Writing and Wayfaring: Chi-Town's Chinatown

Friday, January 31, 2014

Chi-Town's Chinatown

Chicago's Chinatown

Saddle up, friends. Today is Chinese New Year and the first day of the Year of the Horse. In honor of this day, I'm sharing some pics of Chicago's Chinatown neighborhood. These pics were taken this past summer, in July or August 2013, on an ordinary weekday in Chinatown. No celebratory firecrackers or dragon dancers, no bad luck spirits needing chasing away, no festivals of lovely lit lanterns. Just Chicago people going about their day in one of the city's better-known south-side neighborhoods.

Summer's day on the streets of Chicago's Chinatown

Looking north on Wentworth Avenue

Of course, it would be great to have some pictures of the firecracking fun going on in Chicago's Chinatown today. But as with every Chinese New Year in Chicago, it's just simply too cold for a street party. It's for this reason I was thrilled to witness a Chinese New Year celebration in Melbourne, Australia, a few years ago. Winter in Chicago is summer in Melbourne. And the summer I was in Melbourne was a genuine scorcher. In honor of the new year, Melbourne's Chinatown was filled with smoke and drumbeats and dancing dragons and swathes of red. It was so much fun, I nearly forgot I was sweating like a horse the whole time...or like an ox (2009's animal, thank you very much). If you'd like a glimpse of what Chinese New Year celebrations look like in warm-weather climates, check out my post on A Melbourne Chinese New Year. Otherwise, enjoy these pics of Chicago's own Chinatown.