Chinatown

Alternative meanings: Chinatown (disambiguation)

Chinatown in San Francisco

Chinatown is an urban region containing a large population of Chinese people within a non-Chinese society. The term Chinatown has also been used (mostly by non-Chinese) to describe urban areas where large numbers of people of Asian descent live and own small businesses, such as Vietnamese, Japanese, Thais, and Koreans. Chinatowns are most common in Southeast Asia and North America, but growing Chinatowns can be found in Europe and beyond.

Chinatowns were formed in the 19th century in many areas of the United States and Canada as a result of discriminatory land laws which forbade the sale of land to Chinese outside of a restricted geographical area and which promoted the segregation of people of different ethnicities. However, the location of a Chinatown in a particular city may change or disappear over time.

Many overcrowded Chinatowns in urban areas were shunned by the general non-Chinese public as ethnic ghettos and therefore seen as places of cultural insularism. Nowadays, many Chinatowns are considered viable ventures for multiculturalism, commercialism, and tourism. Many Chinatowns have a long history, such as Nagasaki, Japan's Chinatown or Nankinmachi, which is nearly three centuries old. Some Chinatowns are relatively young and formed within the 1990s - such as with Las Vegas, Nevada in the United States - and others still on blueprints. Indeed, many areas of the world are embracing the development of Chinatowns, such as in Germany, the Netherlands, and Russia.

Names

In Chinese, Chinatown is usually called in Mandarin Táng rén jiē (唐人街), meaning "the street of the Tang people" (an uncommon term for "the Chinese", used here since the Cantonese, which make up a large proportion of immigrants, were only fully brought under imperial control under the Tang Dynasty). Indeed, some Chinatowns are just a street, such as Fisgard Street in Victoria, British Columbia. In Cantonese, it is Tong yun fau (唐人鎮), which literally means "Tang people town" or more accurately, "Chinese town". It is Tong Ngin Gai in Hakka, the third widely spoken dialect among overseas Chinese. "Tang" and "Tong" refers to the Tang Dynasty, an era in Chinese history.

A more modern Chinese name is Huábù (華埠), or "Chinese City," which is used in the semi-official Chinese translations of some cities' documents and signs. Bù, pronounced sometimes as fù, usually means "seaport"; but in this sense, it means "city" or "town." The literal word-to-word translation of "Chinatown" is Zhōngguó Chéng (中國城), which is occasionally used in Chinese writing.

In Francophone regions (such as France and Quebec, Canada), Chinatown is often referred to as le Quartier chinois (meaning "the Chinese Quarter"; plural: les quartiers chinois) and the Spanish-language term is usually el Barrio Chino ("the Chinese neighborhood"; plural: los barrios chinos), used in Spain and Latin America. Other countries also have names for Chinatown in local languages; however, some local terms may not necessarily translate as "Chinatown".

Features

Chinatowns worldwide are usually popular destinations for various ethnic Chinese and other Asian cuisines. Many tourist-destination metropolitan Chinatowns can often be easily distinguished by large red pagoda-style arches and gates with bronze lion statues on the opposite sides of the street that greet visitors. Historically, these gateways were donated to a particular city as a gift from the Republic of China government and business organizations. On the other hand, construction of the red arches were also financed by local financial contributions from the Chinatown community. The popular perception of Chinatown often includes these gates.

Restaurants

Some Chinatowns still have faux Chinese American cuisine restaurants with stereotypical "Chinese" English writing, large red doors, Chinese paper lanterns and zodiac placemats. Outside of Chinatown, these restaurants are also found in many areas without a significantly large Chinese-speaking population.

Most authentic restaurants in urban and suburban Chinatown for immigrant customers do not use these features and in some cases, because of new ethnic Chinese immigration, some Chinese American cuisine restaurants in the area have become anachronisms. In many Chinatowns, there are frequent numbers of large authentic Cantonese seafood restaurants (egg rolls are only served during dim sum hours) and small restaurants with delis. The latter generally serves won ton mein, chow fun, and rice porridge (jook in Cantonese Chinese). Some smaller Chinese restaurants may offer both Chinese American cuisine - especially for white customers - and authentic Chinese cusine for Chinese-speaking customers.

Benevolent associations

A major component of many old Chinatowns worldwide is the family benevolent association. These associations generally provide social support, religious services, death benefits (members' names in Chinese are generally enshrined on tablets and posted on walls), meals, and recreational activities for ethnic Chinese, especially for older Chinese migrants. Membership to these associations can be based on members sharing a common Chinese surname, spoken Chinese dialect, a specific region or country of origin, etc. Many of these associations have their own facilities. Some examples include San Francisco's prominent Chinese Six Companies and Los Angeles's Southern California Teochew Association.

Annual events in Chinatown

Most Chinatowns the world over present Chinese New Year (aka Lunar New Year) festivities with ubiquitous dragon and lion dances and very loud firecrackers, especially in front of ethnic Chinese storefronts. In addition, some streets of Chinatowns are usually closed off for parades, street festivals, and carnival rides. Others may also be held in a parking lot/car park, local park or school grounds within Chinatown. These events are popular with the local ethnic community and also to non-Chinese gawkers.

In some North American suburban Chinese communities, there are Chinese New Year parades with traditional Chinese lion and dragon dances and also with some elements of Americana, such as local high school bands and grand marshals.

Some Chinatowns hold an annual "Miss Chinatown" beauty pageant, such "Miss Chinatown San Francisco," "Miss Chinatown Hawaii" or Miss Chinatown Houston" (just to name a few examples).

Chinatowns in North America

In general, there are three types of Chinatowns in North America: frontier and rural Chinatowns, urban Chinatowns and suburban Chinatowns.

Frontier and rural Chinatowns

Several small towns in the western United States and Canada have or once had a Chinatown that sprang up as a result of early Chinese settlement during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Many of the Chinese that formed these Chinatowns were from the primarily rural Sze Yap ("Four Districts") region of Guangdong province of China, including speakers of Toisan (台山, Pinyin: Taishan) and Chung San (中山, Pinyin: Zhongshan) Chinese (these are various subdialects of Cantonese Chinese). Experiencing hardships, especially discrimination and prejudice in the big cities, the Chinese banded together and established their own distinct communities in the frontier areas. In many cases, Chinese were forbidden either through explicit laws or implicit agreements from purchasing land or residing outside of their enclaves.

Origins

Between the periods when the gold rushes on Gum shan ("Gold Mountain", 金山, Pinyin: Jin Shan) went bust and the transcontinental railroads were completed, the Toisan-speaking Chinese farm laborers, many of whom already had expertise in farming techniques, worked in the agricultural industry of California's Central Valley, and there they formed small rural Chinatown enclaves in white farming and mining communities.

Locations and layout

In frontier ("Wild West") and rural Chinatowns, a Chinese general store also provided a post office, bank, townhall, translation services and local stomping ground for the Chinese population. Also included in several Chinatowns of this type were Chinese religious shrines, such as Buddhist and Taoist temples.

Examples of rural and small town Chinatowns include the communities of Locke and Weaverville, located north and northwest of San Francisco, California. Others include a "China Alley" in the Central Valley town of Hanford, California and a site in Butte, Montana.

