Gung Hay Fat Choy, Chinese New Years In San Francisco - Part II

The Chinese community has been synonymous with the development of San Francisco since the Gold Rush of 1849.  It was mostly Chinese laborers who built the western portion of the Trans Continental Railroad, and whose port of entry was San Francisco.  No subway station in San Francisco is named for a person, except one: The Rose Pak/Chinatown Station. 

From Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1958 Chinatown-set musical, Flower Drum Song, to Amy Tan's Joy Luck Club, there could be no San Francisco without the Chinese community.  Chinatown is also one the most popular tourist attractions in San Francisco and to this day, is still the first stop for many Chinese immigrants coming to the United States for the first time.

However, for the first hundred years of San Francisco’s existence, and more than most ethnic groups, the Chinese were the first minority group to be Ghettoized and discriminated against. Yet the Chinese New Year’s Parade has been a standard in the Chinese community since the earliest days in San Francisco.

In my upcoming book Service is the Business (about life behind a real hotel concierge desk), I write about how the shortest parade in San Francisco happens during the coldest, rainiest month and regularly draws 150,000 people a year.   In an otherwise dead part of the year for tourism, hotels are giddy when the parade rolls into town.  The Chinese New Year of 2025 falls on January 29th (Wednesday) and will last to February 2nd. 

It is the Year of Snake, but the 2025 parade does not take place until February 15th.  And unlike other parades, this one occurs at night.  But like other parades, the Chinese New Year’s Parade began as an opportunity to introduce their culture in a festive setting.  Nothing like this had been done in China, but the new immigrants from the Sleeping Giant incorporated it with the most American form for cultural gatherings - the parade.  As we enter into this great holiday, I thought it was worth examining this unique and special San Francisco tradition.

When the great quake of 1906 struck in the morning of April 18th. a third of San Francisco, including all of Chinatown, burned to the ground.  As the city set out to rapidly recover, the bricks of the burned-out buildings were still warm before a Subcommittee on Relocating the Chinese was established. 

Chinatown just happened to be located in between the Railroad barons' mansions on Nob Hill and the Financial District.  There were even hastily made plans to move the entire community to the most far-flung edge of the city, Hunter's Point.

Soon to be displaced by the earthquake, the Chinese merchants resisted.  They rightly claimed that they paid taxes and own property, and therefore there was no legal reason to be relocated.  Even the Chinese consulate weighted in, expressing concern for the forced relocation of its citizens. The Chinese government hinted that the relocation may affect China's business relationship with San Francisco, and dropped that they may be more inclined to favor other west coast ports like Los Angeles or Seattle. 

After three months of clumsy and poorly executed policy proposals, and the threat of losing business opportunities to other ports, the Subcommittee on Relocating the Chinese admitted they really had no legal or moral grounds to keep the Chinese from returning to Chinatown. Yet through it all, the 19th. century Anti-Chinese legislation, an averted forced relocation in the first part of the 20th. century, the Chinese New Year festivities and parade persevered and remained in the original Chinese community.

The Chinese New Year's Parade

As the twentieth century progressed, so did the Chinese New Year's celebrations and events.  In 1953 the committee organizers introduced their first grand marshal.  Since the Korean Conflict was coming to an end, the parade's first representative to officiate this new ceremonial position was Joe Wong, a blind Korean War veteran. 

Over the decades, prominent members of the Chinese community, as well as other notable San Franciscans received the coveted honor of the Chinese New Year's Parade Grand Marshal.  Some of whom include legendary Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh, and 2024's Grand Marshal, up-and-coming actress Awkwafina, who was most recently seen in the Marvel blockbuster, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. This year's Grand Marshal is legendary actress, Joan Chen from such hits as the Joy Luck Club and the original Twin Peaks.

In addition to the grand marshal, the parade has expanded to include a flower market fair, a basketball jamboree, and the Miss Chinatown Pageant and Coronation Ball.  The same weekend of the parade is also a community street fair, and rounding out the festivities is a foot race a few days later.