Chinatown Guardian Lions vandalized again, community members call for solutions

A guardian lion and the Heritage Vancouver Society in Chinatown were vandalized late Friday night, and after numerous instances of vandalism in the area and cases of Asian hate. Once again, community members are calling for action to combat the problem.

As of Saturday morning, the lion’s eyes had been painted green, the door of the cultural building was graffitied, and the lawn near the building was defecated on.

Lorraine Lowe, Executive Director of the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden says the vandalism has been rampant in the area. Vancouver Police have reported an over 700 per cent increase in anti-Asian hate crime in 2020 compared with 2019.

“It degrades the community, the tribal community. We do feel like there is some sort of systemic racism and Chinatown’s been behind for quite some time,” Lowe told CityNews.

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Although Lowe says the VPD has been supportive in patrolling the area, since the start of the pandemic, Asian hate and race-related crimes have skyrocketed, with Chinatown being a repeated victim of vandalism.

“We have a courtyard shared with the cultural center and before it was opened there was a lot of vandalism, broken windows, anti-Asian graffiti. But now there’s actually a gate that’s erected, which is keeping all the vandalism out of just around the exterior,” Lowe explained.

Lowe says the crimes have made Asian people living in the community feel unsafe.

She adds navigating the challenges around race-related crimes has been a complicated endeavour.

“We’re working together with the Parks Board to try to come up with a comprehensive security plan because my staff don’t feel safe. They didn’t feel safe before. We have people coming over from the public park side climbing over the water threatening or visitors charging at us with ripped off bamboo stalks from the other side.”

Although the vandalism is not confirmed to be a racially targeted crime, Lowe says in the back of her mind she considers the attack could have hateful intentions.