Extinct Chinatowns include the ones in California (San Luis Obispo, Nevada City, Walnut Grove, Rio Vista, Marysville), British Columbia (Lillooet, Barkerville), Alberta (Strathcona), Nevada (Reno, Viginia City), South Dakota (Deadwood), and Wyoming (Rock Springs).

Nowadays, these small, early Chinatowns tend to serve as museums rather than areas of bustling commerce as is the case in their urban and suburban counterparts. While most of these frontier-era Chinatowns have largely disappeared, their remnants and other small Chinatowns still standing can be found, especially in the western region of the U.S. The majority of "Chinese" restaurants in these particular Chinatowns tend to prominently display Budweiser beer signs and serve American Chinese cuisine, such as chop suey. The old rural/frontier and urban Chinatowns were often stereotyped for having ethnic Chinese-owned laundries. In most cases, they have now widely disappeared over time in most of the old urban Chinatowns and the stereotype no longer persists.

In recent years, several excavations have been made and some remnants of the rural Chinatowns were unearthed such as in San Luis Obispo, California. Many early Chinatown artifacts and pieces can be found in some local museums.

In the early years of Locke, California, the Chinese-American population was booming and thus led to a creation of the local chapter of the Kuomintang.

Decline

In the 1940s and 1950s, the Chinese Americans (i.e., to say descendants of the earliest Chinese immigrants) were generally better-educated and often spoke more fluent English than their parents and grandparents—and also lost much fluency in the Chinese language during acculturation in American society—moved out of the rural regions and resettled in the major cities. After immigration restrictions were placed on Mainland Chinese, there has been no new Chinese immigration to these towns. Nowadays, there are few remaining pockets of ethnic Chinese that live in these small rural Chinatowns. The extant Chinese American population in these particular rural Chinatowns are aging and slowly dying out.

Urban and suburban Chinatowns: old vs. new

On the other hand, many large American and Canadian cities now have more than one Chinatown—an older mainly urban one, and others attached to newly created suburban communities. The early Chinese immigrants settled in major North American coastal cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Vancouver, thus giving those cities historic and bustling old Chinatowns that still stand today and essentially serving as anchors for another wave of ethnic Chinese immigration. In the early years of settlement, many of the old urban Chinatowns were involuntarily settled by Chinese immigrants due to de jure (i.e., codified by law) segregationist policies by several municipalities, states, and provinces.

The suburban Chinatowns were generally established in the 1970s, and were the result of three factors: The relaxation of Chinese immigration restrictions (the Chinese Exclusion Acts previously enacted in 1882 in the United States and in 1923 in Canada), the passage of laws that forbade racial discrimination in real estate, and improved relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China in "ping-pong diplomacy."

In the 1970s, the Mainland Chinese-born and U.S.-educated realtor Frederic Hsieh was instrumental in bringing about the development of the first suburban Chinese communities.

In sharp contrast to the old Chinatowns, these new Chinatowns were settled voluntarily but there is now some self-imposed de facto segregation.

Today, a large majority of ethnic Chinese do not necessarily reside within the old Chinatowns. While there are some Chinatown residents, many may live in surrounding neighborhoods that provide easy access to the goods and services provided in Chinatowns. Many Chinese immigrants, especially the first-generation, without cars tend to take rapid transit (such as Manhattan's subway or San Francisco's electric buses) to go shopping in Chinatowns.

The new Chinatowns and old Chinatowns have a number of differences. Traditionally, the older Chinatowns tended to be separate communities apart from the rest of American society and contained strong internal institutions such as the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association in New York City and the Six Companies in San Francisco. These institutions served as quasi-governments and mediated relationships between Chinese and non-Chinese.

Atmosphere and offerings

The older Chinatowns are more traditional and tend to be tourist attractions with restaurants serving both American Chinese cuisine geared towards non-Chinese customers and authentic cuisine. In addition, many old Chinatowns are situated near large downtown areas.

The visitor can literally sense the old Chinatowns that have numerous markets selling live fish and poultry, incense coming from shops, and elderly ethnic Chinese merchants in front of their storefronts selling imported wares. Also, a larger concentration of small mom-and-pop grocers with outdoor produce stands protruding onto sidewalks, dim sum bakeries, take-out delicatessens with roast Peking ducks and roast pigs hanging on their windows, and bazaars can be found in the older and traditional Cantonese-dominated Chinatowns whereas there are relatively fewer of them in the newer suburban "Chinatowns." Dim sum in suburban Chinatowns, however, is available in generally large and overcrowded Cantonese seafood restaurants during the morning and midday. In urban Chinatowns, the dim sum bakeries—usually with limited amount of seating—are often frequented by middle-aged and elderly North American Chinese. In some cases, the bakeries may also serve as a local social gathering for these seniors; e.g., to play Chinese or Western chess or the Chinese game of mahjong. Some old Chinatowns have outdoor food vendors serving low-priced Chinese cuisine (sanitation standards may vary) and outdoor eating areas resembling those found in Hong Kong. In old Chinatowns of Canada, many first-generation Chinese immigrants still buy and sell produce (from the outdoor produce stands) and deli by the pound rather than the kilogram.

Chinatowns have many large business signs written entirely in the Chinese language and protruding out. Many old, albeit popular, Chinatowns are usually crowded and have much heavier pedestrian traffic, with many Chinese seniors shopping in the markets and usually carrying bags of a day's worth of groceries and with many tourists heading to restaurants.

Conversely, the new Chinatowns tend to truly cater to ethnic Chinese, with authentic Chinese restaurants and suburbia shopping centers with Chinese merchants. Take-out delicatessens serving Peking duck and soy sauce chicken are mainly attached to sit-down Chinese restaurants. Also, the suburban Chinatowns usually have a wider range of Chinese cuisine (for example, Taiwanese and Chinese Islamic cuisine) and more modern style cafés, boba shops, coffeeshops, teahouses, chic boutiques, specialty stores (e.g., stores specializing in wireless phones, Asian popular culture, computer repair services), nightclubs, and karaoke bars (or KTV parlors) that mainly cater and appeal to younger Asian Americans and Canadians. The current Taiwanese fad of boba milk tea (boba na cha in Chinese), also known as pearl milk tea, has especially spread in the satellite Chinatowns. The older Chinatowns have been slower to catch on to these newer trends and thus, the penetration of such fads is visibly fewer. This is largely explained by the considerably larger population of older-generation Chinese (many of whom understand little or no English), lower income levels, and the high cost or lack of available real estate in many of the urban Chinatowns.

Both urban and suburban Chinatowns have large Hong Kong seafood restaurants, which serve Cantonese cuisine. Depending on the level of profitability, they may also serve dim sum in the morning. Many seafood restaurants feature large water tanks of live swimming fish and lobsters. The restaurants also usually have menus posted on wall tablets or posters written in Chinese. In many cases, these seafood restaurants are used for banquets, weddings, and also political fundraisers (especially for Chinese American and Canadian politicians).

Many Taiwanese-owned noodle and dumpling restaurants are typically very small eateries serving northern Chinese cuisine. They usually contain 10 or fewer tables and are rarely found in the old urban Cantonese Chinatowns. Instead, many of these restaurants have cropped up in the newer Taiwanese-founded Chinatowns and generally have menus written entirely in Chinese and serve almost an entire Mandarin-speaking immigrant customers.

