A new mural is planned to honor Chinatown’s history

Chinatown is no stranger to change, but a new project involving the iconic History of Chinatown mural may help preserve the community for generations to come.

Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation is in talks about removing the mural at 10th and Winter Streets and painting a new one in another location that would preserve elements of the existing one. The 15-month-long project is a response to PCDC’s plans to build affordable housing on the empty lot next to the mural, which would block the wall the artwork is on.

The mural, painted by artist Arturo Ho, was completed in 1996 for the 125th anniversary of Chinatown in Philadelphia. It portrays the history of the community, from the arrival of the early laundrymen to the fight against urban renewal in the 1960s and 1970s.

The site of the mural is just as important as the artwork itself. The 900 and 1000 blocks of Winter Street were significantly affected by extensive demolition to make way for the Vine Street Expressway and other redevelopment projects, causing the community to rally in response.

With its location facing the Vine Street Expressway, the mural “gives our people who live and work in this community a fence. It demarks our existence,” said John Chin, executive director of the development corporation.

For many community members in Chinatown, the mural represents struggle and resilience in the midst of ongoing displacement.

“It reminds people that we are here, and this is Chinatown,” said Chin.

From one big development plan after another, the mural has been a constant emblem in Chinatown’s history.

The proposed four-story building will be a mixed-use space with commercial space on the first floor that will be self-subsidizing and is slated to be completed within the next six months, said Sophia Wan, commercial development project associate with Chinatown’s development corporation. There will be six two-bedroom apartment units made affordable through Philadelphia Housing Authority project-based vouchers.

Projects like these are “critical to Chinatown’s survival,” said Chin. Due to its proximity to Center City, Chinatown faces greater risk of growing rent costs, according to a development corporation report on affordable housing in the neighborhood.

The federal poverty level for a single person in 2023 was about $15,000. Around 22% of two-person households in Chinatown make less than that annually, the report said.

Additionally, more than 60% of rentals in Chinatown are more than $1,000 per month, compared with 41% of units in all of Philadelphia, according to the report.

It’s unclear where the new mural will be situated or what it will look like, but the Chinatown development corporation has several possible locations in mind, including the nearby Pho 20 restaurant and at Eighth and Vine Streets, across from the organization’s new senior housing complex.

The new mural will be painted by artist Chenlin Cai, who has created a mock-up for community feedback. Cai was one of the lead artists who painted the mural on the Crane Chinatown Building at 10th and Vine Streets in 2022.

The mock-up has elements of the old mural to preserve its memory and “spread it to the next generation,” Cai said.

“I feel I have a duty to do this,” Cai said about including parts of the old mural into the new design. “I’m making something new for Chinatown and [will] focus on the past, [because] I don’t want people to lose their memory about the history.”

The development corporation invited community members to offer their opinions on the project at the summer festival in Chinatown on Saturday.

Community feedback is important because while a piece of artwork can “just be a material thing,” Chin said, it can also hold a deeper meaning. The mural is a “treasure that PCDC created and values,” he added.

“Like our AAPI ancestors, who had to sell family treasures to find their way to America, we have to do the same for Chinatown,” Chin said.