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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2012 20:00:59 GMT
The year of the dragon begins on January 23rd, but obviously the preparations have been underway for some time all around the world. Obviously, Paris is not a hotbed of Chinese culture compared to the cities of Asia, but with a Chinese population of 200,000 it cannot be completely ignored. And as for the year of the dragon, a number of notable people share the honour of having been born on the most auspicious sign of the Chinese horoscope: Andy Warhol, Chuck Norris, Colin Farrell, Courtney Cox, Courtney Love, David Hasselhoff, John Lennon, Keanu Reeves, Kirk Douglas , Lenny Kravitz, Michael Douglas , Michelle Obama, Mickey Rourke, Mr. T, Nicolas Cage, Patrick Swayze, Rihanna, Ringo Starr, Ronaldo, Russell Crowe, Kerouac2... Wow, when you think of the losers of the other signs, they must be devastated. Anyway, to my knowledge, there are two arrondissements in Paris that celebrate Chinese New Year more than the others. This morning, on my way to the movies, I stopped off in the Faubourg Saint Martin, which is the center of the Chinese garment district. The competing Jewish garment district is a bit to the south in the 3rd arrondissement. It didn't take long as I walked from Gare de l'Est to see a few indications of the upcoming festivities.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2012 20:14:47 GMT
Just as an aside, my scrutiny of the street this morning caused me to learn that there is a special word which the Chinese consider to be considerably auspicious for prosperity in commerce. I did notice that the red lanterns were only displayed by "volunteers" and not installed everywhere like Christmas decorations often are. But there was no lack of volunteers on this street.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2012 20:35:42 GMT
After my movie (not good at all), I took the metro to (the big) Chinatown in the 13th arrondissement. My attention was immediately drawn to some noisemaking next to the main Buddhist temple. (For some reason, I have not yet visited the temple itself -- I may be saving it for a "Buddhist Paris" thread.) As I approached, I saw that some dragons were rehearsing for the upcoming events. A dragon lady was in charge and was informing the innards of the two dragons in training how to move, swerve and move the spine up and down. I would have loved to stay to watch longer, but as usual I was on a tight schedule due to the nursing home. I entered the Oslo shopping mall (such an ironic name in Chinatown!). I'm certain that these lights were still up from Christmas, but just like in Singapore or Hong Kong, they do double duty for the holidays.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2012 20:57:02 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 22, 2012 21:54:45 GMT
Who'd have thought those classically Parisian buildings could be so delightfully enhanced by something so completely from another culture? I love those 2 pics in the OP of the city hall so much I can hardly stand it! So we can look forward to going with you to the parade on the 29th?
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Post by lagatta on Jan 22, 2012 23:56:08 GMT
I adore those, and they show another side of France and Paris. Oh, I don't just mean the fact that there are many Chinese (of course, there are Chinese everywhere) and Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians from the former Southeast Asian ("indochinese") colonies, but the fact of valuing other cultures and civilisations, when there is a stereotype about "the French" being generally unwelcoming.
I also LOVE the picture from just north of Porte St-Martin!!! And the poster with the little girl and her friendly pet dragon!
I really enjoyed seeing the lanterns and the treats on offer at the knot of Sino-Vietnamese and Sino-Cambodian businesses in my neighbourhood. We have had a cold snap and my throat and bronchii hurt - fresh ginger works wonders. Oh, you can find it in supermarkets now, but it is fresher in places where there is a large turnover. Fortunately it is getting milder, so I'll try to head down to our oldest "Chinatown" (now very pan-East-and-Southeast-Asian) for Chinese New Year and Tet.
Alas we haven't heard from our friend Jazz in a while, but I hope she is in one of the many GTA (Greater Toronto Area = Toronto + suburbs + outlying towns) Chinatowns savouring wonderful dumplings and restorative green tea.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2012 0:38:42 GMT
These are great Kerouac. I would love to see some night time shots,I would imagine the lighting is spectacular. I have only been to one Chinese New Year celebration and that was in NYC. I would kill to be in NY right now to see it. The parades on Mott Street and Canal were phenomenal.
