Chicago Chinatown Trip
Friday, February 8, 2019, at 10:30 am. I, Yeeun, Dayoung, and Zawad arrived at Chinatown in Chicago. The weather was really cold. I have often been to Chinatown during the last semester, but it was the first time I have seen it in such detail.
First, we arrived at The Nine Dragon Wall just right ahead of the red line. There was a big wall at the entrance, so I felt welcome to Chinatown. First of all, I was impressed by the main color Gold. Chinese people like gold and red. They believe gold symbolizes wealth and red defeats ghosts. Chinese think of dragons as symbols of the Chinese nation. The ancient emperor called himself the Dragon Reincarnation, and Ming and Qing Dynasty built this wall to show the power of the Empire. Also, nine are meant to be healthy and immortal.
The first thing that stands out after passing through the Nine Dragon wall is the red Chinatown gate. As the center of Chicago Chinatown, it marks the beginning of the town. The four Chinese characters on the middle of the gate mean “the world belongs to the commonness”, which is said to be a famous term reflecting the spirit of the Chinese people in the early 1900s.
We also could see the banner about Lunar New Year parade. It was held on Sunday, February 10, 2019. The parade commenced at 1:00 p.m. at 24th Street and Wentworth Avenue.
As soon as you pass the Chinatown gate, what you see right in front of you is the Pui Tak Center. The building built from 1926 to 1928 was a traditional Chinese design, and the wall used terra cotta. It was for the Chinese Christian Union Church. Now, this building run by the educational center which is teaching English to Chinese people and there are Education and Training for Adult, Computer Center, Music Program, New Immigrant Services.
Unlike New China Town, there are many places are selling food, souvenirs, traditional Chinese goods. What really impressed me was that many stores don’t sell just one. For example, a restaurant that sells hotpot sells iron ice cream and cafe that sells souvenirs as well. Most of the people looked like Chinese and I saw some Westerners, too. Most of Chicagoans seemed to come here for a meal.
We walked a little more from Wentworth Avenue and went to the American Chinese Museum. On the first floor, I saw an exhibition about traditional Chinese clothing ‘Qipao’. The most impressive of all was the foot-binding. China had a tradition of making their feet smaller from the Tang Dynasty until the early 20th Century because it was the standard of beauty. In fact, looking at really small shoes made me feel pain.
I went up to the second floor and watched a movie about Chinese long-distance migration from China to Chicago. The film also spoke out their own voices in other culture and what role they were playing in this community. It was a good time to learn Chinese immigrants are how much they relied on each other and how they had adapted to the community while contributing to society.
Before the video was shown, we met a volunteer working there. He continued to speak Chinese and Japanese to us even he knew we are Korean. Also, he asked if our grandmother or grand-grand mother could speak Japanese, absolutely they could not speak Japanese. He was a racist who knew Japan invaded Korea. Later, on the first floor, I explained to staffs that how much he rude and what he did. They apologized to us, but it was a really unpleasant experience that I couldn’t forget.
Next, we went to the New Chinatown Library through the Chinatown Gate again. I already knew that the famous architectural company SOM built this building. The void, in the middle, was visually opened and red color for decoration represented it was a library in Chinatown. I saw books and videos for children on the ground floor (I guess the first floor is safer and easy to access for kids) and on the second floor, I saw the comic books first, Zawad was interested in that. It was smaller than the library in my home town, but it seemed similar.
We went to Chinatown Square after we left the library. I was born in the Year of the Rat, so I took a picture in front of the statue of the Rat. Also, this year is the Year of the Pig, and the yellow bands around the statue were quite impressive. When I saw the Immigration Mosaic, I recalled the video I saw at the Chinese American Museum. It seemed to be a good picture of the settlement period in other cultures of Chinese immigrants.
Before going to the 12-year cycle of the zodiac in the square, there are two big gates with “wisdom” and “knowledge.” I thought this was the spirit of Chinese people because everyone had to go through the gates of “wisdom” and “knowledge.”
Countless shops and restaurants have arrived in the New China Town, located in the two-story building. Unlike old Chinatowns, it was characteristic that there was a lot of food to eat and there were a lot of beauty salons. Many of my Asian male friends cut their hair there. Men have to cut their hair often, and they said the hairdresser who’s used to Asian haircut their hair satisfied!
There is ‘Tous Les Jours’ which is a Korean bakery(It is the biggest bakery company in Korea), and employees who worked in there wore the same uniform as Korean and sold Korean bread and cakes, so I missed my hometown. Bubble tea stores were so popular and all of them seemed to be doing well. It is a race of tea.
We visited the grocery store and went to the place where they sold the snack. Japanese and Korean snacks were also notable. Since it is located in the same Eastern region and is close to each other, it seems to be all handled. I also went to a place where I sold tea. Because it is a country that really likes tea! There were also so many unfamiliar ingredients to think, “Can I eat this, too?”
Many immigrants were needed to be respected and a large part of their history. I think they made the Chinese-American Veterans Memorial for everyone who deserves to serve and be recognized in the community.
A Chinese friend who went with us to guide us (he doesn’t take this class) recommended this restaurant. Our friend Yeeun wanted to eat crab, so we ordered seafood mainly. We ordered dumpling, fried crab, fried seafood, and mapo tofu, and it was really good. He ordered so much that we should have packed almost all the food, but we enjoyed it in the evening.
You can see Chinese everywhere in the world. I was just accustomed to that circumstance and how they put down roots was out of my sight. However, now I know their effort to adjust to new social and I could realize the reason why they close ranks strongly. During this field trip, I also made a good memory with my classmates.
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