Some firecrackers, the dragon dance and a single drum: this is how the New York neighborhood of Chinatown, devastated by the pandemic and notorious due to the coronavirus, said goodbye on Friday.
The traditional parade did not take place and there were no grand celebrations to welcome the Lunar New Year. Just relief from the end of the Year of the Rat and hope that the brand new Year of the Ox brings a change of fortune.
“Of course I’m happy the year is over,” Jenny Li said, as some customers stopped by her gift shop to buy flashlights, confetti tubes and the usual red envelopes for Chinese New Year.
Li’s income has fallen by 75% since the pandemic began almost a year ago.
“They were hard times. I hope that this new year everything returns to normal and that everyone is healthy,” the 48-year-old woman told AFP.
The pandemic has caused the closure of thousands of businesses and restaurants in New York City, where Covid-19 killed more than 28,000 people.
Nowhere in the city was the crisis felt as much as in Chinatown, where the hit of the pandemic was compounded by misunderstanding about the virus and racism.
As the virus spread from the Chinese city of Wuhan to the world in early 2020, New York’s bustling Chinatown turned into a ghost town overnight.
“Even before the economic shock and the crisis hit New York, there was already a lot of xenophobia and just plain fear,” recalls Olympia Moy, co-founder of the non-profit organization Think! Chinatown
“It was like a snowball, it became a really bad situation.”
This week, Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted an article about a massive spike in hate crimes against Asian Americans in the United States.
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“WE CANNOT let intolerance and hatred divide us,” he wrote.
Irina Wong, 16, echoed that sentiment by throwing confetti alongside her parents and younger brother, who traveled from New Jersey to Chinatown to celebrate the New Year.
“I hope that this coming year, whether the covid improves or not, we can all learn to trust each other and I hope there will be less division in the country,” he told AFP.
“Usually at this time of year all the restaurants are full,” said restaurant manager Alex Chan, pointing to empty tables on the street.
George Ma, a 55-year-old gift shop owner, said he’s seeing “little improvement” since the vaccination began.
And there was more reason to be optimistic on Friday, as the New Year coincides with the expansion of the capacity allowed in New York restaurants.
From now on they will be able to welcome customers to eat inside the premises, although at only 25% capacity.
“That will make a big difference,” said Chan, who expects the bustle to return to Chinatown in April.
pdh / lbc / dg
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