SF Foghorn.Friday Sept. 13
Grant Avenue came to life with the sizzle of skewers and the fragrant aroma of savory dumplings and sweet bao. The air hummed with chatter, laughter and the rhythm of traditional music. Red lanterns stretching from Sacramento to Jackson Street cast a warm, inviting glow. On the crisp, cool evening of Friday, Sept. 13, the Chinatown Night Market ignited a vibrant tapestry of sensory delights.
Night markets have been integral to Chinese culture for centuries, becoming popular attractions in cities such as Hong Kong and Beijing. The markets, which lasted from sunset to the early hours of the morning, became popular in the Tang and Song dynasties. They offered a kaleidoscope of goods from street food to intricate crafts. The tradition is a communal celebration, a place where people gather to indulge in culinary delights and cultural performances. As Chinese immigrants journeyed to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they brought this tradition with them. San Francisco’s Chinatown, the oldest in the United States, preserves these customs. The Night Market offers a slice of cultural heritage that continues to draw visitors and locals alike.
Long, serpentine bodies of dragons wove through the market, as lion dancers prepared to start their performance. Synchronized leaps and graceful, powerful movements collided with rhythmic drum beats and cymbals. The dancers were a part of LionDanceMe, a San Francisco based lion dance company that performs at events all over the Bay Area. 19-year-old Darren San, a sophomore at San Jose State University who has been lion dancing for five years, does a form of dancing called high pole or mono pole, which involves performing stunts and jumps on a pole approximately six meters high.
San said, “I was really scared my first go on there, like my foot was shaking and everything, it was pretty bad. But as we practice more we get used to it.” The LionDanceMe company has had thousands of students go through the organization, but according to the dancers, it is very close knit. “Lion dance feels, for us, like a home away from home.” San said.
The Night Market features a diverse array of treats, including Ye Ye Coconut Snacks, a stall offering coconut jelly with a variety of flavors including mango sago, black sesame and pistachio. The vendor of this stall is 18-year-old Yan Lin, a freshman at the University of California Berkeley, who runs it on behalf of her family and their brick and mortar location on Taraval Street. Working at events like the Night Market, Lin enjoys meeting new people and exploring new areas, “We [vendors] always trade food with each other,” Lin said, “That’s actually my most favorite thing.”
Anthony Tran DJed for the entirety of the Night Market. Tran, whose interest in DJing began with a longstanding love for EDM, also volunteers for the Asian Fire Association (AFA) and is working towards becoming a paramedic. “We’re trying to show the public that there’s not just Asian people in law or software engineering or computer science. We are capable of stepping up and owning up to bigger responsibilities, especially with the public and being there for others and sacrificing our time and lives for others.”
Chinese, and broader East and Southeast Asian communities, are represented at the Chinatown Night Market, but it is not exclusively for people of Asian descent. 18-year-old Greca Franco, and 19-year-old Linda Sanchez, two first-year San Francisco State University students took advantage of the open mic station and sang a duet version of “Como La Flor” by Selena. “[It was] just spontaneous!” Franco exclaimed. “We saw it and then we said ‘Oh let’s sing!’” Sanchez said. The crowd cheered them on, clapping especially loud when Sanchez showed off her kitten, Cafu, in a backpack carrier.
The Chinatown Night Market is held on the second Friday of every month.
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