HISTORY OF THE CHINATOWN COMMUNITY MURAL

July 3, 2008 by Chinatown Blogger.

Photo collage of the former Chinatown Unity Community Mural. Clockwise from top left: 1) Original site of mural on 38 Oak Street. 2) Parking lot at corner of Nassau St. and Ash St. 3) Demolition to begin on 38 Oak St. building. The site was replaced by the 23-story Metropolitan tower. 4) The remains of the Unity Mural. Some community members went to collected bricks to commemorate the mural. (Photographer unknown, photo taken around 2002.)

UPDATED 7-10-08: Made some minor edits

This is a shorter version of the history of the Chinatown Community Mural (or sometimes called the Unity Mural). The mural was painted on the side of a 3-story brick row house on 38 Oak Street and faced Harrison Avenue. Many years ago when the Chinatown Blogger was at UMass Boston and took a course on Asian American Communities, the professor led the class on a tour of Chinatown. During the tour we were led to Ping On Alley (where the first group of Chinese to Boston stayed) and the site of where the Community Mural stood. With 30 students huddled around the professor, he began to describe the symbolism and importance of the mural . That professor, Peter Kiang, is now Director of Asian American Studies at UMass Boston. Later on, as the Chinatown Blogger gave his own Chinatown tours to other student groups, the Blogger would always bring the group to see the mural — and recount the same story that he once heard from Professor Kiang. This blog will recount the history of the mural, recap the same story the Blogger once heard and describe what happened to the mural.

Who Painted the Mural?
The mural was designed and painted by Cambridge artist Wen-ti Tsen and David Fichter with assistance from Annie Chin, Arlene Chung, Valerie Jayne and members of the community in 1986. The Project Director was Eileen Hansen, who at the time, was the Executive Director of the Quincy School Community Council (which later became Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center.)

Why Was the Mural Painted on the Site?
The Chinatown Community Plan of 1990 wrote: “Over the years, the Chinatown neighborhood, which more than tripled in population from 1950 to 1987, lost more than half its land to roads, highways, and medical institutions… In 1985, a key event for the neighborhood occurred. This was the creation of the Chinatown-South Cove Neighborhood Council… as a vehicle for encouraging grass roots involvement in city planning and development. Shortly, thereafter, the disparate forces of neighborhood growth and institutional development collided over a proposal to build a 850-car garage for institutional use on a Chinatown site.” (Chinatown Community Plan: A Plan to Manage Growth, 1990)

The “institution” mentioned in the Chinatown Community Plan of 1990 were New England Medical Center (aka Tufts Medical Center) and Tufts University. The site for the proposed 850-car garage was 38 Oak Street or what became known as Parcel C. Having already lost half the community’s land to urban renewal and institutional expansion, Chinatown rejected the garage plan. The Boston Redevelopment Authority agreed with the community and designated the Quincy School Community Council (QSCC) as the re-developer of the land in 1988.

New England Medical Center and Tufts University disagreed with the decision and challenged the designation in court. During this process to save the site from being turned into a 850-car garage, the Chinatown community and QSCC came up with the idea of painting the mural on the building to “claim” community ownership of the site. QSCC director Eileen Hansen was instrumental in raising funds and launching the project. Discussion took place on what images should be included in the mural. (Phone interview by Chinatown Blogger with artist Wen-ti Tsen, 1998)

What Happened to the Mural?
New England Medical Center and Tufts University eventually settled with the City. As part of the settlement and dropping the case against the City, New England Medical Center was allowed to purchase 2 adjacent parcels on Washington Street which were later developed. For Chinatown, QSCC received the 38 Oak Street building to run their child-care services and a playground. In addition, the City agreed to reserve Parcel C for future community use. (Leong, Andrew. The Struggle Over Parcel C. Institute for Asian American Studies, Sept. 1997)

However, New England Medical Center did not give up on taking Parcel C to develop their garage. In 1993, the hospital proposed to the City and the BRA to build a garage again. This time around, the cash-strapped BRA supported the hospital’s proposal, which included an offer to build a 10,000 square feet community center and to pay $1.8 million to Chinatown in exchange for the development rights to Parcel C. Some in the community accepted the offer while others felt that the offer was not enough to compensate for the land. What ensued was a long struggle by some community members to save Parcel C and to request the City and BRA to abide by their previous decision to preserve Parcel C for community use. Eventually, New England Medical Center’s withdrew their proposal, but the struggle left many bitter feelings between community members (those who were for or against the garage), the community and the BRA, and the community and the institutions. (Note: Lingering differences would later play out again in future developments proposed by the City/BRA in the next decade.)

In 1998, the BRA convened an advisory committee to develop the Parcel C site. A community non-profit entity, Asian CDC and a for-profit developer, E.A. Fish and Associates were designated as the co-developers. (Chinatown Master Plan 2000). This partnership produced the Metropolitan, a 23-story mixed-use (residential and commercial) and mixed-income project, with 46% of the residential units being classified as affordable and low-income. In addition to providing much needed new housing to the neighborhood, the Metropolitan also created valuable space for 4 community agencies to conduct youth programs, child care, adult ESL classes, and worker trainings. The Metropolitan was only made possible as a result of 20 years of struggle by community members to save Parcel C from being taken by Tufts and New England Medical Center to build a garage.

23-story Metropolitan on site of the former Parcel C.

The Unity Mural was demolished to make way for the Metropolitan. When the mural was tore down, a significant piece of the community’s history was lost. To commemorate mural’s history, the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center (former the QSCC) recreated a replica model of the mural in their visitor’s lobby on 38 Ash Street.

Replica of the original mural in the lobby of BCNC on 38 Ash Street.

Coming Next Part 2: Explaining the Symbolism of the Mural Images

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