rss feedLooking back at a Chinese lion in Seattle
This Chinese lion dance team performs during the Lunar New Year celebration in Seattle's Chinatown in 1921. The group also helped raise money for famine relief in China. Photo source: PEMCO Webster & Stevens Collection (courtesy of the Museum of History and Industry and spotted in an outdoor, public display by The Wing Luke Asian Museum)
As you’ve noticed, I’ve been on a run with Chinese dragons and lions lately – what with the Year of the Tiger that started Sunday.
I know it’s a day after the Lunar New Year began – and people still are celebrating. I thought I’d continue with one more post about lion heads used during Lunar New Year festivities.
Why?
Well, to quote singer (and pop philosopher) Kenny Rogers: “You’ve got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them.”
I’m holding on to this idea for just a bit longer.
I’m also doing this because I recall a person telling me years ago that the past is prologue.
But you know what?
The past is also actually fascinating – and worth spending time reviewing and understanding. It’s more than just a preliminary discourse to something else.
A gold lion head sits inside Uwajimaya, the Asian supermarket in Seattle, to mark the Lunar New Year.
You can actually learn new insights.
Take a look at the black-and-white image that I posted above of this Chinese lion dance team in Seattle’s Chinatown in 1921.
I spotted it in a public display that The Wing Luke Asian Museum put up in an office building window near Uwajimaya, the large Asian supermarket in Seattle.
The team is standing in front of the Hotel Milwaukee, the hallmark building that was built by Goon Dip, a Chinese man active in Seattle’s community and business affairs.
HistoryLink has details of his community work and notes that he built the elegant hotel at 668 King St. with the goal of housing people who attended the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle.
That was Washington state’s first world’s fair and drew an estimated 3 million people from the state and around the world, according to History Link.
Based on Google’s street view mapping system, the address of the Hotel Milwaukee that you can see today matches what HistoryLink describes.
Goon Dip’s name also appears above the building’s main doorway.
About two years ago, I interviewed shopkeepers who left retail space in the Hotel Milwaukee. At the time, the new owner was renovating the building to turn rooms into apartments.
The black-and-white image gives people in 2010 an idea of just how long Chinese lion dances have been taking place in Seattle – in this case, nearly 90 years.
Saturday’s Chinese lion dances took place near the Chinatown Gate – just blocks from the Hotel Milwaukee.
Modern life is worthwhile, rewarding and terrific.
But so too are many traditions.
What I like about the black-and-white image from 1921 is that it gives us a glimpse of a lion’s head and its design.
I’ve been noticing that lion head designs actually differ – and liked seeing the image that the New York Daily News captured.
I had never seen a lion’s head with a larger forehead and protruding eyes on the sides. The colors and paint designs are worth studying.
Now, that I think about it, the image in the New York Daily News might actually be a Qilin.
I’m accustomed to the lion head that my parents bought for our family more than 30 years ago in San Francisco Chinatown, as well as the fluffy, friendly ones that my family and I saw Saturday in Seattle.
Mak Fai, the Seattle martial arts master, who brought his lions, dragon and crew to the streets during Saturday’s celebration, noted different styles that he uses.
He apparently seeks out quality lion heads and noted that they have been used since the Tang Dynasty (618 to 907 AD).
If his estimate is correct – and I have no reason to doubt him – the use of lion heads during Lunar New Year festivals would date back over 1,000 years.
Of course, the use of lion heads would vary, given China’s history and ethnic Chinese around the world celebrating the holiday.
My wife found this online essay in Chinese about the use of lion heads during Lunar New Year.
Her summary of this article is that lions are not indigenous to China and – according to this essay writer – might have come with traders along the Silk Road, possibly as gifts to the emperor.
The story goes that people would use a real lion to entertain the emperor, possibly as early as the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD)
Later, people in China would use bird and other animal masks for entertainment during festivals. Eventually, the use of those other animals disappeared.
But the use of the lion figure – which is seen as fortuitous – continued.
And apparently, the use of lion figures grew in popularity in China during the late 1800s and early 1900s – or during the end of the Qing Dynasty (1616 to 1911 AD).
It appears that Mak Fai also was aware of using five lions during the Lunar New Year festivities.
This essay writer notes that five lions are typically used to represent the four directions – north, south, east and west – as well as the center.
On Mak Fai’s Web site, he also has two Qilin styles. These mythical creatures are a mixture of different types of animals.
Mak Fai, the Seattle martial arts master who trains lion dancers, also has this style, called the Gold Qilin. Photo source: Mak Fai Washington Kung Fu Club
If you’ve visited the Summer Palace in Beijing, you’ve probably seen a statue of the creature.
I never realized what they were.
Though their bodies look similar to a lion, they have, what looks to me like, dragon-style heads. I’m glad he posted images online.
I don’t know what else to say right now - except that I’m glad I spotted that black-and-white photograph taken in 1921.
Oh, yes: I try to limit my use of archival photographs on my blog posts.
But I have seen some in the past and used them to illustrate points or talk about history.
Cases in point: Fu Pei-Mei, the famous chef from Taiwan, and the Aerocar.
As always: Thank you to my wife for helping answer my questions about Chinese history.
