Dublin may be about to get a permanent Chinatown, writes Nuala Haughey, Social and Racial Affairs Correspondent.
A mock Chinatown has been created in Dublin city centre this weekend as part of the celebrations for Chinese New Year, which begins today. But the search for a genuine year-round Chinatown is just beginning, as the growing numbers of Chinese immigrants bring a new vitality and entrepreneurial boost to hitherto rundown commercial parts of Dublin city, such as the Smithfield market area and Moore Street.
With the established ethnic Chinese community augmented in recent years by tens of thousands of young people working and studying here, the Chinese are now one of the largest ethnic minorities in Ireland, estimated at about 30,000. As a reflection of this burgeoning presence, this year's celebrations of the Chinese Lunar New Year are bigger and better than previous events.
The Irish Chinese Immigration Centre in Dublin last night co-hosted an evening of food, traditional regional costume displays, martial arts, karaoke and Chinese dancing. The event was part of a bid to boost relations both within the Chinese community as well as with the majority Irish community.
There has been some resentment in recent years among older business people towards some newer immigrants, with a perception that the criminal activities of a few Chinese nationals is giving the whole community a bad name. These activities have included kidnapping and extortion, with several reports of Chinese students being forced to pay money to Chinese gangs.
Dr Katherine Chan Mullen, a GP who has helped set up the Irish Chinese Immigration Centre, hopes this weekend's celebrations will help counteract such negative reports. The centre co-organised last night's celebrations with International Orphan Aid, which supports Irish people seeking to adopt children from China. "There is so much bad news about students being beaten and court cases. We wanted to show the positive side of the Chinese here to the public," says Dr Mullen.
The area around South Great George's Street in Dublin has long-established Chinese food shops and restaurants but there are also more recent outlets in Moore Street, as well as the Smithfield market/Capel Street area where many Chinese live.
Ken McCue from a community resource organisation in inner-city Dublin is supporting moves for a multicultural centre in Smithfield. His organisation, Arts, Resource and Training Services, is looking to next year's Chinese New Year, when it plans a celebration in the under-used Smithfield Square. The planned star attraction is the Chinese youth orchestra from Liverpool, a city which is twinned with Dublin and has the oldest Chinatown in Europe.
"We have spoken to a few young Chinese kids and some are saying they would like to set up a Chinatown by establishing something more permanent like a market and cultural space and that is something we would support," says McCue.
While this has not been formally proposed to Dublin City Council, it has the enthusiastic backing of some local Chinese business people. Louise Teh, who recently opened a new restaurant in Little Mary Street near Smithfield fruit and vegetable market, is hoping her venture might be the start of the organic growth of a Chinatown in Dublin. She has named the small and neat restaurant Chinatown. "We hope Ireland will one day have a Chinatown because there is one in a lot of European cities and it would help tourism in Dublin," says Teh.
Meanwhile the temporary Chinatown in Dame Lane and Dame Court, which opened last night with traditional lion dancing, will be full of the sights and sounds of China today. From 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., Chinese stallholders will be selling goods in streets be-decked with lanterns and streamers and complete with a Chinese arch marking the entrance. There will also be fire breathers, martial arts displays and other street entertainment at the event which, hosted as it is by the Amoy Chinese food manufacturer, is clearly more commerce than community-led.
"The Chinese community is more involved this year than last year when Amoy took the initiative to do it," said an Amoy Foods representative, Helen O'Dwyer. "Wongs Chinese restaurant is more involved this year but somebody needed to start it off and fund it. "
Wang Na, or Rebecca, is a 23-year-old student in Dublin who is spending her first New Year outside her native Beijing. This year is special for Rebecca as it is the year of the Ram or goat, which is her astrological sign. The Chinese lunar calender is made up of five cycles of 12 years each, with each year named after an animal. There is a belief that the animal ruling the year in which a person was born has a profound influence on personality.
"People usually pay attention to this year because they always hope they are lucky but maybe they are not," says Rebecca. "I think the goat is a good animal. Some people think it is unlucky because it has a bad temper and people eat it but I think it's quite nice!"