Chinatown

Spanning the area between South Station and the Boston Common, Chinatown is filled with many Chinese immigrants and their businesses. There are numerous Chinese restaurants as well as bakeries and teahouses. In addition, there are Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese restaurants in the neighborhood. Specialty shops sell everything from medicinal dried roots and herbs to fine jade jewelry. Food markets sell fresh fish, hard-to-find Asian vegetables and even live poultry. The traditional Chinatown Gate—paifang is flanked by foo lions on each side to ward off evil. Foo lions are believed to ward off evil and are popularly known as guardian lions usually seen at the entrance of important buildings and establishments.