Reply 1988 | Incheon Chinatown — The Gate She Carried Food Through

The paifang over Chinatown Street still reads Junghwaga. Behind it the lanes climb toward Jayu Park and drop toward the old port. Incheon laid this quarter after the 1883 opening of Jemulpo. The gate is painted, the bakeries sell hoppang and walnut cakes, and the slope is steep enough that a tray of food becomes a decision.

Deok-sun came here when Taek sat at a board in China. The drama needed a street that already looked like a crossing between countries. She bought food in these alleys and carried it as if the distance to a go tournament could be shortened by a paper bag. The cameras did not have to invent the lanterns.

Walk up from Incheon Station Exit 1. The first gate is the photograph. The second turn is the one that still smells like oil and sugar. That is as close as a visitor gets to the errand she ran for a boy who would not say what he wanted.

Photo: Mobius6, via Wikimedia Commons.