Chinatown x Alice Niu
State of Intent
Chinatown of San Francisco was rebuilt as a commercial and tourist center after the 1906 earthquake and its resulting fires. It was reconstructed by architect T. Paterson Ross and engineer A.W. Burgren who were hired by a local businessman Look Tin Eli. Because neither of them was Chinese nor had been to China, they relied on centuries-old images, primarily of religious vernacular, to develop the look of the new Chinatown. Even though these western-friendly remakes helped shift the public image of Chinese immigrants, it also perpetuated stereotypes about Chinese culture. Ultimately, these places are neither Chinese nor American, historically authentic or fully imaginative, but something in between, unique cultural and architectural mixtures of both Chinese and American history. These “Chinese” things were designed not only through a western interpretation but also designed for favoring western expectations.
Even though Chinese culture has been represented through the lens of western philosophy and aesthetic in America, the majority of Chinese immigrants have been more or less maintaining their cultural authenticity. Language, in this case, is not merely a tool for communication but a mean of passing on the originated culture. Chinatown community is therefore bilingual. A substantial part of preserving Chinese traditions is using the unique calendar system which is officially known as the Rural Calendar (農曆; 农历; Nónglì; ‘farming calendar’), or Lunar Calendar (陰曆; 阴历; Yīnlì; ‘yin calendar’). It provides nomenclature of dates and manages holidays within a year, although China uses the Gregorian calendar in its modern era. People use it as a guide of auspicious to make decisions of dates for weddings, funerals, moving, or starting a business and etc.
As a Chinese who was born and raised in Mainland China, I determine my identity based on the traditional culture by which I have been implicitly influenced. Through my research on the Chinatown community, I find out that Chinese Americans, regardless of their generations, are struggling to define their identity. Calendars can be media that links memory and identity. Since the younger generation of Chinese immigrants is raised within western society and less connected to their originated culture, specifically calendar and festivals. Therefore, this project is to help bring back memories of Chinese festivals and Chinatown culture together through a lunar calendar app. It will be a multi-language app with location and time zone setups so that it will contain festival event schedules in the city as well as ways of celebration. Also, it will contain the traditional 24 seasons and the history of each festival. The visual will refer to the traditional calendar.
