\n<\/p>\n
[Source<\/a>]<\/p>\n The iconic ceremonial gates of Sydney’s Chinatown, located at each end of the Dixon Street precinct\u2019s northern and southern sides in Haymarket, Australia, will be granted heritage status as part of a plan to help revitalize Chinatown. <\/strong><\/p>\n Driving the news:<\/strong> The local Australian<\/a> government set out to grant the Chinatown<\/a> gates heritage status after public consultation, which saw respondents describe Dixon Street as \u201cthe heart of Chinatown\u201d and the gates themselves as \u201cwelcoming and culturally symbolic,\u201d according to Time Out Sydney<\/a>.<\/p>\n The move, part of the Sydney<\/a> City Council\u2019s proposed 44-million-Australian-dollar ($28.85 million) Haymarket and Chinatown revitalization strategy<\/a>, reportedly began in 2020 when Chinatown saw dwindling numbers of visitors due to the COVID-19<\/a> pandemic.<\/p>\n About the gates:<\/strong> Designed by local architect and politician Henry Tsang, the gates reportedly took inspiration from Chinese arches known as \u201cdamen\u201d and opened in 1980. The event coincided with the formal recognition of Chinatown by then-Sydney Lord Mayor Nelson Meers.<\/p>\n Trending on NextShark: Young Chinese women are resorting to AI boyfriends for better communication<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Chinese immigrants<\/a> began moving to Sydney as early as 1818. Waves of them settled in Haymarket in the 1870s following the construction of new fruit and vegetable markets called Belmore Markets. By the 1920s, the city became an economic and sociocultural center for the Chinese community.<\/p>\n Why it matters:<\/strong> Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald<\/a>, Vincent Lim, president of the Haymarket Chamber of Commerce, said the gates are an \u201cimportant and significant marker\u201d that identifies Chinatown, much like \u201cwhat the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge are to Sydney.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Sophie Loy-Wilson, a historian of Chinese Australian communities at the University of Sydney, told the Herald that the gates had survived Sydney\u2019s bubonic plague outbreak in 1900 and the impacts of the White Australia Policy. \u201cWhile other Chinatowns in central Sydney, like the one once in The Rocks, have diminished in importance, Haymarket has remained a special place for the community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Trending on NextShark: Fewer Japanese women are giving obligatory chocolates to male colleagues on Valentine’s<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Download the NextShark App:<\/strong><\/p>\n