Card Life | Chinatown.

Chinatown is very close to Prince's Island Park. After visiting Prince's Island Park, you can walk to Chinatown, where there are many snack shops, tea shops, and Chinese restaurants. Chinatown is roughly a right-angled trapezoid, with 1st St SW as the base, 1st St SE as the top, 4th Ave SE as the straight waist, and Bow River as the diagonal waist. Bow River runs diagonally from the northwest corner to the east side. Many tourists walk along the river on weekends. The Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre at 197 1st St SW is a landmark building. There are often events held inside. If you are interested, you can check the website for announcements. There is a museum inside that displays Chinese culture. Most of the exhibits are replicas, and there is no unified theme. It does not reflect the long history and profoundness of Chinese civilization, nor does it focus on the hardships of the pioneers who came to North America from afar. It seems that no cultural elites were involved in the construction. The cultural center may have been built spontaneously by generations of Chinese immigrants in Calgary. From the perspective of displaying Chinese civilization, this museum is better than nothing. However, from the perspective of understanding the lives of local Chinese, it can also see the spiritual life and cultural characteristics of the pioneers of Calgary Chinese. The Dragon City Mall at the corner of 4th Ave SE and Centre St S is another landmark building in Chinatown. The mall has entrances on both 4th Ave SE and Centre St S. Both entrances have additional Chinese dragon logo steel structures. The main color is red, with yellow and green accents. This form of door eaves with additional steel structures is rarely seen in China. It is a bit like the wooden structures of the eaves of the Mogao Caves. However, there are now very few remaining eaves of the Mogao Caves. I remember that there are only a few caves with remains. I went to Dragon City Mall on Saturday morning at 11:00. There were very few customers inside, and some shops were not open. The mall has only two floors, with an open-air design. Shops are scattered around, with red lanterns hanging in the middle. There are tea shops, snack shops, restaurants, DVDs, handicrafts, and Tang suits on the first floor. The Tang suits are all red and green, and the styles are like old antiques. They are piled up in the store, a bit like the way goods are displayed on wholesale streets in China. There are some travel agencies, immigration agencies, accounting firms, massage parlors, Chinese schools, church bookstores, Tang suit stores, and two hand-made stores on the second floor. One of the hand-made stores has closed. There are a few elderly people learning to dance in the Chinese school. It was almost time for lunch, so I started looking for a place to eat. The rice noodle shop on the first floor was quite popular, and several tables were full. Another snack shop next to it had no customers. I continued to walk around and saw a Shanghai restaurant at the corner. There were no customers, but I decided to choose this one. The whole restaurant has only one waiter. I ordered jellyfish salad, spicy beef soup, pan-fried buns, and vegetable rice. The food came quickly, and the taste was okay. Soon, several tables of guests came. The only waiter was busy seating, serving tea, taking orders, and delivering food. Although I had to go to the service desk to pay, I still gave a little tip. When I came out after dinner, there was a tea shop at the entrance of the mall. I ordered a Yakult peach tea, which tasted good. However, the sugar-free tea I ordered was made with full sugar, which was too sweet. In addition, a young couple sitting at the entrance were talking loudly about their Canadian workplace experiences. They were so energetic that I could hear them clearly even though I was sitting in the back with several tables in between. Young people are so good. Tips: ⛱️Must-see attractions: Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre 🍜Food guide: Tea, various Chinese dishes, egg waffles 🚄Transportation guide: Find park lot on Google, free 2-hour parking on the side of the road 💗Other tips: Peace Bridge, Stephen Avenue Walk, Prince's Island Park, Calgary Central Library, all within walking distance