Inside the Lion II

After spending a year in New York City photographing Team WCM, I decided to move back to the West Coast and photograph Leung’s White Crane in the heart of San Francisco Chinatown.

Leung’s White Crane is one of the most esteemed lion dance groups in the United States and have a rich history dating all the way back to 1971. In recent years, they have even gone on to represent the USA on a world level at the biennial Genting World Lion Dance Competitions.

But beyond the bright lights and the bright costumes, it is the deeper fabric of lion dancing and the role it plays in 1st generation Chinese-Americans that continues to interest me. 

I grew up watching Leung’s White Crane perform and even knew several members of the group. As a young kid growing up in America, it was always a very special thing for me to see people who looked just like me perform such great acrobatic tricks with so much vigor and pride.

To me, that was something worth remembering, and something I always knew I'd come back to document.

In a world that is moving faster than ever, lion dancing continues to live and breath as a special place for many 1st generation Chinese-Americans. It is a home away from home. A place where one can find a sense of belonging when the greater American world is too perplexing and the words of our traditional parents fail to translate. But more so, lion dancing is also an activity where Chinese-Americans can feel proud of one’s heritage in a country drastically lacking in realistic portrayals of who we really are.

In creating this series, I wanted to pay homage to an ancient art form that continues to connect so many of us 1st generation Chinese-Americans back to our roots that feel so familiar, yet, can feel so foreign, all at the same time.