Chinatown
Born in China and studied in the United States, I practiced street photography in New York Chinatown to understand my cross-cultural background. This is an ongoing photography project which I started in 2018. I spend my weekends in Manhattan Chinatown or Flushing, New York, both of which are home to major Chinese-American communities. They are the blend of two distinct cultures, and have always been attractive to me.
They look like any other small town in China, but have more signs with different fonts and English translations. Compared to other areas in New York, they have greater diversity and concentration of Chinese restaurants, massages, beauty salons and Asian population. Everything in Chinatown has its own distinct personality and character, in contrast to the Chinese bland metropolitan image of the cities. Here I could find a white menu on the wall with red graffiti painted below by street artists, or a Mexican fruit merchant posing to the camera. There is a kind of indescribable sense of incongruity, but also colorful, vivid, and appealing.
The subject from this project ranges from merchants, to residents, apartments, posters, supermarkets and restaurants. This project documents the intersection of Chinese and American culture in New York.
