Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) celebrated its annual gala last Thursday at Cipriani 42nd Street. The event drew a spirited crowd of over 570 guests and raised over 1.5 million, a Museum record. The evening was a glamorous mixture of New York City’s downtown and uptown personalities, philanthropists, entrepreneurs, and creative forces. The evening’s program opened with remarks by Anla Cheng, Susan Ryan Kessler (Gala Co-Chairs) and Patricia P. Tang (Chair, MOCA Board of Trustees).

Honorees of the Lifetime Achievement Awards included Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (108th Mayor of the City of New York), who was presented his award by Maya Lin (Secretary, MOCA Board of Trustees) and Vera Wang; Pei-Yuan Chia (Chairman, Chia Family Foundation, Inc.), who was presented his award by Victor Menezes (Former Senior Vice Chairman of Citigroup). Honorees of the Legacy Awards included Wang Yannan (President and Director, China Guardian Auctions Co.,Ltd.), who was presented her award by Patricia P. Tang; and Ming Tsai (Celebrity Chef and Host, Simply Ming), who was presented his award by Anla Cheng.

Notable attendees included Arnold Chang, Tom Finklepearl, Betty Liu, Gu Wenda, Carolyn Hsu, John Hatfield, David Henry Hwang, Patricia Harris, Chiu-Ti Jansen, Derek Lam and Jan Schlottmann,Susur Lee, Gayle Ong, Patricia and Tom Shia, Ambassador Guoxiang Sun, Mark di Suvero, Oscar Tang, and BD Wong.

Gala Committee Members in attendance were Sharon Bush, Karen Hsu, Carolyn Hsu-Balcer, Michelle Koo, Derek Lam, Marie and Shau-Wai Lam, Emily and Anthony Limpe, Gwynne and P.H. Tuan, Miranda Wong Tang, Lulu Wang, Vera Wang, Nina and Tim Zagat.

For more info and upcoming events, please visit www.mocanyc.org. ‘)}