Wandering Montreal's CBD

Ju Ming's Tai Chi Single Whip

Montreal is a relatively easy city to get around by the metro of subway. We don't know what it's like during the freezing depths of winter, but we already had a good idea from the intense wind tunnels in some of the metro stations. Just pushing the station door open can be a Herculean task as a gust of wind barrels past you.

Nevertheless, we had fun wandering around the city. On the way to the Notre Dame Basilica, we saw the entrance to Montreal's Chinatown, with a Chinese-style gate with "唐人街" on it. When we arrived at the famed church, one of the towers was under renovation and we weren't keen on paying C$16 admission to go inside.

The entrance to Montreal's Chinatown

Not far from there was the financial district, where we saw a number of banks: BMO or Bank of Montreal, TD, or Toronto Dominion Bank, and even Molsons Bank. 

It was started by Montreal brewer John Molson's two sons, William and John. Not only did William serve as the bank's president until his death, but also expanded the family business empire with a distillery, a lumberyard, a foundry, steamships and railways. 

William Molson was also a leading philanthropist who served as president of the Montreal General Hospital, and donated funds towards the establishment and construction of McGill University, where he later became a governor.

After we crossed the street, we came to Victoria Square, where I spied Taiwanese artist Ju Ming's sculpture!

His blocky tai chi figures graced the Bank of China in Hong Kong, and now there was one in Montreal!

Molsons Bank building

There was no information about it and I had to look it up online. The sculpture is called "Tai Chi Single Whip" that was cast in bronze and erected in 2006.

It became an endearing figure in 2015 when some Montreal Canadien fans made a giant Habs hockey jersey for the sculpture with the number 31 on it for the goalie Carey Price at the time.

Price had won his 43rd game that year, breaking the Montreal Canadiens' single season record previously jointly held by Ken Dryden and Jacques Plante.

Sadly the Habs weren't able to go on to the Stanley Cup finals this year, after they were eliminated by the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference final...