tablecloth
date: label: date made
content: 1985
notes: label: Description
content: Light pink handmade tablecloth. Rectangular shape with hand stitched seams. New York restaurateurs Paul and Linda Ma used these tablecloths at Paul Ma’s China Kitchen in Yorktown Heights, New York. They purchased the fabric in town and one of their employees, Zhou Jiao, sewed them into tablecloths. Zhou Jiao was the “fry cook” at the restaurant and prepared popular appetizers including spring rolls, dumplings, and agar salad. She was originally from Cambodia, where she owned a bean curd factory before military unrest caused her to flee and eventually settle in the United States.
label: Description
content: Paul Ma was born in the Shandong Province in the Northeast part of China. His father was the chief arsenal engineer for Chiang Kai-Shek’s army, and so Paul Ma’s childhood was marked by frequent moves throughout China, including to Szechuan, which also exposed him to the country’s vibrant and varied regional cuisines. His personal cooking style is a mosaic of these different local cuisines.
label: Description
content: Paul Ma’s family eventually settled in Taiwan, and he emigrated from there to the United States, where he stayed briefly, before moving to Canada around 1964; He then immigrated to the United States around 1970. Paul Ma was part of a wave of immigrants from China who sought educational and job opportunities in North America, and specifically in the United States after the landmark 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, which eliminated previous immigration policies that largely discriminated against working class people from non-Western European countries.
label: Description
content: Initially, Paul Ma pursued a career as a medical statistician. But while working in that field, he began offering Mandarin language lessons and cooking classes on the side. He found that he truly enjoyed teaching and building meaningful connections with students not only through language, but also through discussions about culture. As his cooking classes quickly filled up with students, he found a deep pleasure in creating a communal table where cultural exchange and education went hand-in-hand.
label: Description
content: Pursuing his passion for connecting with people through food, Paul Ma became a restaurateur and food entrepreneur in Westchester County, New York. Linda Ma, his wife and business partner whom he had met before emigrating from China, maintained the financial records of their businesses among other key duties. Linda Ma was born in the Jiangsu Province, near Shanghai.
label: Description
content: At first, the Mas opened a Chinese grocery store in Mahopac, New York, in 1975; a year later, they moved their business to Yorktown Heights, New York, and called it Ma’s Oriental Store. In 1981, Paul Ma expanded his business ventures and began leading culinary tours in China, and guided Americans to learn about and experience regional Chinese cuisines.
label: Description
content: In 1984, the Mas expanded their grocery business into Paul Ma’s China Kitchen and operated an innovative experience called “Dine and Learn.” During these educational meals, the Mas introduced customers to traditional Chinese and new American Chinese fare, history, and culture. As the popularity of the Dine and Learn classes grew, customers requested that the Mas open a restaurant. They soon opened a café in Ma’s Oriental Store and eventually expanded that into a full-service restaurant.
label: Description
content: After closing Paul Ma’s China Kitchen in 1988, the Mas went on to establish several other restaurants, including the Shandong Inn and Shanghai Place, also in Westchester County, New York, and expanded Paul Ma’s businesses of leading culinary tours in China.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Food Technology
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Paul and Linda Ma
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2018.0052.06
label: catalog number
content: 2018.0052.06
label: accession number
content: 2018.0052
objectType: label: Object Name
content: tablecloth
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 42 1/2 in x 48 in; 107.95 cm x 121.92 cm