Several examples of well-known suburban Chinese retail chains include 99 Ranch Market, Lollicup, Hong Kong Supermarket, Tapioca Express, and Sam Woo Restaurant in the United States and T & T Supermarket in Canada.

In many urban and some older suburban Chinatowns, many Chinese seniors can be seen performing daily Tai Chi exercises in recreation parks in the early morning hours.

Locations and landmarks

In all major cities with older, albeit formally recognized, Chinatowns, many nearby freeways and expressways have off-ramp signs indicating and pointing to the older urban Chinatowns. Some cities provide directional signs to them along the way as well, such as in San Francisco. With no such signs, the suburban Chinatowns can be indistinguishable and more difficult to find without general coordinates. One would generally bypass them in an instant. An example of this are Monterey Park and Cupertino, California.

Many of the businesses are more clustered and centralized in the older and cramped Chinatowns, making it easier and suitable to walk between merchants. Street parking in many urban Chinatowns is scarce (often causing several Chinatown businesses to lose customers and relocate to the suburban Chinatowns) and contain parking meters, especially in the inner-city on weekends—for example, in the old American Chinatowns of Los Angeles, Manhattan, San Francisco and Seattle. In contrast, the newer suburban Chinatowns, typically huge shopping centers with dedicated large parking areas and structures, tend to be more dispersed, decentralized and spread out over a wider area, making it quite difficult to get around without viable transportation.

Ethnic origin of population

Early Chinese immigrants to urban Chinatowns were mostly from the Taishan area, close to Guangzhou in Guangdong province, China, and Zhongshan, near Macau. They were mainly impoverished male laborers who often left their family behind in China and some of the meager wages they earned in North America would be channeled back to their families. They immigrated to the U.S. and Canada in the 19th century to lay railroad tracks, work in the gold and coal mines of California and Yukon, work on farms, man the factories, operate dry goods stores, and do laundry for the miners. On the other hand, these Chinese immigrants often lacked many employment opportunities; thus they were relegated to these jobs and some started their own businesses. Taishanese was the de facto official dialect of many Chinatowns, although there were also many Zhongshanese who dominated many businesses as well. Standard Cantonese later became the lingua franca among the groups.

Today, the old Chinatowns are still heavily populated by Taishanese and Cantonese people (the former is slowly being overshadowed by other Chinese dialects), although as part of the American rightist "melting pot" ideology, most of the "assimilated" second-generation and other descendants of the early immigrants have merged into the general non-Chinese population. Beginning in the 1970s, new ethnic Chinese immigrants from various areas of Asia - many of whom had practically very little or no connections or even much in common with the already established old-time immigrants and Chinese Americans descended from earlier Taishanese migrants - have generally taken their place, so to speak.

In addition, many Vietnamese and other Southeast Asians, especially those who speak Chinese and are ethnic Chinese and also those of non-Chinese descent, have also settled and established businesses in or nearby Chinatowns thus creating a unique mix of pan-Asian culture and heritage.

Due to several perceived cultural differences between the Mandarin-speaking Taiwanese and Cantonese-speaking Chinatown inhabitants (the latter being old-generation immigrants from southern Mainland China), there has been very little Taiwanese immigration to the old predominantly Cantonese Chinatowns as it shall be explained below.

Decline of urban Chinatowns

While some old Chinatowns continue to thrive, several Chinatowns in many North American medium-sized towns and urban cities have declined or disappeared. Some examples include San Jose, California; Detroit, Michigan; and Monterey, California. The Chinatown of Stockton, California is now only a one block residential area.

Rise of satellite Chinatowns

The new Chinatowns were formed starting in the 1970s to the 1990s when a new wave of Chinese immigrants began coming mainly from Taiwan and Fujian. These new immigrants, who spoke Mandarin and Hokkien, generally did not find the old Cantonese-dominated Chinatowns attractive as they were deemed overcrowded, congested with traffic, and located in the poorer inner-city of major cities. Also, due to the high-tech boom in Taiwan in the 1980s and 1990s, many new millionaires invested in developing new Chinese communities in the U.S. The trend usually started with a huge Chinese supermarket or strip mall, leading the new immigrants to settle nearby for convenience. These new communities were also attractive to younger second-generation residents with more social mobility of the old inner-city Chinatowns described above and to new immigrants from mainland China after the PRC government under Deng Xiaoping opened up the border for emigration in the 1980s and 1990s, and gradually the neighborhood turns into a new Chinatown.

Neighborhood evolution

These new Chinatown developments often displaced long-time residents, especially in areas that were once predominantly Caucasian. As white Americans either relocated to other "whiter" communities in white flight or passed away, many long-standing "white" businesses were absorbed and supplanted by ethnic Chinese ones. It should be noted that several suburban business districts have already undergone some decline prior to the arrival of new Chinese immigrants. For instance, in Monterey Park, California, in the late 1980s, a Safeway market was converted into a Chinese supermarket (it has since changed hands several times and it is now part of the major 99 Ranch Market chain). In the same city, as the demographics changed, a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant became a Taiwanese cuisine fast food deli, a pharmacy turned into a ginseng specialty shop (Chinese-owned and operated pharmacies do exist), a former trailer park lot was a site for construction of a major Chinese bank, and other older buildings were purchased individually and either renovated or razed collectively to clear the way for new Chinese shopping center developments. However, this is not the case in Richmond, British Columbia. Many ethnic Chinese Canadian businesses currently co-exist with mainstream retail stores such as Canadian Tire and Chapters. Other businesses have adapted to changing times. For example, some retail chain locations use the Chinese language on their signage, such as Office Depot in Richmond.

These changes did not happen overnight nor all at the same time, but rather gradually and over a course of a decade. Similar transformations and conflicts between white residents and new immigrants were also felt in the Los Angeles suburb of San Gabriel, California, the Silicon Valley suburb of Cupertino, California, and the Toronto suburbs of Markham and Scarborough, Ontario.

In addition to commercial business districts, residential areas also underwent major change. In Monterey Park and neighboring cities, in particular, new luxury mansions and townhouses for affluent Chinese and large apartment complexes and condominiums to house working class Chinese immigrants were built alongside older 1940s era single-family homes (once inhabited by white residents, but now also occupied by ethnic Chinese homeowners as older whites died off and white flight continued to take its course). Chinese gentrification in Monterey Park has caused property values to rise in the city. Elsewhere, other suburban Chinese American and Canadian communities have seen an increase in the development of hillside homes and gated communities geared towards prospective Chinese American homebuyers and their families. Housing developers have also attempted to meet feng shui requirements to court these homebuyers.

Also, local area public schools in suburban Chinese communities now have Asian American student majorities. The first Chinese American mayor was elected in Monterey Park. In the late 1980s, several newsmagazine programs such as ABC's 20/20 with Barbara Walters have documented Monterey Park as the microcosm of the changing face of America.

