Portland New Chinatown--Japantown Historic District; Also known as Chinatown National Register Historic District, Portland, Oregon - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

Portland Chinese Gateway, located at NW Fourth Avenue and W. Burnside, is my token historic landmark in the Portland New Chinatown--Japantown Historic District; Also known as Chinatown National Register Historic District which encompasses NW Third Avenue to the east, W. Burnside Street to the south, NW Fifth Avenue to the west, and NW Glisan Street to the north.

View both sides of the awesome, brightly painted three-tiered gateway to appreciate its ornate design, including five brightly colored roofs, sixty-four dragons, and two huge flanking bronze Chinese lions--one female and one male, representing the yin and yang elements, respectively. It was presented to the city by Kaohsiung, Portland's sister city in China. Architect, Yu Tang Wang. Artist, Sun Chau. Bronze, Marble, Painted Bronze.

The legend on the north side of the Chinatown Gateway reads: "Four Oceans (Seas), One Family." It means that no matter how far and wide Chinese are scattered around the world, they are all related. Chinatown is "family."

In 1851, the Tong Sung Restaurant and Boarding House opened its doors in Portland. By the turn of the 20th Century (1880 to 1910), Portland's Chinatown was the largest Chinatown in the United States after San Francisco's. Originally located on NW Second Avenue between Yamhill and Oak Streets, in the 1940s Chinatown moved north into an area then known as Japantown or Nihonmachi, occupying businesses and buildings vacated when their Japanese owners were interned during World War II. Chinese restaurants, grocery stores, and gift and import shops sit along tree-lined streets.

Instructions for logging waymark: A photograph is required that shows you (or your GPS receiver, if you are waymarking solo) and the place.