12-04-2025
New mural honors Chinese immigrants who shaped San Diego's fishing industry
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A new mural installed at a downtown San Diego intersection is not only pleasing to look at — it also serves as a reminder of the city's vibrant history.
The work of art, entitled 'Abalone Journey,' was a collaboration between local artists Janelle Louie and Thao Huynh French, and the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association.
According to the Downtown San Diego Partnership and the local artists behind the work, the mural is a tribute to early Chinese immigrants who pioneered the city's abalone fishing industry in the 1800s by building sailing ships known as 'junks' and establishing fishing villages along the bay.
View a time-lapse of the installation in the video player above.
'Their story we hope to preserve and tell is about a dangerous journey across the Pacific Ocean to escape poverty and war, as an act of defiance to find prosperity and to persevere through many hardships including legal discrimination from the Chinese Exclusion Act laws that ultimately led to their diminishing industry,' artists Louie and French said in a statement.
The artwork features the Sun Yun Lee, a 52-foot fishing junk built in 1884 in the Roseville neighborhood, near where the San Diego Yacht Club currently stands.
It also depicts rockfish, chrysanthemums and ink markings — all significant to Chinese culture.
The mural can be found at the intersection of Third Avenue and J Street in San Diego's Asian Pacific Thematic Historic District, near the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum.
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