The precedence was set by Monterey Park as it became one of the first U.S. suburban cities to become the "first suburban Chinatown" and to also contain an Asian American majority beginning in the 1980s. The trend of ethnic Chinese immigration and the creation of suburban Chinatowns would essentially transcend to other parts of the United States and also Canada and Australia (where new suburban Chinatowns would be formed as well). New Chinatown areas would also be formed in urban cities that traditionally have not had a Chinatown, such as in Atlanta, Georgia.

Architecture and attractions

Although the popular image of Chinatown is urban and crowded, Monterey Park, Valley Boulevard in San Gabriel, and Bellaire Boulevard in Houston have quite interesting and unique architecture which is a mixture of freestanding storefronts, large shopping centers and shopping malls found in American suburbia and traditional Chinese motifs.

Interestingly, tourist guides (e.g., bus and walking tours), Internet sites, and travel publications (including those published by official city, state, and provincial visitor's bureaus) invariably refer to the more traditional old Chinatowns without mentioning the much larger, modern and vibrant new Chinatowns.

Many urban Chinatown-based development and visitors bureaus maintain official tourist-oriented Web sites containing extensive lists of Chinatown businesses, maps, and upcoming events. A large number of less-touristy satellite/suburban Chinatowns do not have such sites. Please see external links at the end of this article for several examples of them.

Professionalism and occupations

The Chinese in the new Chinatowns, many of whom are wealthy professionals, tend not to be isolated from the rest of American society, and the institutions of the new Chinatowns, such as Asian Chambers of Commerce, are much less powerful. Also, in contrast to Chinese immigrants of the 19th century, there are large numbers of Chinese who live outside of Chinatown in suburbia. In contrast to the old urban Chinatowns, many, if not all, of the Chinese living in these communities—especially Chinese American computer programmers, bankers, doctors, dentists, lawyers, real estate agents, college professors—are able to communicate more fluently in English as well as Chinese (whether Mandarin or Cantonese). Ethnic Chinese living in the urban and suburban Chinatowns with limited English proficiency tend to start small family-run businesses such as small Chinese bakeries, restaurants, discount stores, video rental stores (specializing in Chinese-language films), bookstores (dealing in Chinese-language media), and curios shops.

Politics and activism

In the 1900s, the US-educated democratic revolutionary leader Dr. Sun Yat-sen visited many old Chinatowns to gain moral and financial support of Chinese Americans for his cause against the ruling Qing government and later to gain support for his fledging Kuomintang, a pan-Chinese establishment, that prior to 1949 was based in Mainland China. There are also differences in the relationships between the Chinatowns and various Chinese political actors. Chinese politics in many old Chinatowns were dominated by the Kuomintang party tied to Taiwan. In newer Chinatowns, there are significant numbers of supporters of Taiwan independence who were estranged from the Republic of China government before the 1990s but who have been drawn much closer since the mid-1990s as the government on Taiwan has become more localized. Until the mid-1980s, the People's Republic of China generally ignored the Chinatowns in the United States, but more recently the PRC has made a stronger and somewhat successful attempt to gain sympathy and influence within American Chinatowns. Both the People's Republic of China and Republic of China governments tend to be established in cities with large Chinese populations and both attempt to maintain close relationships with leaders of Chinatowns.

In addition, there is a wave of new Mainland Chinese diaspora to the upper-class suburban Chinese communities in the United States that view Taiwan as a part of the People's Republic of China.

The Los Angeles Chinatown is a hotbed of ardent Kuomintang support.

With many recent Mainland Chinese immigrants and political dissidents arriving to the United States, there is the Falun Dafa movement and Mainland Chinese democracy activism in several North American Chinatowns.

Media

There are several large Chinese-language newspapers in North America, which serve the Chinese American and Canadian readership. There are the Taiwanese-owned World Journal (conservative), and International Daily News (liberal), the Hong Kong-based Sing Tao, and The Epoch Times (a progressive paper run by Mainland Chinese immigrants). These newspapers have a large circulation and are sold in many still-thriving Chinatowns and in suburban Chinese communities. There are also smaller Chinese-language newspaper companies.

Inter-Chinatown transportation

A commercial phenomenon that has arisen in the last several years on the East Coast of the United States is that of the Chinatown bus lines, which provide discounted and competitive fares and flexible schedules between many major different Chinatowns. A major example of such bus line is the Fung Wah Bus. Such services started out catering to the local Chinatown community, with the first route linking New York and Boston, but have generally become a favorite of travelers of all ethnicities as well.

Following the successes of the East Coast bus lines, similar services are occurring on the West Coast, albeit on a smaller scale. There are bus services connecting the Chinatowns and suburban ethnic Chinese communities of the San Francisco Bay area, the Greater Los Angeles area, and Las Vegas. The bus stops are typically at a parking lot of a Chinese supermarket. One major West Coast bus line offering such service is Bravo Travel.

Immigration trends in North America

The major cities of Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Toronto, and Vancouver continue to be magnets for Chinese-speaking immigrants. Generally speaking, there has been very little Asian immigration to the Midwest and Southern states of the United States and certainly the Maritime provinces of Canada.

In the late 1990s, immigration from Taiwan began to decrease, and new Chinese immigrants consist of two groups: well-educated professionals from the People's Republic of China, who tend to work in high-tech areas, and legal citizens and undocumented aliens from Fujian province working mostly in unskilled service industries. An influx of working-class Hong Kong immigrants - many of whom were Mainland Chinese immigrants from the Taishan area of Guangdong province who settled in Hong Kong for several years before moving on - arrived to the United States during much of the late 1960s and 1970s. In recent years, however, there has been relatively little immigration into the United States from Hong Kong, with most emigrants from Hong Kong ending up in Canada, usually Vancouver, British Columbia or Toronto, Ontario.

In the U.S., this change is a result of stricter requirements and the limited U.S. immigration quota (approximately 5,000 per year; formerly 600 per year in the pre-Reagan era) allotted for the SAR, compared to 20,000 per year for a country. However, this negates the fact that some Hong Kong Chinese immigrate to Canada, reside and become citizens there for several years, and then resettle in the United States in indirect immigration, so to speak. These Chinese Canadian immigrants have blended in with the Chinese American population.

In addition, after the Vietnam War, the immigration of ethnic Chinese Vietnamese refugees, many of whom poor, had steadily increased during the 1980s. The Chinese Vietnamese speak Cantonese and/or Teochew Chinese (Pinyin: Chaozhou) as well as fluent Vietnamese and this group provides a stark contrast to the generally well-educated and affluent Taiwanese and Hong Kong immigrants.

Ethnic Chinese immigration from Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore to the United States has been somewhat more limited.

With figures based on the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, New York City and Flushing, New York remained the top choice of immigrants from the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong, China. Throughout the 1980s, the Los Angeles cities of Monterey Park and the San Gabriel Valley region attracted more Taiwanese. They now attract mainly new Mainland Chinese, Chinese Vietnamese, and a smaller number of Hong Kong immigrants.

Canada offers easy entry for any family rich enough to invest in the Canadian economy. One can practically buy a citizenship by opening a small business in Canada. Vancouver attracts most of the Hong Kong emigrants because of its milder climate compared to the rest of Canada.

Some of the older Chinatowns continue to attract naturalized working class mainland Chinese and Southeast Asian Chinese immigrant families. In some cases, many families often use them as a starting point for later integration and social mobility into North American society.

