Hung Liu
(1948 - )

Born in China in 1948, Hung Liu was sent to the countryside for "proletarian reeducation" during the Cultural Revolution. After teaching at the Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing, she was accepted into the Graduate Program in Visual Arts at the University of California. Since 1990, Hung Liu has been teaching in the Art Department at Mills College in Oakland, California. Hung Liu is a two-time recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Painting Fellowship, as well as many other awards. The artwork chosen for the Census 2000 poster, Branches III, is the third panel in a triptych — an artwork in three parts. As a whole this artwork tells the story of an Asian American family over three generations. The third generation is depicted in this final panel. The artwork can be found at the Steinbaum Krauss Gallery in New York City.

People of Asian American heritage include Phillipinos, Vietnamese, Chinese, Koreans, Iranians, Taiwanese, Cambodians, Asian Indians, Laotians, Japanese, and many other cultures. In 1990, Asian Americans represented less than 3 percent of all Americans — and two out of every five lived in California. Census 2000 should show that this population is growing and thriving.