Monday, January 26, 2009

The Year of the Ox ~ Happy Chinese New Year!

The Ox is the sign of prosperity through fortitude and hard work. I wished my Mom Happy Chinese New Year today. She spent about 3 1/2 years in China in the early 1980's teaching English as a Second Language to college students in China ~ I'm so proud of her accomplishments! Thinking about how difficult, and rewarding, her life was during that time period and the industriousness and determination of the Chinese people jogged my memory of a photojournalism project that I worked on in San Francisco, California's Chinatown a couple of years ago and I thought I would share some of those photographs here. I loved this colorful dragon that was hanging in the stairwell of a little mall of shops.

Everyone in this park was focused on the speaker, and the neighborhood was deserted...but this gentleman had errands to run and nothing was going to deter him!







This street musician was playing sweet music while he was calmly watching the world go by.

This gentleman was shouting at the top of his lungs "Wake Up America" and gesticulating wildly! I was fascinated that not one person was paying him any attention, just a sea of people ignoring him!
Chinatown is overwhelmingly colorful!





The beautiful Transamerica building as seen from a street in Chinatown.
So I wish you all a very healthy, happy, and prosperous New Year!

13 comments:

Lorissa J. Longfellow said...

Looks like fun. Love the red dragon. Happy Year of the OX.

Unknown said...

San Francisco is my home away from home and a visit is never complete without Chinatown! I really enjoyed your post and love the photo of the Transamerica building peeking up behind the Chinese lantern. Wonderful!

Waterrose said...

What exciting photographs...so many colors and beauty!

Valerie Boersma said...

Your photos are wonderful and really capture the city! I was just there last March. I also am inspired by the meaning behind the year of the Ox and will try to put it into practice myself this year!

Terri Pezzullo - Handmade said...

I worked it a chinese for many years and one of my best friends is Chinese, every year he calls to let us know it's the New Year and ask where his oranges are...

TheresaJ said...

Wonderful photos of my favorite city! Happy new year!

Judi FitzPatrick said...

Happy Year of the Ox to you, too. I believe I was born in an Ox year.
Thanks for sharing your wonderful photos of my favorite city in California!
Peace, Judi

Learning Spanish at 41 said...

Great photos! I didn't know you had a blog but have always admired your work on Etsy. I'm following you now...how fun!

Chrisy said...

thanks for all those delicious photos...ur mother's lucky to have such an appreciative daughter...

Anonymous said...

Also known as the Buffalo, the ox is both patient and meticulous with strong principles, and as such tends to be very stubborn. The ox is extrememly strong, and an excellent worker.

However, these traits also make the ox stubborn, and their sense of self reliance makes it difficult for them to ask for or to receive assistance. Don't go looking for an evening of scintilating conversation from an ox as they are poor conversationists, and unfortunately don't have much of a sense of humour either.

Oxen are ruled by conviction, and they are not often swayed from their beliefs. The ox's ability to criticise others for their own shortcomings is well known. The ox is not very good at coping with its emotions, and can become introverted and self-destructive when they fail to find a way of expressing their feelings.

david santos said...

Really beautiful!!!!
Happy New Chinese Year!!!!

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