Chinatowns in the United States

Arizona

A shopping center built to traditional Chinese architecture was opened in 1997 near the Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix. The Chinese American supermarket chain 99 Ranch Market operates a branch there. The shopping complex has attracted few tenants due to high rents. However, throughout Phoenix, there are many pockets of Chinese communities and areas nearby contain many Chinese supermarkets and restaurants.

California

Given its relative proximity to East Asia and Southeast Asia, California has the largest number of historic and contemporary Chinatowns in North America. The state boasts of the largest number of Chinatowns of all types, including the most famous Chinatown in San Francisco, the first all-Chinese rural town of Locke to be built by Chinese immigrants, and the first "suburban Chinatown" of Monterey Park.

Many early Chinese immigrants were processed at Angel Island (now a California state park) in the San Francisco Bay area, which is equivalent to New York's Ellis Island for European immigrants.

San Francisco

Main article: Chinatown, San Francisco

The largest and most prominent in North America is the San Francisco Chinatown, which is predominantly Cantonese-speaking with some Hakka, though there has been a rise in Mandarin-speaking immigrants from Mainland China. While the downtown Chinatown is the Chinese cultural center, smaller neighborhoods in the Richmond (Geary Avenue, Clement Street) and Sunset (Noriega Street, Irving Street west of 19th Avenue) districts have developed in recent years, coexisting with ethnic Russian and Korean businesses. San Francisco's Chinatown has been shown in numerous movies and television shows. After President Richard M. Nixon's historic visit to the People's Republic of China in the early 1970s, the arrival of new Chinese immigrants to the San Francisco area helped "diversify" and introduce new Chinese cuisine from many regions throughout mainland China in its Chinatown—the restaurants previously served mainly Cantonese and unauthentic Chinese-American fare. It also received many Chinese from Latin America, especially Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Cuba, when Fidel Castro overtook their businesses.

Silicon Valley

Other examples in California are suburban Fremont, Milpitas and Cupertino in the south San Francisco Bay Area. These three cities are located in the Silicon Valley, where large numbers of Taiwanese Americans (i.e., U.S. citizens) and Mainland Chinese nationals (many of whom are on U.S. work visas) are employed in the high-tech industry and where large number of Taiwanese high-tech firms are headquartered. Foster City also has a large Taiwanese American population.

Serving as a major anchor for local area Chinese Americans, the Chinese supermarket chain 99 Ranch Market has played an integral and vital role in the development of some of the suburban Chinatowns in the San Gabriel Valley and Silicon Valley mentioned above.

Oakland

Across from San Francisco, the urban Chinatown of Oakland on Broadway Avenue had existed since the days of the California gold rush but remained economically stagnant for many years. However, this Chinatown saw much development during the 1980s and 1990s after an exodus of Chinese American merchants—who were already experiencing stiff and ever-growing competition and rising costs of rent in the San Francisco area—across the Bay Bridge and increased immigration from mainland China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. Many ethnic Chinese Vietnamese and Chinese Cambodians began opening new small businesses, essentially replacing many of the older Taishanese-dominated businesses. Also, with investment coming from Hong Kong in the 1980s, new modern shopping centers were built. It still retains the traditional aspects and characteristics of an older Chinatown.

Other Asian cultures are represented in Oakland's Chinatown as it has also been settled by non-Chinese Asians such as ethnic Vietnamese (many of whom operate many of Chinatown's jewelry businesses), Koreans, and Thais making it more of a pan-Asian area as opposed to a "Chinatown".

Sacramento

Sacramento has a relatively small urban Chinatown, although it is now comprised mostly of Vietnamese American businesses.

Los Angeles

Main article: Chinatown, Los Angeles

In the city of Los Angeles proper, the old inner-city Chinatown was built during the late 1930s (indeed, the second Chinatown to be constructed in Los Angeles). Formerly a "Little Italy," it is presently located on Broadway Avenue and Spring Street near Dodger Stadium in downtown Los Angeles. A statue honoring the Kuomintang founder Dr. Sun Yat-sen adorns the more touristy area in the northeast section. A relatively minor satellite Chinatown in Los Angeles is the Lincoln Heights district which is predominantly Latino but also contains a working-class aging Chinese population and recent Vietnamese immigrants.

Orange County

The upscale southern Orange County city of Irvine (爾灣二店), located several miles south of Disneyland, contains yet another Taiwanese-dominant satellite "Chinatown". It is centered on Culver Drive and Alton Parkway.

The top-rated University High School and University of California, Irvine (UCI) are major draws for several upper-class Taiwanese immigrant parents. Incidentally, Asian Americans form the majority of UCI's undergraduate student population. Indeed, Irvine's Chinese American population has grown significantly over the years. Pao Fa Temple, one of the largest Buddhist temples and monasteries (along with Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights, California)in Western Hemisphere, has been opened.

San Diego

San Diego had a historic Chinatown, formerly around Market Street and Third Avenue, that has disappeared over time. A de facto new "Chinatown" is found about 10 miles away to the north on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard and Convoy Street. Chinatown has also been settled by Chinese from nearby Mexico, especially nearby Mexicali, where Chinese-Mexicans are concentrated.

San Gabriel Valley

In the Greater Los Angeles area, there are several suburban Chinatowns throughout the San Gabriel Valley (see the Asian American communities section of the San Gabriel Valley article for specific streets).

In a sense, the old Chinatown of Los Angeles has ceased to be the economic and cultural node for the local Chinese American community within the Los Angeles area. Within the San Gabriel Valley region, the Mainland Chinese population outnumbers the Taiwanese population at 212,861 to 30,651 as of the 2000 Census, although there are smaller numbers of immigrants from Hong Kong.

The suburban city of Monterey Park (蒙特利公園), nicknamed "Little Taipei," was among the first satellite Chinatowns to be developed and once contained a large Taiwanese population, but due to the in-migration of affluent Taiwanese Americans to other suburbs in the early 1990s, their numbers have dwindled and the Cantonese-speakers have gradually become predominant in the city. For example, there are many more competing large Hong Kong seafood restaurants found within the city than tiny Taiwanese noodle and dumpling restaurants. Since the mid-1980s and on, Monterey Park has experienced continual immigration of working-class and upper-income mainland Chinese and Chinese-Vietnamese. In this city and adjacent areas, the number of Taiwanese-owned supermarkets actually began to decline and many Chinese Vietnamese entrepreneurs have since started ethnic Chinese supermarkets large and small (some of these supermarkets are called sieu thi in Vietnamese). Some notable examples of Chinese Vietnamese-owned supermarket chains include Hong Kong Supermarket and Shun Fat Supermarket and these cater mainly to Pan-Chinese customers.

To the north of Monterey Park, the satellite Chinatown in the city of Alhambra has rapidly grown during the 1980s and it is home to the largest Hong Kong immigrant population within Los Angeles. The neighboring city of San Gabriel (聖蓋博) still has the largest Taiwanese-dominated community in the area (along with the more upscale San Marino and Arcadia), while the "Chinatown" in the city of Los Angeles remains tiny, touristy, and Cantonese-speaking. However, the larger population of Taiwanese and smaller pockets of Cantonese are not actually segregated and they do intermingle and interact in suburbia. In this case, Mandarin remains the lingua franca between these groups. San Gabriel has a population of 13,376 Chinese-descent residents as of the 2000 Census and the city contains a somewhat more vibrant, trendier, and "diverse" satellite Chinatown than Monterey Park with a long row of Taiwanese, Vietnamese, and Hong Kong Chinese businesses. The main thoroughfare of Alhambra and San Gabriel is Valley Boulevard.

