How You Can Participate

Sound Walks

"A soundwalk is any excursion whose main purpose is listening to the environment." - Hildegard Westerkamp, 1974

A Sound Walk is a walk whose main purpose is to listen thoughtfully to any sound – near and far, pleasant and dissonant, soft and loud, continuous and fragmented. What do the sounds reveal?

Experience Chinatown in a new way. Renew your sense of place and physical environment through mindful listening and walking. Decode the undertones of urban life and connect them to larger community concerns. Rediscover Chinatown’s unexpected soundscapes – what do you hear in Chinatown? We will ask you to reflect on how sound and noise influences this historic neighborhood and the people who live, work and visit Chinatown.

Sound Walk 1: Heart of Chinatown

This SoundWalk focuses on what is commonly thought of as “the heart of Chinatown” and will take you past historical landmarks, parks, places of worship and the Manhattan Detention Center. Chinatown is shaped by its geography – bisected by Canal Street, the main thoroughfare between the Holland Tunnel and the Manhattan Bridge, squeezed up against civic and federal buildings in Tribeca, and bound by the East River on its eastern flank.

Download Sound Walk 1

Sound Walk 2: Little Fuzhou

This SoundWalk takes you east of Bowery into what is now known as “Little Fuzhou”. Starting in the 1980s, immigrants from Fuzhou, China began to move into the neighborhood, forming a Mandarin and Fuzhounese-speaking enclave centered around East Broadway. This “enclave-within-an-enclave” extends from the Bowery to the East River, with the Manhattan Bridge providing an unescapable and often cacophonous backdrop.

Download Sound Walk 2

How to Submit My Recording

Make your recording. Audio recordings can be of any kind or quality, but should be no longer than 3 minutes. Recordings must have been recorded in New York’s Chinatown.
Describe the recording. When you submit, please include in the email a brief description of where and when your recording was made: time, place (cross streets), and date.
Why this sound? If you’d like, add a sentence about why you chose to share this recording. What about this sound reminds you of Chinatown? Why is it important to you? Is there a noise issue you’d like to highlight?
Submit and share! Please email your recordings to submit@soundsofchinatown.com . Recordings will be embedded onto this website. Pass the word onto your friends so that they can share their audio, too!

Disclaimer

By submitting materials to Sounds of Chinatown, you agree that you understand the following:

that you are the owner of any material you post or submit, or are making your posting or submission with the express consent of the owner of the material;
that you are making your posting or submission with the express consent of anyone pictured in any material you post or submit,
that the materials will not violate the rights of, or cause injury to, any person or entity;
that the materials do not contain obscene, provocative, sexually explicit or otherwise objectionable or inappropriate content; and
that you will indemnify and hold harmless us, our affiliates, and each of our and their respective directors, officers, managers, employees, shareholders, agents, representatives and licensors, from and against any liability of any nature arising out of or related to any content or materials displayed on or submitted via the Site by you or by others using your username and password.