The Thousand Bloom – A Chrysanthemum Grows in Chinatown
千朵花開:唐人街長出一朵菊花

The Thousand Bloom Dance Workshop | October 11, 2024

Tufts Community Common (174 Harrison Ave)
Double Ninth Festival | October 26, 2024

The Thousand Bloom uses the chrysanthemum as a metaphor for Boston Chinatown’s resilience in a nod to popular novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Come celebrate the neighborhood’s rich legacy and enduring spirit through three distinct yet complementary parts.

Behold 1,000 silk chrysanthemums, naturally dyed and bundled into bouquets of nine, forming a grand visual of a single chrysanthemum—a fall-blooming flower symbolizing vitality and tenacity.

Support businesses vital to Chinatown’s cultural and economic fabric by dining out, shopping, and engaging in self-care and cultural activities.

On October 26, a hundred community members joined Chinatown’s first-ever Double Ninth Festival, a time to care for and appreciate the elderly. Participants watched performances, experienced qi gong, and enjoyed Chinese square dancing. They also created participatory art and took home bouquets from the art installation.

Anita Yip (she/her)

Anita Yip is a multidisciplinary artist whose works honor and uplift underheard voices and cultures through documentary photography, journalism, curated experiences, and new media. Exploring the intricate relationships between art, archives, and identity within the interplay of cultural truths and fictions, she poses the question: "What is remembered, and what is lost?" Her art confronts and mediates painful experiences, lack of representation, and scarcity or even the absence of resources.

Embracing the symbolism of the thousand bloom—an emblem of unity and collective strength that reflects Boston Chinatown’s long history of solidarity and resilience—Anita is making her public art debut with a project that celebrates both joy and perseverance.

About the Project

The Thousand Bloom – A Chrysanthemum Grows in Chinatown 千朵花開:唐人街長出一朵菊花 is part of the Un-monument Initiative presented by Pao Arts Center, curated by Lani Asunción and in collaboration with the City of Boston Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture. It is brought to you by a grant from the Mellon Foundation.