Experience
MAIN ATTRACTIONS
Explore the rich culture embedded in Chinatown and its community. Discover your zodiac on the sidewalks, take a Chinese painting class, learn about Chinese calligraphy, visit the murals, and take pictures at our infamous Arch!
Centrally located at the on Somerset Street West and Cambridge Street, our Imperial style arch welcomes everyone to Chinatown.
Take a fascinating mural tour! Strolling across Chinatown, you’ll notice bright pops of colour on windows, doors and walls.
The Ottawa Chinatown Bazaar is a community marketplace located in Ottawa’s Chinatown.
Step into a world of cultural wonder as you explore our captivating collection of sculptures.
Our Night Market has been celebrated as not only an Asian food and culture festival, but a weekend of diversity and inclusiveness.Â
Bring Luck Home
Luck, Abundance, Longevity, Happiness and Good Fortune are known to be the basic and modest wishes in the lives of ordinary people in Chinese culture. These five characters in calligraphy are an artistic expression of the blessings received by those who touch them.
Canada – the adopted home for many immigrants – is a country where abundance, luck, happiness, wealth, and stability abound and with which many of us are blessed. We wish for all Canadians to embrace and enjoy, Luck, Abundance, Longevity, Happiness, and Good Fortune forever.
Find the signs under the Chinatown Gateway on Somerset Street West. Sahre you photos, use the hashtag #chinatownottawa.
Chinese Painting & Calligraphy
Learn one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world by taking a Chinese painting class in Chinatown. Chinese painting and calligraphy distinguish themselves from other cultures’ arts by emphasis on motion and change with dynamic life. It is believed that by practicing them helps one to maintain mindfulness and maintain calmness in life.
Find Your Chinese Zodiac Sign
The Chinese Zodiac is based on a twelve-year cycle, each year in that cycle related to an animal sign. It is popular in several East Asian countries, including China, Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Philippines, Thailand and Taiwan.
In Chinatown, these zodiacs are imbedded into the sidewalks. Come and find them and learn about what your zodiac means.
QUICK LINKS
CONNECT WITH US
Somerset Street Chinatown BIA
5-299 Bronson Ave. Ottawa, Ontario K1R 6J1
(613) 230-4707