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The Lion Dance & History of Honolulu's Chinatown

Chinese New Year is on February 7, 2008 and the festivities have gone on all week to celebrate the Year of the Rat.

Hawaii is so diverse with many cultures and it is always a unique experience when different festivities pop up for different ethnic cultures.

We missed yesterdays "Night in Chinatown Festival and Parade" so we hurried to the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet today (flea market) to catch the Chinese Lion Dance and wishing well wishes on each of the vendors for a year of prosperity.

Everyone stopped shopping to take pictures and feed the lion dollars. When the lion opened his mouth I slipped a dollar in and boy did I get a wonderful bow and a couple of squirmy moves!

Chinatown has a variety of shops, fish, meat and vegetable markets, wares, restaurants and anything and everything you can think of coming from the orient. Our Chinatown is not only Chinese shops but Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean and Filipino and more.

The Chinese & Chinatown's History in Hawaii:

The Chinese arrived on two ships back in December of 1788.
In the 1800's the Chinese set up shops in Chinatown to sell their wares.
Between 1852 and 1876 over 3900 Chinese came to Hawaii as import laborers to work in the fast growing sugar cane industry. The made up 49% of our work force for the plantations.
By 1884 the number working in plantations declined due to many wanting to be self employed with their own shops and selling their wares.
In 1886 the big Chinatown fire destroyed 7,000 Chinese homes and 350 homes of the Native Hawaiians. Most of Chinatown was destroyed with over eight blocks burned.
In 1900 the Board of Health deliberately set fires to buildings built not under code but mainly to wipe out the Bubonic Plague spreading through Chinatown.

Kung Hee Fat Choy! (Happy Chinese New Year to One and All!!)

Posted by Celeste "SALLY" Cheeseman HAWAII Relocations & Real Estate on 02/03/2008 09:32 PM

Comments (38)

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Originally posted at: Hawaii Real Estate & Relocations : The Lion Dance & History of Honolulu's Chinatown

This post has been included in Hawaii Information Honolulu County, HI Information

38 Comments on The Lion Dance & History of Honolulu's Chinatown

FEB

2008

Hi Sally, it must be fun to live in such a diverse culture. There's always so much to learn from each other.

Photos and history. Sally, you really go the extra mile to make your posts interesting, and you engage your readers. Thanks.

Mike in Tucson

Linda: It is fun Linda! No matter what...there's something different going on :)

Mike: Thanks Mike....I'm glad!

Sally, I would have LOVED to feed the dragon! What a fun thing to go to and experience. I love the little shops they have and the diversity there is wonderful. I was sad reading about the fires and burning but I see that nothing stops them. Our Chinatown in New York is so large now it has taken over other areas of the City!

Sally that lion has a great job! Easy to make $$$ for sure. Your Chinatown looks like a teriffic place to have a memorable vacation. Reminds me of NYC. Love it!

Carole: It was so cute Carole! They open the mouth...you stick in on the tongue looking part and they close their mouth...bow a thank you and do a bunch of dance moves...that was neat! I tell you what...though it burned ...it was rebuilt and rebuilt and there are still many OLD buildings, newer buildings and so forth :) Our business district is a few blocks down too.

Lizette: I think it was a club or something. Pretty neat. In Mililani they have them go around to the businesses as well.

Sally,

Looks like a fun event and your pic's are really cool! I think my year is the monkey.....;)

Sally, Looks like such a fun day.. I was wondering....If they had a dancing RAT would you have fed it? LOL?

Hi Sally,

Neat photos, I would have loved to see that myself. We had a great time ourselves last week at Aloha Stadium, we made the rounds.

FEB

2008

Sally- Year of the rat. I'm of the Rat sign in Chinese Zodiac. I should also celebrate.

How fun you got to feed the lion for good luck. And how's that swap meet? It must be incredible.

Sally, a Big Kung Hee Fat Choy to you as well. You have definitely educated me on your wonderful state.

Sally,
What a fun Sunday! Is it my imagination or do you guys have more fun there?

I remember seeing the China town scene on Hawaii 5 'O :)

Sally - Those pictures are really cool and I love learning about the cultures and traditions. I have marked my calender for the Chinese New Year and thanks for the reminder !

Sally, These posts are so cool. I love history. It looks like Hawaii has lots of history that I was not aware of.

Sally--I never realized that Honolulu had a China Town...I learn so much from you!

Sally - sorry we missed that by a few days. There's never enough time to do all we want to do, see all we want to see, and spend enough time with friends - but that always gives us reasons to come back. Hope we can host you in Florida!

Sis - I can't wait to visit!!!!

Suzanne: Mine is the Rooster and it sure tells a great story. Our bookeeper is a monkey too.

Ginger: I think so too lol! It is a celebration of good luck and prosperity so yeah....

Lynda: You and Marlene must have been pooped going around the whole place. Good stuff to take back though huh?

Mark: This IS your year! Celebrate!

Georgina: You ever been to the stadium swap meet? Wonderful and huge! Chinatown would have been more fun the night before.

Thanks Dan! Glad you could get some info!

Cynthia: We MAKE our fun haha!

Neal: Of course you do! I believe that you really want to get to Hawaii and have wanted to since childhood...you watched brady bunch, HI 5 O and remember everything. :)

Melissa: So do I .....interesting stuff huh?

Matt: Plenty of history all over the world. :)

Teri: Don't all places have some oriental kind of block or something? I see it on tv and stuff :)

Sharon: Haven't been to Florida since the early 80's when we went to Jacksonville.

Jason: I presume soon? :)

Sally- I love your history lessons, they come alive through your experience and your wonderful photos brimming with vivid colors and drizzled with your sweet spirit! I love the Chinatown in Hawaii, in San Francisco, in Chicago and in Vancouver BC. I have been to all of those. Japanese food is my favorite, followed by Chinese, then Thai.

Hi Sally, Happy New Year! Thanks for sharing some history with us. We had a huge Chinese population where I lived in So.CA and I miss that here in NC. Have a great week!

Cheryl: I thank you for your compliments and glad it's helped you. We learn so much here on ActiveRain don't we?

Katerina: It was drizzling and stuff yesterday although I did manage to get a few shots :) We were going to go around the fish and vege markets but it started pouring.

Sally, I had no idea that Honolulu had a Chinese settlement there that long ago. Fascinating history and lovely pictures.....looks like fun! I love reading your posts about the history of your area....and all of your other posts too.

(-:

You always amaze me - I can just picture you waking up in the middle of the night with a new blog idea - keep em coming

Sally this would have made a great video. Is the custom of feeding the Lion dollars a Chinese custom or is that something the the Hawaii/American culture has added?

Jo: Thanks Jo...I'm glad you enjoy

Thesa: I actually get an idea and jot it down until I get to it LOL!

George: Chinese custom. I wish I had remembered the Saturday Chinatown festival..that would have really be fun!

Sally- If I closed my eyes I can visualize being there.....now that Lion for the New Year that I missed, but visualizing you with your camera, and all the other shoppers makes me smile......thanks :)