In the early 1990s, Mary Ann Liu designed the dragon lanterns in Vancouver’s Chinatown.

About one-metre long and one-metre high, the golden dragons have become a Chinatown fixture, a traditional symbol of prosperity and strength in the historic neighbourhood.

Perched halfway up the area’s street-light poles, they’re so realistic that they look like they’re about to take flight.

“I wanted the dragon to have a lot of implied energy,” explains Liu. “I wanted the dragon to have a coiled strength so that it’s very alive, and it can fly.”

About 400 of the dragon sculptures have been made out of cast aluminum, powder coated in gold paint and put up in Chinatown since 1992. Another 60 were made for Chicago’s Chinatown in 1993.

Liu kept one dragon for herself, but didn’t know of any other copi

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