How we reactivated the Chinatown Plaza Mall & 3 things to ensure it continues
Here's how you can help reclaim space and culture from gentrifiers in Chinatown
Late last year, we wrote about the “dead mall in Chinatown” owned by the City of Vancouver where the mall management called the police on seniors trying to do tai chi and the City’s Real Estate Department would rather leave it vacant so they can get top dollar on the leases.
Frustrated with what’s happening (or rather, not happening) at the mall, through Chinatown Together, we decided to host a guerrilla Lunch and Learn Chinese School last October, to start reclaiming the only indoor City-owned space in Chinatown for the community with culture.
And we didn’t give up there.
Two Saturdays ago, we were able to activate the space with Tea and Paint Lanterns with lucky.munyi, with support from the City of Vancouver this time around.
While we painted lanterns for Lantern Festival, we sipped on tea from a local herbal shop and snacked on spring rolls from a plaza food court vendor, Min Feng, to support Chinatown businesses. A regular patron of Happy Hair Styling in the plaza remarked how great it was to see the plaza so lively! (By the way, Happy Hair has great haircuts at extremely affordable prices.)
Take a look for yourself:
Here’s a mini recap video of the day:
It doesn’t end here. We have a whole season of cultural events planned for you — from traditional Chinese calligraphy to Chinese square dancing to kung fu workshops and more — all with the goal of reactivating Chinatown’s City-owned spaces, including the Chinatown Plaza Mall, with you! (Keep an eye out for upcoming events by Chinatown Together here.)
But these events are at real risk of not continuing.
In order to ensure these events continue so that we can practice culture and reclaim space from gentrifiers in Chinatown, we need 3 things to happen:
The City should let us continue to use City-owned spaces like the Chinatown Plaza Mall, without gouging us on rental fees (which they have) or forcing us to get permission from the Chinatown BIA (which they are doing now for the public outdoor Chinatown Memorial Plaza. Background: Jordan Eng, who leads the BIA, implied to the media that we and our queer and trans friends at Queer Lunar New Year “bring Chinatown down” when asked to comment on why we’re initially banned from the Chinatown Spring Festival Parade). Please support us by liking and sharing on X/Twitter (here and here) and Instagram (here and here) our most recent event posts. If you've attended a Chinatown Together event, please fill out a survey here so we can demonstrate your support to the City.
Your continued participation in events signals to the City there’s interest in sustained cultural activity in Chinatown. Join us for tai chi with community elder and activist Mrs. Ma this upcoming Saturday at the Sun Yat Sen Courtyard!
Your financial support to the Chinatown Together Cultural Events Fund are crucial to help fund the community events. All of our events are free, intergenerational, and multilingual, but they do cost money to run. We currently have no confirmed funding sources from July onwards, so we need your help! Donate here.
Thank you in advance for your support. Let’s make sure we can keep practicing culture in Chinatown together!
Upcoming Events in Chinatown
Continue to help reclaim space and culture with Chinatown Together and our friends!
Harmony in the Courtyard: Tai Chi with community elder Mrs. Ma (Sat, Mar 9, 2pm, Sun Yat Sen Courtyard) - Chinatown Together event
The Voiceless Rise Up - #METOO in China - Exhibition Opening (Sat, Mar 9, 7pm-10pm) - UniCome event
The Voiceless Rise Up - Film Screening at the #METOO in China Exhibition (Sun, Mar 10, 7pm) - UniCome event
Tai Chi with Yarrow (Sat, Mar 23, 2pm, Level 2, 268 Keefer St, Sun Wah) - Yarrow event
Keep up to date with our events calendar here.