Chinese Pioneers: Power and Politics in Exclusion Era Photographs

The City of Oroville’s Chinese Temple is pleased to present Chinese Pioneers: Power and Politics in Exclusion Era Photographs.

This temporary exhibit explores the social, political, and judicial disenfranchisement of Chinese Californians-as well as moments of Chinese agency and resilience-in the decades before and after the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. The exhibit, on view from August 22 to October 11, 2026, examines how photography played a potent role in both Chinese people’s interactions with the dominant culture and in the government’s fledging systems of registration, identification, and surveillance.

Chinese Pioneers was organized by the California Historical Society, features photographs and materials from the CHS Collection at Stanford University, and tours through Exhibit Envoy thanks to the generosity of the Henry Mayo Newhall Foundation.

The Oroville Chinese Temple is owned and operated by the City of Oroville and is located at 1500 Broderick Street in Oroville, California. It is open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Admission is $4 for adults, children under 12 are free.