Another so-called suburban "Chinatown," so to speak, includes the Taiwanese-driven Rowland Heights (羅蘭崗 - approximately 20 miles east of the Los Angeles Chinatown) with its fragmented smattering of shopping centers. Although there are several large Chinese American populations in nearby residential suburbs, Rowland Heights is the main business district.

Georgia

In the Atlanta area, fledging new Chinatowns/pan-Asian shopping centers are in the suburbs of Doraville and Chamblee. However, with a mix of ethnic Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese populations, the official name is the International Village. Interestingly, the area has the highest concentrations of Asian businesses and it is one of the kind in Dixie.

Hawaii

The Chinatown of Honolulu, on North Hotel Street and Mounakea Street, contains traditional ethnic Chinese businesses. It is also diverse with Pan-Asian and Pacific Islander businesses.

Illinois

Main article: Chinatown, Chicago

Chicago has a traditional urban Chinatown occupying the area along Wentworth Avenue at Cermak Road south of downtown. There are also newer Pan-Asian ethnic areas on the north side near Argyle Avenue.

Massachusetts

There is a Chinatown in Boston.

New York

Main article: Chinatown, Manhattan

The old Chinatown of New York City is centered around Canal Street in Manhattan, but at least two other satellite Chinatowns have cropped up in Flushing, Queens and in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn around 8th and 17th Streets. Some portions of Manhattan's Little Italy are being engulfed by Chinatown.

New York being an exception to many things, Flushing is hardly suburban, and the Manhattan Chinatown still has many Chinese markets and other businesses, as well as a large Chinese-American population, including first-generation immigrants who speak little or no English and work in garment factories in the neighborhood.

New York City, in particular, contains a strong mainland Chinese presence. The Chinese that settle in New York City are often undocumented immigrants from the Fujian province of China. Although the Min-nan that they speak is similar to Taiwanese (Hokkien and Hoklo), there is relatively little social interaction between Fujianese and Taiwanese and indeed between the Fujianese and professionals and students from Mainland China. Although they would ordinarily have very little chance of gaining legal status, a large number of Fujianese benefited from the Chinese Student Protection Act of 1993 which granted permanent residence to PRC nationals in the United States as of 1990 regardless of whether they were students or not. Chinese from Laos, Kampuchea, and Vietnam settled New York as Vietnam War refugees. Many Chinese New Yorkers also include people whose parents or grandparents were from or born in Latin America. The most important Chinese Latin American populations are Chinese-Puerto Ricans who are natural-born Americans of Chinese descent, Chinese-Cubans who fled from the cruel Fidel Castro rule, and Chinese-Peruvians who immigrated when earthquake shakes Peru and Velasco ruled.

Nevada

Main Article: Chinatown, Las Vegas

The only Chinatown in Las Vegas was initially just a large shopping center called "Chinatown Plaza." It is the so-called "first master planned Chinatown in America" with the Chinese American supermarket chain 99 Ranch Market (大華超級市場) serving as its anchor. The plaza location is west of the Las Vegas Strip and Interstate 15 at 4255 Spring Mountain Road, just outside the casino areas in what is a typical American neigborhood. However, as the Chinese American community continues to grow in Las Vegas (itself the fastest-growing city in the U.S.), many adjacent shopping centers have been developed while others are still in the planning and development stages. The area has become more competitive as the large Shun Fat Supermarket mega-store opened its doors in Las Vegas in the early 2000s.

First built in early 1995, the Chinatown closely resembles many of the suburban Chinese business districts - i.e., massive shopping centers and mini-malls with huge parking lots - found in California. However, it also has had the distinction of being officially designated a "Chinatown" by the city of Las Vegas. Indeed, it has its own exit off-ramp sign on Interstate 15. The Chinese American population tends to be somewhat more dispersed throughout Las Vegas than in Southern California.

Oregon

The Chinatown in Portland comprises the streets between Burnside Avenue and Union Station along the Willamette River. The entrance is marked by a pair of lions at the corner of 4th and Burnside. When compared to the more well-known Chinatowns of Oakland and San Francisco in California and Seattle, Washington, Portland's Chinatown is generally inactive with very little pedestrian traffic, numerous vacant storefronts, only a handful of restaurants (including a nostalgic 1940s-era chop suey restaurant) and practically no ethnic Chinese grocery stores. These deficiencies may be due in part that Portland has experienced very little ethnic Chinese and Asian immigration.

Pennsylvania

There is a Chinatown in Philadelphia.

Texas

Houston

Main article: Chinatown, Houston

Yet another example of the new-Chinatown/old-Chinatown contrast is Houston, Texas, where there is an old and largely disappearing Chinatown near the Convention Center, and a new Chinatown on Bellaire Boulevard in the Western part of the city. Chinese Mexicans also settled down there.

Chinatown Richardson/Plano,Texas

Emerging Asian/Chinese Population in the North Texas has established a number of Chinese Supermarkets in the high-tech centered area.

Washington

Main article: International District, Seattle, Washington

The Chinatown of Seattle has been consolidated as the International District, which is a concentrated pan-Asian business district enclave along with Vietnamese and other Asian-origin people within the city. Chinese Vietnamese refugees and immigrants formed the nearby Little Saigon next to Chinatown. A similar pan-Asian area, but not necessarily considered a "satellite Chinatown" per se, has proliferated in a form of a shopping center in the Seattle suburb of Kent.

Washington, D.C.

Main Article: Chinatown, Washington, DC

The old and shrinking Chinatown of Washington, D.C. is on H Street, several blocks east of the White House. The new suburban Chinatown is located about 20 miles to the north in Rockville, Maryland, where there is a large ethnic Chinese—mainly Taiwanese—population.

Chinatowns in Canada

Alberta

Edmonton

Edmonton's Chinatown is on 102nd Street.

Calgary

There is also a Chinatown on 4th Avenue in Calgary.

British Columbia

Vancouver

Main article: Chinatown, Vancouver

Richmond near Vancouver, British Columbia is also an exception to North American Chinatown trends described above. Unlike the Mandarin-dominated new Chinatowns in the U.S., Richmond is practically a "HongKongTown." It is quite possibly the largest Chinatown in North America, complete with several malls, a large grocery store and an endless number of restaurants and small businesses. As of 2002, one-third of Richmond's population of 166,219 is people of Chinese descent—which is approximately 55,000 people. "HongKongTown" is 10 kilometers south of Vancouver near Highway 99 and Westminster Highway; its main street is No. 3 Road. The main centre of the older Vancouver Chinatown is Pender Street in downtown Vancouver, which is also, along with Victoria's one street Chinatown on Fisgard, one of the oldest Chinatowns in North America, and is the setting for several novels and well-known biographies. Vancouver's Chinatown contains the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden and park; the garden is one of the largest Ming era-style Chinese gardens outside China.

