In the Year of the Tiger, Chinatown dreams of roaring back to life

As the world steps into the third year of a global pandemic and a new Lunar New Year, embattled Chinatown business operators are hoping the Year of the Tiger will bring better tidings than the last two years.

Chinatown in Sydney on November 17, 2021.Credit:Steven Siewert

Alan Chu is a second-generation business owner of Mother Chu’s Taiwanese Gourmet, which has served customers in Sydney’s Chinatown for more than three decades. In late 2018, right after graduating from university, the then-21-year-old was handed the reins to the business – not too long before the twin crises of Black Summer and COVID-19.

“I’ve seen its ups and downs,” Chu told this masthead in a phone call from the restaurant kitchen in between orders.

While some foot traffic is drifting back into Chinatown, Mr Chu is hoping for the trickle to turn into a steady stream of customers.

“We’re seeing a gradual increase in people coming over,” he said. “We’re all happy at the prospect of this year hopefully being the final year of such a global problem.”

He’s spoken to other restaurant operators across Chinatown who are also seeing the same gradual return of consumer confidence.

“But this pandemic, this Omicron variant, is still ongoing. We’re in that middle ground … You’re trying to get to the finish line, but you’re just not there yet.”

The neglect of Chinatown has been a slow burn predating COVID-19, Mr Chu said, with the new developments of Barangaroo and the bustling Darling Square precinct stealing the spotlight – as well as business and government investment.

The developments meant that once the pandemic rolled around, Dixon Street – already struggling – buckled under the economic strain of protracted lockdowns and the sudden dearth of office workers. The foot traffic that typically would have flowed to Chinatown has been diverted to neighbouring Darling Square. Cultural institutions – Golden Century, Marigold among them – were pushed to the brink and forced to shut down.

“There’s just a big divide, there’s a huge contrast,” Mr Chu said. “You can’t believe that just walking across the road can feel like a different place.”

One of the laneways off Darling Square, off Chinatown in Sydney.Credit:Edwina Pickles

Over the weekend, the City of Sydney kicked off the Lunar New Year Festival, which will stretch from January 29 to February 13 and span Chinatown, Haymarket and Darling Harbour. On Saturday night, nearly 5,000 people flocked to Chinatown, according to figures from the City of Sydney.

By Sunday morning, however, foot traffic had dropped back down to its usual levels.

“It goes to show that a little bit of support in this area – decorations and lights and things like that – comes a long way,” Mr Chu said.

But he also noted that Lunar New Year only comes around once a year. Further support from local councils and governments could prevent more Chinatown institutions from being consigned to history. “I know that the pandemic has been an unprecedented thing … but at the same time, I just hope they notice us a bit more.”

Kevin Cheng is the co-founder of not-for-profit community group Soul of Chinatown that aims to revitalise the historic strip. A patron of Sydney’s Lunar Festival, he marvelled at the volume of visitors on Saturday night, who were there despite Omicron.

“There were queues in front of restaurants again … queues outside bubble tea shops … shops were opening late again,” he said.

All it took was a little “investment”, “innovation” and “just being kind of brave”, he added. “The crowds that you saw [on Saturday] – it should be like that more often than once a year.”

Mr Cheng doesn’t see Darling Square as part of Chinatown; the two precincts have their own distinct identities. “You can’t recreate the radiation and the history in Chinatown. You just can’t have that anywhere else,” he said.

But it’s not just a matter of tidying up. “We want to see [the] interweaving [of] history, culture, and public art, and all that stuff, so people will actually want to go there,” Mr Cheng added.

The new year also brings the promise of open borders, which means more tourists, international students and workers, and better business prospects.

“Lunar New Year brings a lot of hope and a lot of optimism … it’s very symbolic,” Mr Cheng said. “There’s still some ways to go, and the opening of international borders is vital to that.”

David Zhou owns Oriental Teahouse, which has two stores in Melbourne. The Little Collins Street store, which has been open since 2008, is not situated within what’s considered Chinatown Melbourne, but is about two and a half blocks away.

During the pandemic, the 62-year-old managed to keep the doors open – even during Melbourne’s multiple lockdowns – by shifting to takeaway-only.

David Zhou, the founder of Oriental Teahouse, Melbourne.

“We are busy,” Mr Zhou tells this masthead. The challenge, actually, is taking on more; staff shortages, an issue that has impacted nearly every company and sector but poses a particular problem for retail and hospitality, continues to squeeze.

The size of the Oriental Teahouse workforce, which was roughly 100 before the pandemic, is now down to some 70 staffers.

Mr Zhou added his immediate focus was not on opening more stores to grow profits, but instead help his current team of employees prosper.

“If you are in my position, and when you see the long-term staff, they work with you, and then they purchase a property, and they send kids to school … you might think, ‘oh good. Nothing to do with me.’ But the more you do that, the more you feel the responsibility of it,” he said.

“Yes – it’s my business. But I don’t really see it’s mine, only, alone.”

“So I really want to provide people in hospitality, whoever [is] involved with the journey … [the chance to] become a millionaire.”

Every time a staff member buys a property, he crosses another figure off in his head, he says. “Each time, when I cross [someone off], it feels so good … it’s like a fuzzy feeling,” he said. “Much more rewarding than … launching this, launching that.”

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