While last Sunday marked the beginning of the Chinese New Year, celebrations have been taking place throughout Paris all week and finally culminated today with the grand parade in le Quartier Chinois in the south of Paris, the 13th arrondissement. I was able to watch the kick-off parade in the center of the city last Saturday, and then spent this weekend exploring the French Chinatown and everything delicious it had to offer. Like all major metropolises Paris has an incredibly thriving and diverse immigrant population that has made its mark on the city and introduced festivals, foods, languages, and some controversy. The 13th arrondissement was not always the Chinatown of Paris but has always been known for its architecture and urban development. That is to say, it was known as a massive architectural failing on the part of the French government when they built some of the cities first high-rise apartment buildings in the south of the 13th. These structures were considered such an affront to Baron Haussman's wrought-iron vision of Paris that it was nearly impossible to fill them, until the 1970s and 1980s saw a rise in immigration from Africa and Asia.
Now the buildings and streets of the 13th are decorated with brightly colored curtains and flags advertising Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Algerian, and North African supermarkets and restaurants. The parade today marched through streets clogged with Parisians enjoying the festivities where spectators were able to buy bean paste cakes, pain au chocolat, and barb a papa (cotton candy) side-by-side. Massive strings of firecrackers hung from every apartment window and building facade, and the dragons danced throughout the streets and sidewalks regardless of spectators (much like Parisian moped drivers). Le Quartier Chinois has quickly become one of my favorite spots in the city; it's bearably priced, has the only grocery stores where I can actually buy tofu, and feels much more lived in that any other part of Paris. When walking to a Pho restuarant for lunch, we passed a sign reading "End of Tourist Zone" clearly meant as a joke, but there was a certain truth to it. Paris will always be a city for tourists and locals alike - I don't believe that one has to live here to appreciate its beauty - but it was refreshing to see a part of the city that is so rarely traversed by tourists. Children played in the streets, school yards, and the park next to Notre-Dame-de-Chine (Our Lady of China church). Parents had no qualms about carrying groceries and laundry through the streets in comfortable weekend clothes. While my host family and everyone around us also performs these daily and necessary tasks, it is always with an iconic Parisian backdrop and that certain je ne sais quoi that makes this city so irresistibly elegant and lovely. However, the 13th has reached a certain level of beautiful contentedness and comfort that makes a neighborhood feel like a community.
It was bizarrely meta to watch another cultural celebration taking place in a culture I am still working to understand, but was one of the most festive weekends I've spent here. Whether assembling for a manifestation or a fête the Parisians love to gather and party, and they're willing to welcome anyone to such celebrations. Residents hung out their apartment windows to watch the parades, children climbed bus stops and scaffolding to get a better view (and then nearly jumped off when a string of fireworks exploded next to them), and everywhere gorgeous floats and costumes paraded about. Even in a city with such a distinct and proud culture I was able to find some variety and melding. Though some of the French may not consider bahn mi followed with an eclair and bubble tea an ideal lunch, it made my weekend.