Chinatown, Gold Coast

Confucius statue in Young Street, 2015

Gold Coast Gold Coast Chinatown is an integral part of the revitalisation of Southport as an international CBD. It is the place on the Gold Coast to celebrate diversity through culture, design, people and food.

Focused on Young and Davenport Streets in Southport, Chinatown also includes Regent and Davison Lanes, and the block boundaries of Nerang, Scarborough and Garden Streets.

Gold Coast Chinatown is one of Australia’s first modern Chinatowns, and has been located in Southport, the city’s most culturally diverse centre. Chinatown continues to evolve, offering authentic Asian experiences through an exciting mix of restaurants, small bars, karaoke, boutique retail, cultural festivals and celebration.

History

Chinatown Gold Coast Association and the Gold Coast Chinatown Traders

Local Business and Chinese Community

The Chinatown Gold Coast Association and precinct was founded by Dale Anderson, Manager of the Southport TAB. In January 2011, the TAB's Gold Coast Regional Manager, Dale O'Keefe concerned about the closure of many local businesses in and around the Southport TAB along with the loss of jobs, the lack of opportunities for local residents and the general downturn of the area met with Mr Anderson and encouraged him to come up with a solution that would bring employment growth, business investment and development back into the suburb. Having lived near Chinatown in Fortitude Valley, a vibrant inner city suburb of Brisbane, Mr Anderson spoke to many of his customers in the Southport TAB and came upon the idea of creating a Chinatown on the Gold Coast as a way to revitalise the ailing suburb and fill the many vacant shops that were for lease in Southport and to encourage tourism into the CBD.

After months of door knocking and talking with local council and government representatives, business owners, landlords, residents, Gold Coast newspapers and local radio and television stations, Mr Anderson arranged the first ever Gold Coast Chinatown meeting in June 2011, at the time there were no Chinese and only a handful of Asian businesses established in Southport. The following month in August 2011, many of the Southport CBD business owners and landlords who attended the first meeting arranged by Mr Anderson formed the Gold Coast Chinatown Association electing an Executive Management Committee consisting of Chairmen Ted Fong, Deputy Chairmen Greg Walton, Secretary Dale Anderson, Treasurer Suzie Xu and Legal Rob French, in October 2011 the Gold Coast Chinatown Association was formally Incorporated. [2]

Gold Coast Chinatown Chairman, Ted Fong, had been trying to establish a Chinatown on the Gold Coast for over 20 years. Mr Fong is also the President of the Gold Coast Chinese Club.

Gold Coast Chinatown Traders Meetings are also held regularly by the local business community to support and grow the precinct and events.

Sister and Partner Cities

The City, through the Mayor's Office, is working closely with our sister cities and partnership cities to inspire the cultural embellishments of Gold Coast Chinatown. A number of Chinese delegations have visited the City to assist with cultural design ideas for the gateways, street furniture, decorative lighting and public art.

The City has been working with Jining City, which donated a carved statue of the great Chinese philosopher Confucius. The Mayor officially accepted the statue on his recent visit to Jining City, which is the birth place of Confucius.

City of Gold Coast is working closely with other cities to design and donate the Paifang and other public art for the precinct.

Chinatown Businesses

Gold Coast Chinatown is evolving. The recent streetscape works create a vibrant place for the precinct to grow.

Chinatown is alive with Asian inspired lanterns, lighting and public art. Three Paifangs will welcome people to Chinatown and represent a gateway between the Gold Coast and China.

The improvements to Chinatown have already started to encourage globally competitive businesses to re-locate to Southport with many of these being of Asian influence. As the area grows, it is expected more businesses will move into this upcoming precinct.

Gold Coast Chinatown Precinct Plan

Gold Coast Chinatown Association was awarded a grant by the State Government in 2013 to work with City of Gold Coast (City) to develop a master plan for the Chinatown. The City then developed the Gold Coast Chinatown Precinct Plan in conjunction with the association, local Chinese community, Sister Cities and local businesses and property owners.

The Gold Coast Chinatown Precinct Plan was launched by the City with the support of State Government and the Gold Coast Chinatown Association in 2013. The Precinct Plan includes the streetscape and embellishment design, retail and events strategies, plus investment attraction activities and management.

Streetscape

Streetscape improvements were completed by the City in 2014, including widened footpaths, new footpath and street lighting, landscaping reflecting Feng Shui principals, event power and water connections, upgrades to underground services, undergrounding of overhead power lines and flush kerb and channels. The streetscape design facilitates Chinatown to hold large scale events.

On December 2, 2014 it was revealed that Australia Fair Shopping Centre would spend $15 million refurbishing Australia Fair West turning the area of the shopping centre that fronts Young Street in Chinatown into an international Asian dinning and shopping precinct to compliment the Chinatown Project. This section of the shopping centre will be known as Australia Fair Metro.

