COMMUNITY
July 16, 2018
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 9
Photographer captures the people
and sights of Portland’s Chinatown
PEOPLE OF CHINATOWN. The first exhibit
to be featured at the newly opened Portland China-
town Museum is “Made in Chinatown U.S.A.: Port-
land.” The display, which opened in June and is on
view through September 2, is a collection of images
by Seattle photographer Dean Wong. Pictured
are “Lan Su Garden Baby” (top photo) and “N.W.
Chinese Fistology Lion Dancer.” (Photos courtesy
of the artist)
By Kelly La Croix
The Asian Reporter
he first exhibit to be featured at the
newly opened Portland Chinatown
Museum is “Made in Chinatown
U.S.A.: Portland.” The display, which
opened in June and is on view through
September 2, is a collection of images by
Seattle photographer Dean Wong.
Wong has been making trips to Portland
over the past two years to document the
current state of Portland’s Chinatown.
The result is a varied and complex
collection of images that reflect a historic
district in transition. Accompanying the
photos are statements and stories penned
by the artist, many about the people he
met and the conditions he found during his
visits. Some include quotes by the people
he photographed.
“Before there were a lot of people living
here,” reads a card quoting Golden Horse
restaurant owner Sophie Li. “In the old
days, lots of Chinese people. Chinatown
was more busy. More Chinese people came
down here.”
Another statement offers the words of
Shu Yuan Hsu, owner of the Chinatown
Convenience Store: “It’s kind of sad. We
had more stores. We had three bookstores,
eight restaurants. Now a lot are gone. … If
they continue selling buildings, this
Chinatown will be empty.”
Adding weight to these sentiments, one
of the photograph’s titles proclaims that
there are only seven Chinese residents
currently living in Chinatown. The words
accompanying the photo state that the
seven are housed in rooms at the Gee How
Oak Tin Association, where they share a
communal kitchen and bathrooms.
In contrast to the wary tone and
boarded-up buildings displayed in some of
the images, several of the photos depict
Chinese-American youth in vibrant color,
candidly seen enjoying the neighborhood
or performing in parades.
One photo titled “N.W. Chinese
Fistology Lion Dancer” features a young
woman in bright yellow emerging from her
lion costume with a look of confidence.
T
Other
images
highlight
family
dynamics.
In “Lan Su Garden Baby,” Wong
captures a child carried in a traditional
Chinese way, on a grandmother’s back in a
sling, or mei tai.
Other photos hint at the long history of
the remaining community.
In a series of four photos depicting the
Yat Sing Music Club, members of the
Cantonese opera group are shown
practicing musical instruments in their
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rehearsal space, in front of a wall of
pictures that date back to the club’s
beginnings in the 1940s.
Wong has travelled to many Chinatowns
in his artistic pursuits. When asked about
Portland’s Chinatown, the photographer
reflects with the same complexity seen in
the images he captures, highlighting both
the decline of Chinese businesses in the
district and his hope for the future, and
specifically, the role the Portland China-
town Museum can play in that future.
“It’s very fragile. You’ve got developers
out there, ready to sink their teeth into
this, and they don’t care about the history,”
Wong said. “I want the community in
Portland to come and support this
museum. Be a member, encourage your
friends to be members, encourage your
children to go to school and tell their
teacher about this museum so they can
come down for a field trip and learn ... to
share the Chinese culture and history.”
Sharing the Chinese-American experi-
ence is a large part of Wong’s work, which
ranges from his 15 years of journalism and
editing with the International Examiner to
his activism for Seattle’s Chinatown-
International District to the 2016 release
of his American Book Award-winning
Seeing the Light: Four Decades in
Chinatown, which highlights images of
Chinatowns across the U.S. and Canada.
Seeing the Light was propelled not only
by his wish to share experiences, but by
life-changing twin tragedies. His wife Jan
and best friend, Donnie Chin, died within
two months of each other. Wong said
taking photos in these locales was helpful
to him during that difficult time.
“Two months after my best friend was
shot to death, my wife died. ... I [had]
nothing left in my life, so I decided ‘I’m
getting on a plane, I’m going to … photo-
graph San Francisco. And when I came
back, I went to Vancouver, B.C., went to
Oakland Chinatown, too. And Seattle
Chinatown.’ So photography became
therapy; it took my mind off things.”
Motivated by a personal need to deal
with grief, a love of Chinese-American
culture, and a genuine caring for people
that shows in the dignity he treats his
subjects, Wong has captured a place that is
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