The Chinese Canadian population has moved away from the old Chinatown in Vancouver and southward into the suburbs of the Lower Mainland.

Victoria

A very small Chinatown can be found in the provinical capital of Victoria, although it is mostly touted as a tourist attraction.

Manitoba

The Chinatown of Winnipeg was formed in the 1910s. It is on Rupert Street.

Ontario

Toronto

Main article: Chinatown, Toronto

Toronto's largest Chinatown is centered on Spadina Avenue and Dundas Street. There are multiple other Chinatowns throughout Toronto's suburbs; there is Mississaugua, Richmond Hill, and Scarborough. To the north of the city of Toronto, the Markham area is noted for its large concentration of Chinese strip malls; in 2001, 30 percent of Markham's population, or 62,355 people, was of Chinese descent.

Toronto's Chinatowns include businesses from several regions of China, but they also are dominated by businesses set up by Hong Kong companies as well as immigrants from Hong Kong and their families.

Ottawa

Ottawa's Chinatown is located in the Centretown area, on Somerset Street West near Bronson Avenue.

Quebec

The gate on boulevard Saint-Laurent

Montreal's Chinatown is on rue De La Gauchetière and around rue Saint-Urbain and boulevard Saint-Laurent, between boulevard René-Lévesque and rue Viger (Place-d'Armes metro station).

The Chinatown is known as Quartier chinois in French. Over the years, Vietnamese Canadians have set up shops in the area as well.

Chinatowns in Asia

Southeast Asia contains a large concentration of overseas Chinese, ethnic Chinese whose ancestors came from southern China and settled in countries such as Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), Singapore, and Vietnam centuries ago. During the years of European colonialism in Southeast Asia, many Chinese arrived in these countries to find work, often causing ethnic tension between them and the "native" population; in particular, between ethnic Chinese Malaysian Buddhists and Malaysian Muslims. These ethnic Chinese arrived from southern mainland China and were mainly Chinese people of Cantonese (Vietnam, Malaysia), Hakka (Indonesia), Hokkien (Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia), and Teochew (Cambodia, Thailand) stock. The ethnic Chinese represent a large minority in most of these countries—with Singapore being the exception where Chinese-origin Singaporeans form the majority. However, outside of Mainland China and Taiwan, Indonesia has the largest overseas ethnic Chinese diaspora worldwide. More recent Chinese immigrants from mainland China and Hong Kong have settled in the East Asian countries of South Korea and Japan, thus forming new Chinese enclaves in those countries.

Some overseas Chinese suffered from de jure (i.e., institutionalized) discrimination by several governments in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam.

India

There is a Chinatown in Calcutta. Many Hakka live in a community known as Tangra, which is dominated by leather tanneries (the Hindi majority will not touch cattle) and Chinese restaurants.

Indonesia

The Pancoran district of Jakarta has a large ethnic Chinese population. Many Chinese left Indonesia when their fellow countrymen persecuted them, but there are still large numbers of Chinese-Indonesians.

Japan

In Japan, ethnic Chinese immigrants are called kakyo. The largest Japanese Chinatown is located in Yokohama (Japanese: Hamamachi). The city of Kobe has a growing Chinatown (Nankinmachi). In Nagasaki, its Chinatown (Shinchimachi) was founded in 1698 AD.

Koreas

Korean Chinatowns are located in its both capital cities, Pyongyang and Seoul. Today, Seoul’s Chinatown is unpopular. Many Chinese-Koreans in Seoul left during World War II and Korean War, and then, were driven out by Seoul authorities. The South Korean Chinatown of Inchon is in the Chung district.

Philippines

The well-known Chinatown in the Philippines is the district of Binondo in Manila. Many of the prominent Chinese-Filipino families have roots in this district. Among the attractions of Binondo is Divisoria, a shopping area popular with people engaging in bargain shopping.

Malaysia

Petaling Street serves as the centre of Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown, which is predominantly Cantonese-speaking. The Chinatown in the city of Penang is mainly Hokkien Chinese. The term Chinatown is also used in the Bahasa Malaysia language.

Singapore

While Chinese form a majority of the entire population (76.8%), the district to the south of the river originally designated for Chinese settlement by Sir Stamford Raffles remains known as Chinatown in English. The local Chinese name for the area is Niu Che Shui (牛车水) on Telok Ayer Street. Singaporean Chinatown serves as tourist destination.

While Hokkien Chinese is predominant in Singapore, there are smaller pockets of Cantonese and Hakka-speaking Singaporeans. The recent Chinese immigrants from other former British territories, Hong Kong and Malaysia, mainland China, and Indonesia settled in Singapore and its Chinatown.

Thailand

The Chinatown (Thai: Yaowarat) of Bangkok is located on Yaowarat Road and Sampeng Lane.

The city of Phuket is home to Thailand's second Chinatown, which is on Phang Nga Road.

Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City's Chinatown (Vietnamese: Cholon) district has been a stronghold for the Chinese-Vietnamese community. Its main thoroughfares are Nguyen Trai Street and Tran Hung Dao Street.

After the period of the Vietnam War and Sino-Vietnamese War, many Chinese Vietnamese along with their ethnic Vietnamese compatriots fled the country as "boat people" and eventually resettled in or near several urban and satellite Chinatowns of Europe and North America. Nevertheless, Vietnam still has a strong ethnic Chinese community.

Chinatowns in Europe

Entrance to the London Chinatown decorated for Chinese New Year 2004

Several urban Chinatowns exist in major European capital cities. There is Chinatown, London, England, and two Chinatowns in Paris, France: One where many Vietnamese have settled in the Quartier chinois in the 13th (13ème) arrondissement of Paris, and the other in Belleville, Paris in the northwest of Paris. In 2002 and 2003, Berlin, Germany was considered establishing a Chinatown.

Colonialism and European Chinatowns

Some European Chinatowns have extraordinary histories while others are still new developments. Many early Chinese traders settled in several European port cities and established several communities. There are other Chinese who "jumped ship" to Europe after working as hired hands on European ships.

As a legacy of European colonialism in Asia, many Asian subjects of British and Continental European empires immigrated to the so-called "mother country" after various independence movements took hold. For example, Chinese Indonesians and Chinese Surinamers have settled in the Netherlands (Indonesia was formerly a part of the Dutch East Indies). In 1998, many more Chinese Indonesian immigrants arrived to escape the violent pogroms in Indonesia towards ethnic Chinese (mainly as a result of the Asian financial crisis of 1997). As part of the British Commonwealth, Singaporeans and Malaysians of Chinese heritage and Hong Kong Chinese have migrated to the United Kingdom. Some Chinese from the former Portuguese colony of Macau have resettled in Portugal.

French Indochina consisted of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. After the defeat of the French in the Indochina War in 1954, in which France lost its last vestiges of its colonial empire, many Vietnamese political exiles and refugees came to Paris. And again, after the fall of Saigon, at the close of the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese "boat people" came to France and Germany in the late 1970s and 1980s and began settling extensively in Paris's Chinatown and immensely revitalising the area during that time.

