China town
public art
The Wheels of Change, 2003
Chusien Chang, artist
Chusien Chang's concept for the Chinatown station is fittingly based on the "I Ching" also known in English as the Book of Changes. The "I Ching" system of divination was composed more than 3,000 years ago during the Chinese Bronze Age and consists of 64 six-line diagrams known as hexagrams, each representing different stages of transformation. This ancient book gave rise to the two most fundamental themes in Chinese culture, the Yin and Yang and the Ba Gua.
The Yin and Yang is recognized as the positive and the negative, the dark and the light, the male and the female, the opposites in constant flow to reach harmony. The Yin and Yang are complementary, continually interacting to create a cyclic change that reflects the changes of the Chinatown community. This perpetual flow also relates to the movement of the train and the exchange of passengers at the station.
The "Ba Gua", or the Eight Trigrams, are the building blocks of the hexagrams. Each of the possible three-line combinations represents the eight elemental forces in nature. They are Fire, Earth, Water, Wind, Lake, Heaven, Mountain, and Thunder. The Ba Gua is used in Feng Shui to provide balance and harmony as well as a good luck charm. Chang created a central 16-foot diameter floor design at the mezzanine level encompassing Ba Gua and parts of the Chinese Energy Dial. The materials for the piece are glass and granite. At the center of the floor design is a working compass measuring nearly 24 inches in diameter. The use of the compass refers to the idea of one's need for orientation in a new place. The compass, invented by the Chinese for navigation purposes, acts as a metaphor for the early Chinese immigrants orienting themselves in a new land and as a tool for orienting passengers.
Above the floor design at the plaza level Chang included custom seating elements. The plaza design includes use of original train tracks, referring to the early Chinese immigrants who worked in the gold mines and constructed the railroads in the 1800's. The artist designed and integrated 64 green pavers and placed them randomly throughout the north plaza.