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Post by hwinpp on Jan 23, 2012 2:50:21 GMT
Very nice pics, Jack. Looks a bit like here now though we don't have those buildings anymore.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2012 6:06:21 GMT
I heard some kettle drums beating and was obviously drawn to them. There is a whole underground concrete warren beneath Chinatown with temples, clandestine Chinese casinos and triad warehouses for illegal goods. Needless to say, I have almost never ventured there. But the drums pulled me in.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2012 6:27:30 GMT
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Post by tod2 on Jan 23, 2012 8:08:13 GMT
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Post by bjd on Jan 23, 2012 8:44:21 GMT
Do the stores in Chinatown have special permission to open on Sundays or do they just prefer to pay fines?
Chinatown in Toulouse is really nothing -- just one street with a couple of food shops. There is also a big Paris Store but it's in a completely different part of the city. I once saw a few kids with firecrackers for Chinese New Year, but it's really not advertised or well known.
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Post by tod2 on Jan 23, 2012 8:56:13 GMT
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Post by mich64 on Jan 23, 2012 15:55:35 GMT
Oh, I am a year of the dragon baby! Cheers! Mich
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2012 18:04:08 GMT
Do the stores in Chinatown have special permission to open on Sundays or do they just prefer to pay fines? The smaller places get away with the "family" loophole in the law. You can be open 24 hours 7 days a week if you have no employees, so many of these place operate with mom & pop, sons and daughters, granny, nieces and nephews, brothers and sisters or whatever else they can invent. Plenty of (food) places just respect the one day closing law -- they are open on Sunday but closed on Monday. However, in Paris they're only supposed to be open until 13:30 at the latest on Sunday (except bakeries of course). I don't know if things have changed in the 13th, but my own Paris Store around the corner now closes Sunday afternoon whereas it used to be open until 18:30 -- that started after the last crackdown about six months ago. Yet there are still 3 Franprix supermarkets and one Dia open 7 days a week in my neighborhood until late -- unfortunately, the Franprix right across the street from is not one of them. It closes at 13:30.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2012 18:09:49 GMT
I saw mangosteens at Monoprix today (Champs Elysées store) for 12.50€/kg. As everybody knows, Paris is an "expensive" city.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2012 18:26:12 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2012 18:50:19 GMT
After all of this stuff... and after my visit to the nursing home, I was wondering about Chinese New Year in the second Chinese city of France, Aubervilliers. Since it is just about 8 stops away on my #65 bus line, I decided to see if they did anything. Of course, as a hideously ugly industrial zone, there was not much to expect. But I know that they have been trying really hard to shape up the city -- redoing the roads and organizing import showrooms -- not to mention the fact that metro line 12 will go there next year. I will keep an eye on Aubervilliers as it continues to change. Meanwhile, the evening news last night mentioned another "second" Chinese city in France: Clermont Ferrand. Apparently it is the city that has been chosen by the greatest number of Chinese students for their studies in France. This should be interesting, since the Chinese flood to Europe has just begun.
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Post by fumobici on Jan 23, 2012 18:54:45 GMT
Lovely report, France does the melting pot thing much better than Italy I think. That Wallace fountain...
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Post by frenchmystiquetour on Jan 23, 2012 22:11:12 GMT
Woah, buffet à volonté!?!? Now we're talkin! I'm assuming I'm the hungry member in question. Interesting to hear about the reason behind stores incorporating "star" in their name. I sort of knew that luck and good fortune were part of Chinese culture and that sort of explains why in America I would often see Chinese restaurants with names like "Lucky happy star joy wish restaurant". I'll be waiting for more reporting.
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Post by lagatta on Jan 23, 2012 22:54:57 GMT
Usually I find "buffets à volonté" very disappointing. And no shortage of economical but good places to eat in that arrondissement.
