There is another Chinatown in Ottawa, one less visited than Somerset Street. These photos are of the “Other Chinatown”:

above: The entrance gateway is much more modest than the Somerset one. But then, the dead lead quieter lives.

Pavillion with red posts, green roof tiles. The vocabulary of the construction is similar to the Somerset royal arch.

The lane in the background goes out to the St Laurent Blvd entrance to Beechwood Cemetery. The Chinese interment grounds are close to St Laurent.

In Chinese tradition, Dragon had nine sons. Chiwen likes high places, and is usually found on the roof ridge with a large open mouth facing inward to zoom along the beam and swallow evil influences. Here though, he faces outwards, like his brother Chaeofeng does, but Chaeofeng usually hangs out on the lower tips of the roof rather than the ridge.

There are many memorial trees in the garden, these ones had astonishingly bright red fruit or berries on them after all the leaves had fallen.

For more information on the Chinatown Arch on Somerset, go to www.OttawaChinatownRoyalArch.blogspot.com. The Chinatown BIA produced a little brochure for the opening ceremony that explained some of the symbolism of the Arch. Presumably it will be made available again for general public education about the art and architecture of the arch that now forms the heart of Chinatown Live.