SAN FRANCISCO—Businesses in Chinatown have been suffering from a significant financial impact due to the current pandemic, which includes the declining number of tourists and racial discrimination towards Chinese people due to the pandemic, according to a survey by the Angus Reid Institute.
The Chinese Lion Dance was performed to celebrate the 58th anniversary of the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory in the midst of financial difficulty on Saturday, August 8.
The Lion Dance is a traditional dance from Asian culture, the performance included colorful lions walking around and loud festival music played in order to bring good luck and fortune by scaring bad spirits away. The dance was shown at the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory, a traditional fortune cookie-factory located on Ross Alley in the heart of San Francisco’s Chinatown. In CBS SF Bay Area’s report, factory owner Kevin Chan said the dance of this year was for Chinatown itself. “I thought we could just bring a little life for the community and, hopefully, more people will come to Chinatown and support the community because our community is dead.”
Chinatown relies on tourists financially but they do not have many these days, according to CBS SF Bay Area. To allow for outdoor dining, six blocks of Grant Avenue have been closed. $500 grants are available for businesses to help them pay for any necessary equipment to bring their businesses outside.
CBS SF Bay Area interviewed Oakland resident Sonny Le, a Chinese immigrant, and he said “Harsh rhetoric blaming the Chinese for the coronavirus may be discouraging merchants from trying to be more high-profile.” According to a survey released by the Angus Reid Institute, a Canadian public opinion research organization, half of Chinese residents said they have been victims of racial discrimination following the spread of the new coronavirus, while 43% further said they’ve been threatened or intimidated.
