The Chinese Culture Center will transform the 600 block of Grant Avenue into an “Art Zone” to usher in the Lunar New Year and the Year of the Fire Horse. The Art Zone at Chinatown’s 2026 Lunar New Year Flower Market fair will include hands-on art stations for screen printing and calligraphy, a small press marketplace, know-your-rights booths, dance-alongs, and more.
‘Make Your Own Luck (築好運)’
Dubbed Make Your Own Luck, the Art Zone intends to celebrate the New Year with love, humor, and the courage to carry on. The event takes place on Feb. 14 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Feb. 15 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and is presented in collaboration with the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Edge on the Square, Chinese Historical Society of America, and Chinese for Affirmative Action.
‘Carry-On’ by Justin Wong
Justin Wong, an art scholar, cartoonist, and satirist, will have his first U.S. exhibition at the Chinese Culture Center’s new gallery. Carry-On arrives just in time for the Lunar New Year with a message of hope and humor during a time of crisis and tumultuous change. The presentation includes 10 new digital illustrations, five outdoor works, and three new handmade books. Wong’s art offers an intimate look into one individual’s processing of issues related to exile, memory, and everyday resistance.
Humor and quiet observation are the hallmarks of Wong’s reflections on contemporary society. Departure/Arrival (2025; pictured above) is a digital illustration consisting of three zigzagging shapes that tell a story of displacement and relocation. Two small figures at the top of the image embrace, saying goodbye. The middle stripe suggests faces looking out the windows of a plane, followed by the final stripe, the character emerging from a door attached to Big Ben in London.
Some areas between the stamps’ perforations are blank, adding to the sensation of loneliness and the idea that something somewhere is missing.
Wong’s career began in 2007 as a political cartoonist and illustrator, gaining notoriety for his long-running daily column in the Hong Kong newspaper, Ming Pao. In 2021, he was reported after the implementation of the National Security Law on July 1, 2020, which led to his abrupt departure from Hong Kong and relocation to London.
Since then, Wong’s art has reflected personal and political perspectives shaped by his experiences of displacement and distance. Are You Still There? (2025; pictured above) is a collection of art designed like postage stamps arranged in a narrative. The first stamp asks, “How are you?” The next “I still … feel it.” The stamp messages continue with “I miss you”, “Write me”, and “I hope you are fine too.” Each stamp’s message is matched with whimsical animal figures, human heads, airplanes, and trees. Some areas between the stamps’ perforations are blank, adding to the sensation of loneliness and the idea that something somewhere is missing.
Justin Wong has published several comic series in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and France, including Lonely Planet, Hello World, New Hong Kong, Je Préfèrerais Ne Pas, and Big Time, which focus on social/political movements and urban life. The series This City / That City, ultimately became a farewell to the city he once called home.
Currently, Wong is a spring 2026 visiting professor in the Folklore Program at U.C. Berkeley, where he is offering a graduate course entitled “Laughter as Resistance: Humour, Art, and the Everyday Politics of Hong Kong.”
Carry-On by Justin Wong is on view free to the public at the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco, Feb. 14 through June 29, 2026, Thursday through Monday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Carry-On will be the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco’s inaugural exhibition in its new gallery at 667 Grant Ave.
Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco
For 60 years, the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco (CCC) has uplifted Chinatown through the arts as both a vibrant neighborhood and a powerful metaphor for the immigrant experience. Founded in 1965 amid the civil rights movement, under the aegis of the Chinese Culture Foundation, CCC emerged as a bold response to racism, displacement, and gentrification. From a hard-won cultural space, it has evolved into a dynamic hub that shifts narratives, supports innovative art, and advances social justice.
Updated 02/10/26