Iron and Paper: Unfolding Philadelphia's Chinatown
Pop-Up Book on Mechanical Table
Colette Fu & Bradley Litwin, 2026
Curator: Dave Kyu
Table production: Bradley Litwin, Ben Bass, John Bolle, Josh Buser, Hans Diefenderfer, Max Doulis
Commissioned by: Art Philly as part of the What Now: 2026 Festival,
with lead support provided by the William Penn Foundation, in partnership with Asian Arts Initiative and the Crane Community Center.
Iron and Paper: Unfolding Philadelphia’s Chinatown is a five-spread pop-up book by artist Colette Fu, operated by a rotating crank and table engineered by Bradley Litwin. The book tells the layered American story of Chinese immigration and assimilation in Philadelphia, whose painful history has established an economically and culturally thriving Chinatown neighborhood.
Arriving as laborers, Chinese immigrants faced racism, violence, and exclusion from the American project. Through jobs building the railroads, then in laundries and restaurants, Chinese people started to build communities and make a home in this land. In Philadelphia, Holy Redeemer and the Chinese Christian Church and Center became anchors of an emerging community. Residents have had to band together to fight against predatory developments, but continue to do so to protect and preserve the vibrant community it has built in the 150-year history of Philadelphia’s Chinatown.
In the title, Iron refers to the table and machinery, which is modeled after the Iron Chink, a racist 19th-century invention built to replace Chinese laborers in the salmon canning industry. Paper refers to the pop-up book, but also the idea of Paper Sons & Daughters, in which Chinese immigrants bought forged identity papers to enter the U.S. during the Chinese Exclusion Act era. In this piece, iron and paper working together through ingenious craft, unfolds the one-of-a-kind story of Asians in America.
Exclusion → Survival → Community → Resistance → Celebration
Spread 1. The Founding of Philadelphia Chinatown
Exclusion, Migration, and Survival
Philadelphia’s Chinatown emerged from the violent displacement of Chinese immigrants from the American West during the 1870s and 1880s. Chinese laborers had been recruited to perform some of the most dangerous work on the transcontinental railroad, making up most of the Central Pacific Railroad workforce that completed the line in 1869. Despite their essential labor, they were paid less than white workers and faced
escalating racism, economic hostility, and mob violence across the West. This anti-Chinese sentiment culminated in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which barred Chinese laborers from immigrating to the United States and prohibited Chinese immigrants from becoming naturalized citizens. It was the first U.S. law to exclude an entire group based on race and nationality. Earlier legislation, including the Page Act of 1875, severely restricted the immigration of Chinese women, preventing many families from forming and contributing to the development of predominantly male “bachelor societies” in Chinatowns across America.
Spread 2. Chinatown Flourishes Through Food and Family
Restaurants as Survival and Opportunity
Around 1870, Lee Fong opened a laundry on Race Street, helping to lay the foundation for Philadelphia’s Chinatown. In a city known as the “Workshop of the World,” Chinese immigrants were largely excluded from industrial labor and were pushed into occupations considered noncompetitive with white workers, including laundries, restaurants, domestic service, and small import businesses.
Chinese restaurants became one of the few pathways to economic survival and family reunification for Chinese immigrants in America. While exclusion laws severely restricted immigration, a loophole in U.S. immigration policy allowed merchants, including restaurant owners, to sponsor workers and eventually bring family members to the United States. As a result, Chinese restaurants spread rapidly across the country and became deeply woven into American culture.
Chop Suey played a particularly important role in transforming Chinese food into a mainstream American phenomenon. Restaurants adapted flavors and presentation to appeal to American audiences while creating glamorous, theatrical dining spaces that introduced many Americans to Chinese culture through food. What began as cheap (the literal translation is odds and ends or scraps) working-class food evolved into a national culinary identity.
Spread 3. Chinatown: More Than a Place to Eat
Community, Culture, and Belonging
Philadelphia's Chinatown is far more than a dining destination. It is a neighborhood shaped by generations of immigrants who built institutions, preserved traditions, and created a sense of belonging despite exclusion and discrimination.
Churches, family associations, schools, and community organizations became vital anchors of neighborhood life. These institutions provided housing, language assistance, social services, and cultural continuity for newcomers navigating an unfamiliar country. Today, Chinatown remains a living cultural center where traditions are preserved, celebrations are shared, and new generations continue to redefine what it means to be Chinese American.
Spread 4. Resisting Erasure: Protest, Development, and Resilience
For decades, Philadelphia’s Chinatown has faced repeated threats from development projects that endangered homes, businesses, and community spaces. In 1966, community members were informed that the construction of the proposed Vine Street Expressway would destroy Holy Redeemer Catholic Church and School. This became the beginning of organized protests, coalitions, and public campaigns to resist displacement and preserve the neighborhood’s cultural identity. These protests led to the founding of the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation (PCDC). Despite ongoing pressure from urban development, Chinatown continues to endure through collective action, intergenerational organizing, and deep community ties.
Spread 5. Celebrating Chinatown
Chinatown is a living part of Philadelphia’s present and future. As we move forward, it’s essential to recognize the struggles and triumphs of communities like Chinatown, so we can work together to ensure that these vibrant spaces continue to thrive for generations to come. It is a symbol of cultural survival, and a place worth celebrating.
Image sources:
The Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation (PCDC)
Temple University Archives
Chinese Christian Church and Center
Deborah Wei
Dave Kyu
Colette Fu
UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library
Library Company
National Archives
Library of Congress
Museum of Chinese in America
Hawaii State Archives
Calisphere
University of California
Brother Bertram Photo Collection
Special Thanks to:
The Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation (PCDC)
Rodney Atienza
Temple University Special Collections Research Center
Harry Leong
Ellen Somekawa
Deborah Wei
Ellen Pine Litwin