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This image was made at Grant and California in San Francisco in the Chinatown neighborhood. (Scanned from an Ektachrome slide)
I didn't go inside the wax museum in Chinatown in San Francisco when I was there summer 1979. I found a news article that the museum closed in 1983 and its artifacts were sold. The article quoted a man who bought some of the artifacts as saying it was the only museum of its kind at the time devoted to Chinese culture. (Scanned from an Ektachrome slide)
Unusual statue on roof of tall building to the left. I love the red awning-sign in English and Chinese. The contrasts and shapes.
Taken as we walked out of Chinatown back into downtown San Francisco.
See my set, San Francisco!
photo taken from MUNI 12-Folsom-Pacific bus,
Pacific Street between Stockton and Grant,
Chinatown San Francisco
On the corner of Grant and Broadway, Artist Bill Weber created these art works to depict various cultures coming together, as neighborhoods of North Beach and Chinatown.
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-- Weber recounted, Giovanni Toracca commissioned the murals.
Joe hisaishi live concert - Oriental Wind :
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwlsNxaORtE&feature=related
Chinatown in San Francisco (close to the French Quarter). It's a great place, I like it :-))
Columbus Street, San Francisco 1988
maps.google.com/maps?q=map san francisco&ll=37.796199...
Yashica T-4 p/s camera with Ilford HP5 film
Late afternoon light,
intersection of Vallejo and Powell,
Chinatown/North Beach district, San Francisco
photographed 2005
When’s the last time you were in Chinatown? Unless you work or live nearby or have had recent out-of-town visitors wanting dim sum, it’s probably been months. Now there’s a reason to go. New public art aimed at revitalizing Chinatown. Just unveiled, two murals and four installations in vacant storefront windows or on nondescript walls have Chinatown-related themes. One on Wentworth Alley is inspired by Another piece on Wentworth, ”If These Walls Could Talk,” is a montage of images of the street’s residents, plus audio excerpts of interviews with them and neighborhood sounds.
The carp fish is a commonly seen visual pun because the Chinese character for carp (li 鲤) is pronounced the same as both the character (li 利) for "profit" and the character (li 力) for "strength" or "power".
The carp is also a symbol for an abundance of children because it produces many eggs. A pair of carp symbolizes a harmonious marriage.
A frequently seen image is of a carp swimming and leaping against the current of a river to reach the spawning grounds. This refers to the legend (liyutiaolongmen 鲤鱼跳龙门) that a carp which is able to leap over the mythical "Dragon Gate" will become a dragon. This is an allegory for the persistent effort needed to overcome obstacles.
Carp
See my set, San Francisco!
San Francisco Chinatown is the largest Chinatown outside of Asia as well as the oldest Chinatown in North America. It is one of the top tourist attractions in San Francisco. You can use this site to learn more about the attractions, culture, history, and events in Chinatown. If you plan to visit us, you can book a Chinatown tour, hotel rooms, and more.
Silverwing Cafe on Kearny Street, old International Hotel can be seen in the window reflection, 855 Kearny Street, San Francisco
Photograph taken 1978
Tong Kee
Washington Street between Grant and Stockton,
San Francisco , photographed 2002
Fuji gs645s rangefinder with Ilford FP4 film
shot from upstairs balcony window of Sam Wo restaurant,
Washington between Grant and Waverley, San Francisco
Yashica T4 with Ilford FP4 film, photographed 1996
Chinese Lions Animal imagery has always been an important element in Chinese art, but few have lasted as long—or remained as popular—as Chinese lions. Also known as ‘Foo Dogs’, or ‘Lions of Buddha’, Chinese lions are found outside palaces and temples, and are often carved into the building as door steps, eaves and beam ends. Admired in Japan and Korea as much as in China, the animal statues combine artistic achievement, symbolic power and a cute folksiness that makes them popular with people of all ages.
During the Shang dynasty, the taotie, a highly stylized animal face, was placed on bronze vessels left in tombs and engraved into weapons. As a motif, it remained popular throughout the period, changing in style and, it is believed, in meaning. To some, the face’s fierce expression suggest that it was intended as a kind of guardian or even a symbol of royal power; to others, the creature’s bulbous eyes and prominent fangs mark the first tentative appearance of the dragon in Chinese art. Over time, the taotie faded as a motif to be replaced during the Han dynasty by artistic influences from the north and west of the country. The Xiongnu, the nomadic northern tribes against whom the Yellow Emperor had built the Great Wall, led Chinese artists to inlay their bronze weapons and implements with realistic hunting scenes that included tigers, deer and even unicorns. At the same time, freestanding stone animal sculpture was being used for the first time, especially in the form of horses and bears. This was the period when the lion made its first appearance in Chinese art, most likely as a result of contacts with the relics of Assyria and Babylon but also as an element of Buddhist art which was then beginning to spread through China along the Silk Road. For Buddhists, the lion is regarded as a protector of truth and a defender against evil. The Buddha Shakyamuni is referred to as the Lion of the Shakya clan, and in India, lions were often shown supporting the Buddha’s throne. Other than a gift from the King of Parthia in 87 AD however, China had no lions of its own, and that may be one of the reasons that the statues have remained more stylized than realistic. After this initial brief appearance during the Han dynasty, the lion disappeared from Chinese art to return during the Tang dynasty when Chinese artistic achievement reached its peak.
Foo Dogs take their name from the Chinese term for Buddhism, fojiao, but are also known as ‘Fu Lions’, a homonym based on the Chinese word ‘Fu’ meaning luck or prosperity. In Japan, where the statues are placed outside Shinto shrines, the images are called shishi, which means ‘stone lion’ in Chinese. They are also known in Japan as ‘Korean dogs,’ probably because the statues reached Japan from China via Korea. Because the images have existed for so many years, the meaning of the symbols attached to the animals has grown and changed. Today, there are more explanations for each element of the statues’ iconography as there are differences in style. Although male/male pairs are common, Chinese lions usually appear as male/female pairs with the male holding a ball under one paw, and the female holding a lion cub which lies on its back. One Chinese legend holds that female lions have nipples on the bottoms of their paws which they use to suckle the cub. The ball is believed to represent the union of Heaven and Earth, or the totality of Buddhist law, and the cub is believed to represent the world. Alternatively, Chinese today like to point out that while the male lion plays with a ball, the female lion is left to look after the baby.
In imperial times, lions were often displayed outside the homes of Chinese state officials where the number of curls on the lion’s back indicated the official’s rank in the bureaucratic system. The use of lions with thirteen curls was restricted to the imperial family and officials of the first rank, and the number of curls dropped by one with each level. Officials below the seventh grade were forbidden to display stone lions at all. Chinese lions are often shown looking away from each other. Their mouths may be closed to shelter and keep in the good spirits or open to scare off demons. Some believe that open-mouthed lions are making the mantric sounds ‘ah’ and ‘um.’
See my set, San Francisco!