Kaia Chau looks on as the lion dances to chase evil spirits away from Chinatown | Photo: Julien Suaudeau
“This, my friends, is the sound of Philly resilience,” observes Hidden City’s Song of Philadelphia podcast host Julien Suaudeau in the second part of season two’s first episode, “Following the Suns.” Here, Julien spends the Lunar New Year with young activist Kaia Chau and her mother, the long-time Chinatown community organizer Debbie Wei. Amidst drums and firecrackers, on an ecstatic nighttime tour of the neighborhood, Chau and Wei recount the many fights to protect Chinatown since the 1980s.
Listen to part-two of Kaia’s story on Song of Philadelphia, out today from Hidden City on Spotify and Apple.
“We’re pretty resistant,” says Wei, describing some of the organizations and businesses that have taken hold in Chinatown North since the defeat of the proposed Phillies stadium in the late-1990s.
“Pretty good track record of resisting,” adds her daughter, a leader in 2024’s fight to stop the Sixers arena, 76 Place, from being built.
The second floor Karaoke room of Little Saigon Cafe on N. 10th Street, where the No Arena campaign was headquartered | Photo: Julien Suaudeau
Chau and Wei introduce Suaudeau to “Uncle Sam,” the Vietnamese owner of Little Saigon Cafe and, like Wei, a longtime Chinatown activist. They go upstairs to the Karaoke room Sam turned into a campaign office for No Arena organizers. In the words of Julien Suaudeau, “This is where history was made.”