Cultural Embellishments

There are a number of cultural embellishments that have or will be installed into Chinatown which will ensure that the area is rooted in tradition but reflects a modern Asia aesthetic. These include:

Paifang

Three Paifang gateways will mark the entries to the heart of Chinatown and will represent the City’s relationship with our Chinese sister cities and partner organisations. The gateways will represent the Feng Shui meanings of Harmony, Harvest and Wealth.

Beihai City provided an artistic conceptual design for the Harmony Paifang. The concept is in the Han Dynasty style, which has over 2,000 years of history in their region of China. The Harmony Paifang forms two towers that mark the eastern entrance to Chinatown, on the corner of Young and Scarborough Streets. The City celebrated this traditional Chinese gateway at an official unveiling with representatives of Beihai City and the Chinese Consul-General in early 2016. This is the first of the three Paifang to be installed in Chinatown, with designs of the next two gates currently underway.

Lanterns and projection imagery

The unique lanterns and projection imagery draw inspiration from traditional and contemporary Chinese design and culture, as well as the local Gold Coast context.

The lanterns reflect the Feng Shui colours of Gold Coast Chinatown, being: Red – Wealth, Gold – Double Happiness, Blue – Harmony and Green – Harvest. The patterns on the lanterns are inspired by fireworks, the explosive sequences of light and colour that are a traditional celebration of many Chinese festivals. Red knots at the base of the large red lanterns and the gold lanterns are inspired by Chinese knots traditionally used in festivals. The community will be able to embellish the knots during festivals with tassels.

In conjunction with UAP’s China and Australia offices, the lanterns were designed by artist Belinda Smith, and projection artwork (Chinese streetscape and real street life imagery) were designed by artists Belinda Smith and Alexander Adam, with photography by Jamie Perrow.

Artwork

Chinatown is the home of the City’s statue of the great Chinese philosopher Confucius, which was donated to the City by Jining City in Shandong Province, the birthplace of Confucius.

“Pandamonium” is half panda and half koala statue and was donated by Mr Ted Fong, Executive President of the Gold Coast Chinese Club Inc and founding member and Chairman of Gold Coast Chinatown Association. The statue reflects the similarities between China and Australia’s national icons – both irresistible and vulnerable. “Pandamonium” was designed by artists David Renn and John Cox as part of the Currumbin Wildlife Hospital Foundation’s “Animals with Attitude Sculpture Trail”.

Other artwork, both ephemeral and permanent, will continue to appear as Chinatown evolves; including street art, a community piano and laneway sculptures.

Street Furniture

Street furniture within Chinatown provides a subtle cultural embellishment that references the Chinese dragon, a symbol of power, strength, and good luck. The patterns created by the flow of water over sand in the Broadwater also form a link to the scales and movement of the dragon, a reptilian pattern re-surfacing throughout the Gold Coast. These patterns have been carved into the granite furniture suite. Polished brass is used as a highlight on the furniture, as gold is considered the most beautiful and auspicious colour in Chinese culture as well as being a direct reference to the Gold Coast. The brass is also used in the single seats in the shapes of Chinese rice bowls and tea cups.

Events and Festivals

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year 2015 was the first event held in Chinatown, and was the first city wide Chinese New Year festival. Over 15,000 people attended.

Chinatown Street Events

Chinatown will offer something different on the first Saturday of every month when its streets come alive with a range of exciting events such as free films, popup bars, multicultural celebrations and the much loved Chinatown Street Markets.

Chinatown is the place to celebrate the Gold Coast’s diversity through culture, design, people and food, right in the heart of the CBD. To see what exciting events are coming up, please visit: http://cbd.moregoldcoast.com.au/whats-on/chinatown-events/

Transport

The precinct is easily accessed by pedestrian and public transport. The new light rail (G:Link) is located at the Davenport St entrance to Chinatown, and brings thousands of people to the area each day. The G:Link connects Southport to Griffith University, the beach and entertainment districts of Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach.

G:Link (Tram): Disembark at the Southport Station, Nerang Street.

Bus: Contact Translink for bus transport options from different areas of the city.

Taxi: Contact Gold Coast Cabs.

Cycling: Ride your bike and park in one of the many bike racks around the precinct.

Car parking is available on the street and at the Athol Paterson, Mal Burke and Carey Park car parks.

See also

• Chinatowns in Oceania
• Gold Coast central business district

External links

• http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/documents/bf/chinatown-masterplan.pdf
• http://www.cityofgoldcoast.com.au/chinatown
• http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/chinatown-street-markets-26368.html
• http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/gold-coast-chinatown-17077.html
• http://www.mygc.com.au/news/watch-4-metre-confucius-statue-unveiled-in-gold-coast-chinatown/