5 statues displayed throughout San Francisco in honor of Year of the Dragon

Bay City News

Monday, January 29, 2024

5 statues displayed throughout SF in honor of Year of the Dragon

San Francisco residents will start seeing five wooden dragon statues across the city as Lunar New Year celebrations kick off.

SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco residents will start seeing five wooden dragon statues across the city, the first day of a Chinese Chamber of Commerce of San Francisco public art project.

The statues -- Blue and White Porcelain, Heavenly Jade, Ping An, Rainbow and Gold Luck Dragons--will remain installed through early March.

The Heavenly Jade Dragon, designed by Stephanie Tsao, will live at Thrive City at 1725 Third Street in San Francisco, Calif.. Tsao is a Chinese-Japanese-American artist from the Bay Area. She was the designer of the 2022 Prosperity Rabbit installed in front of the Asian Art Museum, the 2021 Wealth and Health Tiger displayed in Portsmouth Square and the 2020 Happy Lunar New Year ox statue featured at San Francisco International Airport.

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San Francisco native Donna Lau designed the Ping An Dragon statue, located at 3251 20th Avenue near the Stonestown Galleria. The colors and patterns on the dragon are meant to reflect Lau's memories of 15-day Lunar New Year activities from her childhood. The Ping An Dragon is sponsored by Lexus.

The Blue and White Porcelain Dragon will be placed on Union Square at the intersection of Geary Street and Powell Street in San Francisco, Calif. It is sponsored by Alaska Airlines and was created by artist Qinghui Ji. She also designed the Chinese New Year parade float for Meta in the 2023 San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade.

Local artist Steph Mufson designed the Rainbow Dragon statue, which will sit at Lucky Supermarket at 1515 Sloat Boulevard, San Francisco, and the Gold Luck Dragon, which will be at Rose Pak Station, 943 Stockton Street, San Francisco. Mufson's Rainbow Dragon statue is sponsored by Lucky California, while her Gold Luck dragon statue is sponsored by Sky River Casino.

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The display will end on Saturday, March 2, after which the statues will be auctioned off, according to Chinese New Years Festival and Parade website. Proceeds from the auction will go to three organizations-- API Legal Outreach, Asian Women's Shelter and Charity Cultural Services Center. API Legal Outreach provides culturally and linguistically appropriate legal representation and related services to those in need. Charity Cultural Services Center provides vocational training to immigrants and low-income San Franciscans. Asian Women's Shelter is a domestic violence service group operating in the Bay Area.

The dragon statues will also be the subject of a photography contest. Winners will receive a dragon pin, a festival t-shirt, a $50 Gift card to Lucky Supermarket and a Golden State Warriors promotional item. Participants must be at least 13 years old and have an active Instagram or Facebook account.