Some photos I took from Chinatown Manhattan

Here are some photos I took in Chinatown Manhattan at the first week of this semester. I tried to find some inspiration of my digital design project from the Chinatown streets.  I think even I'm familiar with the Chinese culture, I still need to find more exact feelings about the eastern culture which exist in a western country.

The most eye-catching visual elements which can represent Chinatown I think are these different sizes of neon lights full of Chinese characters. Refer to colors, red and yellow-the most popular color showed on the billboards, are also the colors of Chinese national flag.

When strolling along the streets, I found many Chinese traditional elements such like Chinese dragon, Chinese lantern, cheong-sam, old Shanghai calendars, Spring festival pictures and the stone lions, which usually been put in front of the temples and stores, were been used to welcome customers and exorcise evil spirits. 

The streets in Chinatown are noisy and crowded compare with other neighborhood in NYC, and the size of each restaurant is confined yet full of people who love veritable Chinese food. People come here also for reasonable prices of fresh fruits and vegetables. I hope I can convey these abstract atmospheres by using proper visualized expression methods.