‘Shipment to China’ to be Unveiled After 20-Year Hiatus at Foss Waterway Seaport ‘Rails to Sails’

Tacoma, Wash. -- The Foss Waterway Seaport and City of Tacoma Arts Commission are pleased to announce the exhibit of an important work of art by Chinese-American artist Hai Ying Wu at the Foss Waterway Seaport as part of the “Rails to Sails” exhibit currently on display.  The artwork will be unveiled at 3 p.m. on Sept. 27 after a lecture from exhibit curator Bud Thompson.

“Shipment to China” was created to honor the lives of the Chinese laborers who helped build the transcontinental railroad in the United States. The abstract artwork, made of bronze and resembling boxlike urns, sits on railroad tracks cast in 1909 in Tacoma. 

The piece was created in 1996 with Tacoma’s Chinese Reconciliation Park in mind, but the evolution of the park design and safety concerns made siting at the park impractical.   Now restored and on display for the first time since the ‘90s, the artwork is representative of an important part of the “Rails to Sails” story.

“We are excited about the exhibition of ‘Shipment to China’ at the Foss Waterway Seaport Museum. It is important to tell this piece of the railroad story and the sacrifices made by the Chinese laborers who were instrumental in building the railroad which was important to the growth of Tacoma,” said Theresa Pan Hosley, president of the Chinese Reconciliation Project Foundation.

For more information, visit fosswaterwayseaport.org or cityoftacoma.org/arts.