Art on Market Street - Chinatown: Love, Struggle, Resistance
Chinatown: Love, Struggle, Resistance
© Kayan Cheung-Miaw & Vida Kuang.Â
View all six posters in Chinese, Spanish, Tagalog and English: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sfac/albums/72177720300544664
In a few years, the San Francisco Chinatown we know may not exist anymore.Â
Even before the pandemic, Chinatown had many empty storefronts while hungry developers waited close by. Tenants were vulnerable to displacement due to lack of protection and economic instability. The pandemic also escalated the dehumanization of our AAPI communities through racist scrapgoating.Â
Our poster series highlights the stories of Chinatownâs mothers, workers and tenants. The comics foreground the themes of love, community, survival, and resistance.Â
Having our community membersâ stories visible and centered through Market Streetâs kiosks is a part of ensuring the Chinatown we call home will survive in post-pandemic San Francisco.Â
Chinatown: Love, Struggle, Resistance is part of the The Art on Market Street Kiosk Poster Series. This series is a project of the San Francisco Arts Commission and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.
 The Stories Behind the Comics
Most of the stories for this project are inspired by the oral history project âOur Intergenerational Stories æČæćżèČ: ćź¶ â where mothers, women, tenants and workers are invited to tell their own stories. Listen and read the stories that inspired this poster series (forthcoming):
Poster 1 Freedom: Ah Lianâs storyÂ
Poster 2 Climate MarchÂ
Poster 3 Waiting: Ah Lianâs storyÂ
Poster 4 Two Americas: Ah Lianâs storyÂ
Poster 5 Essential Worker: Huang Jieâs storyÂ
Poster 6 ResistanceÂ
Our Intergenerational Stories æČæćżèČ: ćź¶ was curated and led by M. Min-Chong Lin and Vida Kuang in 2019 as part of an Intergenerational Oral Storytelling and Photography Workshop Series in partnership with the Chinese for Affirmative Action and their parent leaders.Â
 To learn about and to support the organizing of our communities, please visit:
SRO Families United CollaborativeÂ
Chinese Progressive Association SF (CPA)Â
Asians 4 Black LivesÂ
SF Anti-Displacement Coalition
To learn more about the history of Asian American organizing:
Chinatown RisingÂ
Asian Americans PBS documentary seriesÂ
Thank you for sharing your stories: Ah Lian, Ivy, Huang Jie
Thank you for sharing your photos: Ah Ai (Poster 3, inside SRO photo), Ah Yu (Poster 1, playground photo), Chinatown Community Development Center (Poster 1, shower photo), Brooke Anderson (Poster 6, images of activists), Vida Kuang (Poster 3, SRO hallway photos), Stanley Tudor (Poster 1, kitchen photo)Â
Thank you to my movement siblings: Laiwa Wu, Emily Lee, and Cynthia FongÂ
Thank you Tere Almaguer for your guidance in depicting Danza Azteca and for photograph modelingÂ
Thank you for the translations: the San Francisco Office of Civic Engagement & Immigrant Affairs.
Thank you for the support and for making this project possible: Craig Corpora and the San Francisco Arts Commission.
Thank you for modeling for us and providing childcare, and endless support: Ben Lee, Pam Tau Lee, Calvin Cheung-Miaw