Simon K.C. Li and T. June Li Host Reception at the Huntington Chinese Garden A Testament to the Power of Cultural Exchange

LAPost / San Marino, CA (November 19, 2025) — On the evening of November 19, Dr. Chase F. Robinson, Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art (NMAA), led a delegation to Los Angeles. Renowned Chinese American philanthropist Simon K.C. Li and his wife, T. June Li, founding curator of the Huntington Library’s Chinese Garden (Liu Fang Yuan), hosted a welcoming reception in the Chinese Garden, Court of Assembled Worthies to mark the occasion.

The event gathered distinguished guests from Southern California’s cultural, museum, and arts communities. Against the backdrop of the classical Chinese garden illuminated at dusk, the reception highlighted a meaningful moment of cross-institutional cultural exchange.

In her speech, T. June Li expressed her honor in co-organizing the welcome event with NMAA Board Member Ellen Eliasoph, and extended special thanks to the Huntington staff for their full support with the venue, lighting, and exhibition setup. She noted that the garden, freshly “washed” by days of rain, was presented in its best condition to greet the visiting guests.

She offered a brief historical overview of the National Museum of Asian Art, which traces its beginnings to Charles Lang Freer’s 1906 donation and opened in 1923 as the first national Asian art museum in the United States. Its collections span China, Japan, Korea, India, and West Asia, and the museum remains deeply committed to research and cultural dissemination. She emphasized that today’s NMAA, guided by the principles of “beauty, scholarship, and community,” serves as an essential bridge between Asian cultures and the American public.

She then formally introduced Director Robinson, praising his strong academic grounding and inclusive leadership, which allows the museum to uphold scholarly excellence while engaging more broadly with society.

According to producer and NMAA Board Member Ellen Eliasoph, the museum’s recent initiatives include the return of the Changsha Mawangdui Silk Manuscripts to China—an action that received widespread acclaim from both Chinese and American institutions in 2025. She added that the museum will continue expanding cross-cultural collaborations in film, contemporary Asian art, and public education.

T. June Li, the inaugural curator of the Huntington’s Chinese Garden, has been instrumental in advancing the study and presentation of Chinese garden culture in the United States since the 1990s. She previously served as Associate Curator of Chinese and Korean Art at LACMA and has led major exhibitions, making her one of the most influential scholars of Chinese art history in the western U.S.

Simon K.C. Li, a former senior editor at the Los Angeles Times, has long dedicated attention to international affairs and the American public’s understanding of Asian culture. Over many years, the couple has made major philanthropic contributions to the Huntington, the Chinese Garden, the Cleveland Museum of Art, Chinese painting conservation, and the Smithsonian, advancing research in traditional arts and cross-cultural exchange.

Li also donated USD 5 million to Columbia Journalism School, his alma mater, to support journalism education and global perspectives in media.

After the event, LAPost conducted a brief interview with Simon K.C. Li. When asked about his family background, he spoke unusually candidly, mentioning that his family is well known in Hong Kong’s financial world—his grandfather being one of the co-founders of the Bank of East Asia. The reporter then asked for his Chinese name, as all public records related to his philanthropic contributions to the Chinese Garden had only used the English name “Simon K.C. Li.”

For the first time, he clearly stated that his Chinese name is 李国昌 (Li Guochang) and even reviewed and confirmed each character after the reporter wrote it down.

In the softly glowing evening light of the Liu Fang Yuan, the intimate yet meaningful gathering served not only as a symbol of collaboration between two major cultural institutions but also as a reminder of the long-standing contributions Simon K.C. Li and T. June Li have made toward fostering understanding between China and the United States. As the National Museum of Asian Art moves into its second century, such cross-regional and cross-institutional partnerships will continue to deepen American society’s understanding of Asian culture and invigorate global art scholarship.

(Written by: Richard Ren / LAPost)