identity and its role in broader cultural revitalization, and discusses which Cantopop artists from her childhood continue to inspire her practice today.

Dream Factory: Cantopop Mandopop 1980s-2000 is now on view at the Chinese Canadian Museum in Vancouver’s Chinatown until May 2026. Monthly curator tours are available in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin. To learn more or book tickets, visit https://www.chinesecanadianmuseum.ca/.

Leading up to the handover of Hong Kong from British rule back to Chinese sovereignty between 1984 and 1997, over 300,000 Hong Kong people emigrated to Canada. For them, they not only brought over their families and dreams for a better future, but also the sounds of home through Cantopop and the laserdiscs of their favourite artists came to life.

On this episode of the School Room, host Dr. Melissa Karmen Lee sits down with Singapore born artist Ming Wong, whose artwork composed of dozens of laserdiscs takes center stage in the Chinese Canadian Museum’s new feature exhibition, "Dream Factory: Cantopop Mandopop 1980s-2000." Tune in to hear about Ming and Liam Morgan’s futuristic stage installation, "Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies," the inspiration behind it, and how the concept of speculative futures relates to the immigrant experience.

"Dream Factory: Cantopop Mandopop 1980s-2000" is now on view at the Chinese Canadian Museum in Vancouver Chinatown until the end of May 2026, with special curator tours in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin occurring every month. To learn more about the Chinese Canadian Museum and book tickets, visit https://www.chinesecanadianmuseum.ca/.

Born in Taiwan and living in Montreal since 2002, Chih-Chien Wang is an artist who uses photography, video and objects and at times integrates text, performance and sound into his work, which explores the ordinary moments of everyday life that reflects his understanding of people, society and the city where he lives. He has shown his work across Canada and the United States.

In this episode, learn about Chih-Chien’s "Travelers Came with Hope," a new photography installation on display at the Chinese Canadian Museum in the "Reshaping Collections: Where History Meets Art" exhibition.

The School Room: Reshaping Collections Artist Series is made possible with support from the City of Vancouver and the Province of British Columbia.

To learn more about the Chinese Canadian Museum and book tickets, visit https://www.chinesecanadianmuseum.ca/.

Born in Hong Kong, raised in Lagos and Thunder Bay, Vancouver based artist Howie Tsui works in ink brush, sound sculptures, lenticular lightboxes and installation, constructing tense, fictive environments that undermine venerated art forms and narrative genres, often stemming from the Chinese literati tradition. He employs a stylized form of derisive and exaggerated imagery as a way to satirize and disarm broadening regimes and their programs of cultural hegemony. Tsui has exhibited his work through Canada and internationally.

In this episode, learn about Howie’s "An Elegy for Dust (earth)," a new installation on display at the Chinese Canadian Museum in the "Reshaping Collections: Where History Meets Art" exhibition.

The School Room: Reshaping Collections Artist Series is made possible with support from the City of Vancouver and the Province of British Columbia.

To learn more about the Chinese Canadian Museum and book tickets, visit https://www.chinesecanadianmuseum.ca/.

Based in Vancouver, Stella Zheng is an artist and illustrator who utilizes a mix of traditional Chinese art-making tools and digital mediums to create illustrations that explore the intricacies of the Chinese diaspora and her identity. She strives to use illustration to present honest, multifaceted, and nuanced representations of Chinese culture that are often ignored. Her previous works include art installations and the catalogue for A Seat At the Table: Chinese Immigration and British Columbia exhibition that was featured in the Chinese Canadian Museum.

In this episode, learn about Stella’s "Wally’s World," a new illustration on display at the Chinese Canadian Museum in the "Reshaping Collections: Where History Meets Art" exhibition.

The School Room: Reshaping Collections Artist Series is made possible with support from the City of Vancouver and the Province of British Columbia.

To learn more about the Chinese Canadian Museum and book tickets, visit https://www.chinesecanadianmuseum.ca/.

A second-generation settler of Chinese heritage, Janet Wang is a Vancouver-based visual artist and educator working within a traditional painting practice, integrated with sculptural installation practices and digital media. Her creations explore the construction of identity through the appropriation and disruption of social patterns and familiar gestures. Wang pays homage to the canons and traditions of history, both the artistic and the quotidian, in order to use the familiar as a meeting point with the viewer. She has exhibited her work throughout Canada and internationally.

In this episode, learn about Janet’s "Here, There," a new installation on display at the Chinese Canadian Museum in the "Reshaping Collections: Where History Meets Art" exhibition.

The School Room: Reshaping Collections Artist Series is made possible with support from the City of Vancouver and the Province of British Columbia.

To learn more about the Chinese Canadian Museum and book tickets, visit https://www.chinesecanadianmuseum.ca/.

Morris Lum is a Trinidadian-born photographer and artist whose work explores the hybrid nature of the Chinese-Canadian community through photography, form and documentary practices. His work also examines the ways in which Chinese history is represented in the media and archival material. Currently based in Mississauga, Ontario, Lum’s work has been exhibited and screened across Canada and the United States.

In this episode, learn about Morris’s "Finding C.B. Wand," a new photography installation on display at the Chinese Canadian Museum in the "Reshaping Collections: Where History Meets Art" exhibition.

The School Room: Reshaping Collections Artist Series is made possible with support from the City of Vancouver and the Province of British Columbia.

To learn more about the Chinese Canadian Museum and book tickets, visit https://www.chinesecanadianmuseum.ca/.

Karen Tam is a Montreal-based artist and curator whose research focuses on the constructions and imaginations of cultures and communities. In her installations, she recreates Chinese restaurants, karaoke lounges, opium dens, curio shops and other sites of cultural encounters. Tam’s deep engagement with archival and collections research has also led her to question whose histories get to be collected and told, and to interrogate the narratives that have been constructed around the Chinese diaspora.

In this episode, learn about Karen’s "Whispering Jade Bazaar," a new installation on display at the Chinese Canadian Museum in the "Reshaping Collections: Where History Meets Art" exhibition.

The School Room: Reshaping Collections Artist Series is made possible with support from the City of Vancouver and the Province of British Columbia.

To learn more about the Chinese Canadian Museum and book tickets, visit https://www.chinesecanadianmuseum.ca/.