Light Up Chinatown

Let’s Light Up Chinatown!

Thank you to every donor who helped us reach our goal to Light Up Chinatown with lights and personalized lanterns on Mott Street in phase 1 and 2 of our initiative. We just kicked off fundraising for phase 3, to adorn Bayard Street with lights and lanterns. Our goal is to complete phase 3 by February 26, Lantern Day and the close of the Lunar New Year. Your donation will help keep Chinatown lit towards a new year and dim the darkness that has hovered over us during the pandemic.

We appreciate every small or large donation in helping us reach our goal in phase 3, We will continue with our successful “Adopt a Lantern” project.  A $50 donation will get you a personalized lantern to be hung along Bayard Street. For $150, you will get a personalized lantern and a keepsake lantern that you can pick up or be sent to you. Please indicate the name you want on your personalized lanterns in the message box when you finalize your donation on this site. And if you want your keepsake lantern mailed to you please provide an address in the message box.

We could not have made this beautiful initiative a reality without the support and involvement of many friends and leaders in the community. This is truly a labor of love. Our special thanks to Patrick Mock of 46 Mott St Bakery, District Leader Jenny Low, United Democratic Organization President & Community Advocate Chung Seto, Joanne Kwong of Pearl River Mart, Send Chinatown Love, Community Advocate Winston Chiu, Think!Chinatown, Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association and NY Chinese Cultural Center. 

Now that outdoor dining is extended year round in New York City, we want Chinatown’s streets to be amply lit for diners and residents. The bright lights will make our streets feel safer and add a warm ambience for outdoor diners during the darker winter months.

But lighting up Chinatown is a costly effort. 

To meet our community’s needs, the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association and friends at the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Send Chinatown Love, Pearl River Mart, UDO and 46 Mott St Bakery are partnering to illuminate Chinatown.

The Chinese Chamber of Commerce, 46 Mott Street Bakery and donors have paid for the lights along Mott Street from Bayard and Pell. These lights are a welcoming brilliance over the streets of Chinatown. We want every block lit.

You can donate here or drop off a contribution at CCBA, 62 Mott Street, payable to the Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

In addition to supporting the “Light Up Chinatown” project with a contribution, we hope donors will also “Adopt A Lantern!” through Send Chinatown Love project. These beautiful outdoor lanterns will hang along Mott Street, stretching from Canal to Bayard to welcome patrons into our wonderful community. Send Chinatown Love will announce this effort in the next week.

With your help, this project will show Chinatown is open for business and light the way for business owners who have been impacted by the Coronavirus.

Our big reveal of “Light Up Chinatown” is set for the second week of December in celebration of the Winter Solstice. We will invite all the donors to join us for this festive evening when we can light up Chinatown. Together, we can find the light in the darkness.