Qi Lun by Walter Wong – Marble and Granite 2008
These dragons mark the entrance to a two-block corridor of Larkin Street between Eddy and O’Farrell officially declared Little Saigon in 2004.
There are about 250 Vietnamese American-owned businesses in the Tenderloin and eighty percent of the
businesses on the two blocks of Larkin are owned by Vietnamese Americans
The two granite and marble pillars serve as a symbol of peace, happiness and safety for the Vietnamese that have settled here. Most were refugees fleeing persecution by the Communist government after the 1975 war.
Designed by Walter Wong, the pillars weigh eight tons each and are topped by statues of Qi Lun, mythical creatures that are said to bring peace and prosperity.
“Some people wanted our symbol to be a boat to reflect the refugee experience, but this is a business district,” said Tuongvi Tran, who worked with the project for three years and is the executive director of the Vietnamese Elderly Mutual Assistance Association of San Francisco. “The Qi Lun will bring luck and help (the district) grow.”
The project, which took six years to coordinate, was challenged by an initially nonexistent budget. It was only after the Clean City Coalition granted $76,000 of the $108,000 needed for construction to begin that the ball got rolling. Community fundraising covered the rest of the expenses.