I must have been through Aubervilliers, but don't remember it at all. Have been many times to St-Denis (and St-Ouen) and to Pantin and Le Pré St-Gervais. But it sounds as if Aubervilliers is poised to change very rapidly.
I have friends in Clermont-Ferrand who are professors at the fac there, but of Spanish (Castillian) and Italian literature, history and culture. I'll ask them about the Chinese student body and the cultural influence in that small city. I remember, returning to Perugia, how the city has become unusually multicultural for a smallish Italian city as some of the former foreign students have stayed on, founded families, opened small businesses.
The media never stop talking about gangs of drug dealers or petty thieves from this or that immigrant community, but, while not denying the harm such gangs can do whatever their origin, there was no shortage of Italian drug gangs! I'm very happy about the vast majority of what I see in Perugia, as much as I love Italian daily-life culture, it could be very insular.
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Post by nycgirl on Jan 24, 2012 14:39:28 GMT
Great thread! All those red lanterns and banners wonderfully complement Paris' stately architecture. The lions dances are fun.
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Post by lagatta on Jan 24, 2012 15:50:48 GMT
nycgirl, there must be several equally stunning pics in NYC and its suburbs...
Alas, I don't have a camera, and have been a bit too busy to prowl any areas rich in such celebrations.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 24, 2012 16:03:12 GMT
Total fun and great pictures! It's always amazing how compelling things like the lions dancing & eating oranges are. On one hand, you know it's a costume animated by people inside. On the other ........
Yeah, I was mildly shocked by the Wallace fountain in your first group of photos. I love the way the grates beneath are also red. I guess someone looked at it & said, "If you girls are going to hang around this district, you have to get into the spirit of things!"
Speaking of melting pots, I notice that most of the DDCs (#16) are euro, not sino.
FMT is taking credit for being the hungry member, when I distinctly felt your eyes on me.
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Post by auntieannie on Jan 24, 2012 22:16:17 GMT
K2, lovely report. I couldn't help but wonder if you also hear repeated appeals to ban chinese lanterns (but not the chinese new year festivities themselves) in France? here in the UK it is all over the news at this time of the year. It seems these are harmful to wildlife amongst other things.
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Post by nycgirl on Jan 25, 2012 4:40:35 GMT
nycgirl, there must be several equally stunning pics in NYC and its suburbs... True, there are some good photo ops, but unfortunately the photos I took aren't stunning. But ok, I'll post 'em anyway.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2012 5:44:42 GMT
K2, lovely report. I couldn't help but wonder if you also hear repeated appeals to ban chinese lanterns (but not the chinese new year festivities themselves) in France? here in the UK it is all over the news at this time of the year. It seems these are harmful to wildlife amongst other things. I have never heard of such thing. Harmful to wildlife? The flying rats?
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Post by lola on Jan 26, 2012 23:48:23 GMT
Too beautiful, Kerouac. I feel drenched in vivid color and ready for a new year.
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Post by auntieannie on Jan 27, 2012 13:33:52 GMT
K2, owls and other birds, apparently.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2012 18:23:34 GMT
So, today was the big day for the Chinese New Year events. The Chinese are a very reasonable people, and they are well aware that for maximum exposure, you must let the calendar slide a bit for the big festivities. However, I did learn from my mother's hairdresser on Saturday that the dragons and lions had come to my own personal Chinatown on Friday while I was at work. I hope to be able to see this myself next year. Yesterday, there was an official municipal parade in the center of Paris, and I'm sure that it was delightful, but it went through many areas that have no connection to Chinese New Year, which is a shame. Anyway, I was not available so I did not see it. However, the big event today was in the principal Chinatown in the city, in the 13th arrondissement. Therefore, I took the metro to the Olympiades station to see what was happening. I was not alone: the metro was packed and we were all there for the same reason. The police had already closed all of the main streets. Even though the main events were still about 90 minutes in the future, wildlife was already roaming the streets to investigate some of the businesses. There were plenty of people. The media say we were 200,000. There were decorated trucks. There were lots of banners. There were decorated dogs.
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