Chinatown’s Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden vandalized by young men in ‘clown wigs’

The walls of Chinatown’s Dr. Sun Yat-Sen garden were vandalized once again after a group of young men allegedly made the mess after filming outside the gardens.

Lorraine Lowe, the garden’s executive director, tweeted a photo of white walls smeared with what appears to be red paint. The photo also shows empty canisters with hoses attached to them left on the ground. At this point, it’s not clear exactly what the substance is.

young adult male students filming around outside our garden walls looks like a project, left this huge mess on our cultural institution walls. They’re wearing clown wigs & walking north on Columbia now. @ParkBoard @CityofVancouver @VancouverPD who do we call to clean? pic.twitter.com/IFq6fVHEUb

— Lorraine Lowe (@lorrainelowe_) February 11, 2023

Lowe says the young men were wearing clown wigs and appeared to be filming the stunt.

“The ignorance of coming into our community, doing this to our cultural institution walls shows the level of disregard and disrespect for Chinatown,” Lowe said in a tweet.

Related Articles:

• Chinatown’s Dr. Sun Yat-Sen hit by vandals, again

• Suspected Chinatown vandal arrested: Vancouver police

This is not the first time the garden has been hit by vandals. The most recent incident was the vandalizing of the garden’s Chinese war memorial just a few weeks ago, where it was spray painted with graffiti.

In a statement to CityNews, Donnie Rosa, general manager of the Board of Parks & Recreation says the incident is “extremely disheartening.”

“Defacing the cultural institution walls demonstrates a complete lack of respect for Chinatown, and the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation strongly condemns this behavior. Graffiti removal teams have been notified and will address this damage as soon as possible,” Rosa said.

Contacted by CityNews, Lowe says she’s waiting for more information before commenting further. However, Lowe did tell CityNews the incident was reported to the City as the mess is in an area managed by the Vancouver Park Board.

The Vancouver Police Department says it’s currently investigating the incident.