Why Los Angeles Chinatown is declining
Next door lived a Chinese man from the Dongbei China who was very outgoing and talkative.
He had a bicycle, originally white, but now it was covered with black soot and just like had a story written all over it. He rides this bike every afternoon to work at a nearby hot pot restaurant and leaves late at night, which he has insisted on doing for many years. I asked him what was the difference between here and at China, and he answered me that no matter where he was, he had to work hard to get by. And the hard work is respected.
Today it was Tuesday, the restaurant was closed for work and his bike was idle. I realized I had been resting for too long and borrowed it to try to get out for a walk. I got on my bike and rode down the sun-filled road, feeling as if my body was flying through the air.
I wanted to find a place near downtown today, and after an hour of following the navigation west, I crossed the bridge over the railroad tracks. Near my destination was the intersection of Chinatown, so I was ready to explore this once bustling street first. There were not many people here, and I was very sad to see how sparsely populated the buildings in the neighborhood, which held the sentiments of many overseas Chinese in their homeland, had become. The younger generation of Chinese are now spreading to the southeast of Los Angeles, and most of the people here are old people. Only a few of the stores along the street are still open, and the Memorial Hall and the Chamber of Commerce plaque buildings are telling the story of its former prosperity…
Singing can warm the heart of a wanderer across time and across the ocean
Leaving Chinatown and continuing west, I came to downtown Los Angeles Downtown, where there are many famous buildings, such as Civic Center, Disney Music Center, and the Los Angeles Music Center, which I am going to visit.
Teresa Teng held the last two solo concerts of her U.S. tour here on July 27, 1980. The Music Center was the venue for the Academy Awards, and Teresa Teng was the first Chinese singer to take the stage at the Music Center in Los Angeles and Kennedy Music in New York.
The people at the Music Center were dumbfounded by the spectacle of the performances, as they had never seen a Chinese singer receive such a warm welcome in the United States. In those days there was no internet and many cultures were blocked, only the songs could still cross the ocean, influencing generations of people and resonating with the hearts of countless wanderers…
Visiting my young old friend
In the afternoon, I went to visit an old friend, Momo, who used to participate in the Aventuro International Youth Life Exchange, and is now in high school here. I arrived at their school at the appointed time. The campus is open, with a few wooden houses under big trees and castle-like roofs, looking like a museum somewhere, and a grass field on the side, without a fence or wire fence, so I thought I was walking into a quiet and beautiful park. After sending a message and confirming with Momo that it was their school, I sat on a bench by the lawn and watched the sunset reflect the entire campus, remembering the water tower at the back of my former campus, where I could see far into the small town, where the sunset was also very beautiful, but now it is millions of miles away from me. I had seen far away from there and planted the desire to go forward.
Momo came over from the dorm and he looked much taller. We talked a lot about everything from what’s going on at school to what’s going on with him. I am very happy for Momo because he has completely adapted to life here and has started many new tastes. Momo has also found many hobbies of his own, such as setting up teams to do robotics at Tech Robotics and e-science, and community volunteer initiation and organization. I could see the real growth of a child by the smile on his face.
Momo took me on a tour of their school’s gymnasium, activity center, classrooms, and cafeteria for dinner. We also met their principal on the way and had a great time talking.
It was clear that the children are not only friends with their peers, but also with the teacher and principal, and there was no restraint but more openness to talk. ….
Before we left, we were invited to the school cafeteria for dinner. The teachers, students and the principal were all eating the same dinner together, and although it was not a big meal, we all ate with great pleasure…
Outdoor hike with Auntie Zheng at Whiting Ranch wilderness Park
I woke up very early at 6:00 a.m. Today, Auntie Zheng said she had asked her friend to go hiking in the nearby mountains because I was leaving soon and she wanted to show me more places around that I hadn’t been to. We picked up her friend at the halfway point, and about 15 minutes away we arrived at the entrance of the hike. It was quiet in the morning with very few people and only the sound of birds singing. The entrance window had a description and map of the Whiting Ranch wilderness park hiking trail. Auntie Jung pointed to a picture of a cougar in the center of the window and said, “This animal will be here. I was surprised because it was not far from the human living area, would a cougar really be that close, and then I asked them if they had seen one, and they said no, but other hikers had. They would write the time and place they saw the cougar in the window so that the hikers coming behind them would be aware of it. Auntie Cheng said they have seen a baby deer four times and rabbits, squirrels and pheasants numerous times. With cougar food here and no one to hurt them, it’s not surprising that it would be so close to humans. The puma’s footprints are somewhat similar to bear footprints, but also have a plum shape and thick foot pads, so you need to be alert when you see these marks…
Walking into the park, I found a weathered and dry river valley surrounded by gray-brown slopes with sparse vegetation, as there is a lack of water for vegetation to grow here, and only a few drought-tolerant flowers and plants grow, while there are some tall trees and dense shrubs in the middle of the river valley and on both sides of the hiking trail, as whenever it rains, the rainwater accumulates and flows along the river valley, and the short rainy season nourishes all the plants here, as well as the animals that depend on it the animals that depend on it. Beneath the feet are sandy soil and cobblestones, where the riverbeds of ancient times were raised by earthquakes and left bare. The rivers and lakes have long since disappeared, leaving behind the red weathered sandstone on the hills and the piles of sand and gravel that slowly awaken in the early morning sunlight, as if telling us about the distant and rich past of the land and water. Times change, adapt to survive, plants are one of the first to master these skills of life, followed by animals also follow the evolution of plants and adapt, suddenly a rabbit from the grass, there are white orbs of small tail like a cotton ball, Aunt Zheng said that is the cotton rabbit. I laughed and said, “Haha, food for the cougars has appeared…”
Trip to Laguna Beach
Laguna beach in Los Angeles is a very famous beach, there are tall palm trees, bright trillium, clear Pacific water, these in the sun’s shining glory, walk to the coast where there is a reef on one side and soft sand on the other side, flocks of seabirds on the reef, low tide reef puddle with all kinds of crabs and fish, and a lot of There are people walking on the beach, walking their dogs, and playing beach volleyball.
Familiar places seem to have been here before, and this scene makes a vivid world. The waves are rumbling against the beach, sending distant messages, and when the sea breeze rises again, we are leaving soon. …. See you in San Diego, see you in San Diego 🙂
