Within the Walls of Longevity: Our Trip to Chinatown
FU LO SO everyone! Pronounced Foo, Lu, and Sow, this phrase is known as the traditional
Chinese well wishing. According to our guide Ms. Jackie Wong, an educator and historian, these words are used
wish one’s peers a lifetime of good Luck (fu), Wealth (lo), and Longevity (so).
Teenshop’s walking tour of Chinatown PA, was not only an enjoyable experience, but an opportunity to engage
ourselves into a culture from which many are unfamiliar. Thanks to the collaborative efforts of Ms. Elleanor Jean
Hendley, the Teenshp founder, and Ms. Jackie, we were gifted with this wonderful experience which,many of us
will re-live at a future time.
Our tour began with a gathering in the restaurant Joy Tsin Lau, where we were provided a very traditional
meal in the basement dining hall. The room was extravagant in its traditional charm and the meal was absolutely
amazing! As Ms. Jackie explained to us the route we would take through town, we were bombarded with servingafter-serving of delicious food. It all started with plates of walnut shrimp, beef and mushroom, and a variety of
dumplings assorted on a circular turning tray that everyone at the table shared. Next came the lo mein, General
Tso’s chicken, spring rolls, milk dumplings, orange slices, and finally fortune cookies. Rest assured, all of us were
satisfied and needed to take home doggy bags because we couldn’t eat all of the food. Soon, it was time to begin
our walking tour, and Ms. Jackie gave a fifteen minute notice to prepare for our adventure.
Our first destination was a Buddhist Temple across from the restaurant. Apparently, the temple was one of
the two in Chinatown that had no monks to care for it. Ms. Jackie taught us that Buddha is not one person, but
many on different levels, two of whom are women. In addition, Ms. Jackie showed us how to present ourselves in
the temple and how to use incense to increase our luck. We were also given the opportunity to enter the monk
room of the temple, which is where traveling monks would stay and meditate in a designated chair. This also
included the Dali Llama, who stayed there on one of his many travels to America. Finally, we discussed the
significance of the Chinese Zodiac as we walked down the Bronze Animal incrusted streets to a lecture on the
North Gate Plaza and 10th street mural.
A highlight of the tour was learning the history of the mural on a building located at Vine Street and 10th,
which identified the area as Chinatown. Ms. Jackie told us that the mural symbolizes the Chinese-American story.
If you were to look at the top of the mural you would see a river flowing down a long horizon line. This river,
known as the Yangtze in China, flows down into a modern city street and a book. Along its sides you can see the
transition of Chinese life in the early Americas as the men left their families behind to mine in the west, then the
first successful Chinese run business, which was a laundry. We also learned that Chinese prefer drinking tea rather
than water, and that the community protested against the closing of Chinatown to the modern day town whose
children play without a playground. At the base of the mural there is a father and son reading the book symbolizes
the Chinatowns' expectations for their youth; to grow, learn, succeed and return to the town to build a playground.
Talk about impressive!
From there, we continued our tour as we walked around Chinatown town into some shops. One stop was a
bakery, and we learned that many Chinese go to a bakery for breakfast, and the many kinds of sweets available to
the public. A few doors away, we entered into herb shop. Ms. Jackie explained to us how the medicine used by
the Chinese is customized for each individual using a specific prescription of many herbs. We also learned that
ginseng, is cheaper when purchased in the Korean and Chinese variety rather than the American variety, which can
cost hundreds of dollars.
When it was all said and done, Ms. Jackie walked with us to the Shanghai Bazaar, and we purchased
trinkets to commemorate our trip. One of the store clerks gave a few of us lessons on the Chinese Zodiac and how
to balance our luck during 2012, or as she referred to it, the year of the dragon.
Ultimately, our trip to Chinatown was an eye-opening experience which may open windows in not only
Teenshop’s future, but also the lives of many of the girls who were on the tour.