I travelled to China last month and spent over a week in the country’s capital, Beijing. Although I am ethnically Chinese, this was only my second trip to China with my first trip being a decade ago. With my recent advocacy for cultural sustainability in Vancouver and Chinatown in the last few years, I was excited about the possibilities of finding inspiration from my cultural roots for any learnings I can take back to inform my advocacy work at home. I did find the inspiration I was looking for in the cultural and urban planning of city gateways in ancient and present day Beijing, leading me to think that we need a radical rethink of how we treat gateway sites in Chinatown.
San Francisco is dead? Tell that to the thousands at Chinatown Night Market
Thousands filled Grant Avenue this weekend to sample neighborhood restaurants, take in a lion dance or dance themselves beneath the warm glow of d??nglóng…