Chinatown Chronicles
An Exhibition of Artwork in
Response to Interior Chinatown
by Contemporary Artists
“Racism was rampant. At the time of the quake, the immoral Chinatown presented by anti-Chinese forces-the one filled with gambling, prostitution, opium dens, and cheap labor competition-needed to be replaced by a better face, and fast, since the San Francisco Board of Supervisors had increasingly threatened the community with forcible removal. The opening of the earth, at five twelve A.M. on April 18, 1906, became the moment for reinvention. Soon afterward, the specifics of Chinatown’s new construction were determined by Chinese merchants Look Tin Eli and Tong Bong, who hired the architect-engineer team of T. Patterson Ross and A. W. Burgren to build the Sing Fat Co. building and the Sing Chong Co. Chinese bazaar.” (Page 22)
— Bonnie Tsui, American Chinatown: a people’s history of five neighborhoods