Although Mainland China was carved into several Western spheres of influence, the country as a whole was not a colony of a foreign maritime power. Nevertheless, many mainland Chinese, legal and undocumented immigrants, have especially contributed to the development of Chinese communities in Europe. There has been new immigration from the poor Fujian and Zhejiang provinces of China, many of whom are first-generation immigrants who work in the unskilled service industries - especially in restaurants and garment sweatshops - of Europe.

A few Chinese Filipinos settled Spain after Spanish-American War in 1898. As a result of Spanish influence in Latin America, many ethnic Chinese went to Spain after independence. Chinese Mexicans settled Spain after its independence in 1821, while some Chinese Cubans and Chinese Puerto Ricans settled after Spanish-American War. Their countries were settled by Chinese during Spanish territorial period. Many Chinese, whose ancestors settled Latin America several years after independence from Spain, also came to Spain because of excessive poverty or political problems. For example, Chinese Peruvians settled Spain because of the messy rule of General Juan Velasco Alvarado. Chinese Argentines settled Spain caused by the dictatorship of Juan Peron. Many Chinese Brazilians settled in Portugal because of poverty. In contrast, however, there are also many well-educated new immigrants from Mainland China who work in many professional positions in Spain.

Specific European Chinatowns

Belgium

The small Chinatown (Walloons: Quartier chinoise) of Brussels consists of two streets, rue Saint Géry and rue Antoine Dansaert. The area reflects more of a pan-Asian spirit, with various Asian ethnicities represented in the area businesses.

Denmark

The Danish Chinatown is located in the Vesterbro district of Copenhagen on Colbjørnsensgade street. Ethnic Chinese immigrants have settled in Denmark from mainland China and Hong Kong, but there are also Thais and Malaysians in the growing Chinatown. Unlike most, Copenhagen's Chinatown is not flaunted as a tourist area.

France

Paris boasts of le plus grand quartier chinois (the largest Chinatown) in Europe. Located in the 13th arrondissement, the area consists of Chinese, Vietnamese and Laotian merchants and other inhabitants, in high concrete towers and blocks. Roughly speaking, the area extends between and around the avenue d'Ivry and avenue de Choisy streets, east of the rue de Tolbiac. One major point of attraction is the Tang Frères and Paristore supermarkets, selling Asian products, located close to each other. Paris' Quartier chinois is home to several important institutions such as the Association des Résidents en France d'origine indo-chinoise. On the Chinese New Year, there is a great parade through the streets, with lion and dragon dances.

There are smaller areas elsewhere in Paris such as in Belleville on rude Rebelval.

Lyon also has a Chinatown, located around the Condorcet neighbourhood, in the 7th arrondissement. It is much smaller than Paris', consisting mainly of a couple of blocks around rue Passet and rue Pasteur.

Germany

A German Chinatown is found in the city of Dusseldorf. The English term Chinatown is used in the German language.

Hamburg had a historic Chinatown that existed in the St. Pauli red light district during from 1920s to the 1940s. It destroyed by the Gestapo under the Nazis, and there are only a few remnants left behind. During and after World War II, Germany's ethnic Chinese left for the United Kingdom.

After liberalising its immigration laws, the former West Germany saw an increase in Asian immigration in the late 1970s and 1980s. The ethnic Vietnamese and Chinese Vietnamese make up the large proportion of the Asian population of Germany. There are plans to develop a Chinatown or pan-Asian area in Berlin.

Ireland

A growing Chinatown can be found in Dublin.

Italy

Italy has a rapidly-growing Chinese population. The country has had a very small Chinese population since World War II, but most of the current population has arrived since the 1980s. Between 60,000 to 100,000 Chinese are thought to be living in Italy. Rome has several small Chinatown districts, called Las Chinatowns. The fastest-growing Roman Chinatown is in Esquilino. There is another Chinatown in the city of Prato, with the largest Mainland Chinese immigrant population in Italy. Many first-generation immigrants work in the garment industries.

The Italian term for Chinatown is quartiere cinese but Chinatown is also used.

Netherlands

Holland's major Chinatown is located in the famed De Wallen red light district of Amsterdam. The Chinatown, with its location on Zeedijk Street, has expanded beyond the area. About 80 kilometers to the southwest, the city of Rotterdam also has a Chinatown, on West Kruiskade. The third Chinatown worth to be mentioned is in the city of The Hague (25 kilometers northwest of Rotterdam). The term "Chinatown" is used in the Dutch language. Indonesian Dutch of Chinese descent are included in the residents.

Chinese Indonesian restaurants were common in the Netherlands until new immigrants from Mainland China (many of whom speak English rather than Dutch) began arriving and opening "authentic Chinese cuisine" restaurants.

Portugal

Portuguese Chinatown is located in Lisbon. Most Chinese immigrants to Portugal came from the former Portuguese territory of Macau, when it was given back to China, while others from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.

Russia

A new Chinatown is in the planning and development stages in St. Petersburg, Russia with massive funding from mainland Chinese investors. There are still discussions of a possible Chinatown in Moscow. Moscow currently has a small Chinese population.

Serbia

Serbia's biggest Chinatown is located in the newer part of Belgrade. There are many Chinese stores all over the country. The biggest problem is that they sell low-quality products at low prices. This caused stagnation of the local clothing industry, especially in Novi Pazar. The majority of Chinese people arrived half-illegaly after Milosevic's wife gave them Serbian citizenship just to propagate Communism. Serbian Chinatowns don't have any special name; the term used is kinezi, which refers to Chinese people.

Spain

While there has been Chinese immigration to Spain, it has not been as much as in other European countries, such as France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. There are about 100,000 Chinese in Spain. Most Chinese-Spanish residents are people whose ancestors were coolies from mainland China. Others are refugees from other places in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, and especially the Philippines, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, while still others are economic immigrants from Taiwan and other southeast Asian countries. In Spain, Chinese immigrants tend not to form separate neighbourhoods (the quintessential image of a Chinatown) but live in areas mixed with other immigrants. However, in some places, Chinese immigration is enough to give a Chinese color to some streets.

The most important example of a Spanish Chinatown is the Lavapiés neighbourhood in Madrid, inhabited by mixed immigrants and Bohemian Spaniards. Barcelona, however, has had an area named Barrio Chino since the 1920s, in the old city between the Ramblas and the Parallel. The residents have been poor Spaniards and the area is marked by its prostitution, to the extent that any prostitution district of any Spanish city may be known as barrio chino, regardless of any Chinese presence, though the term doesn't imply a population of Chinese residents. The term came from an article whose author compared the state of the area with the popular image of foreign Chinatowns.

After the Spanish Miracle, Spain started receiving more Chinese immigrants, some of whom may have settled in the cheap Barrio Chino. As a result of the gentrification policy exemplified by the 1992 Olympic Games, the areas is being rebuilt as a chic neighbourhood and the more neutral name of El Raval is preferred. Recent Chinese immigrants have established wholesale clothes business at La Ribera, Ronda San Pedro or Trafalgar street.

United Kingdom

Main article: Chinatown, London

The United Kingdom has several Chinatowns, and the most Chinatowns to be found in any single European country, including the older one in London, located in the Soho area.

There are plans to revive London's original Chinese district in Limehouse as part of the wider regeneration of East London. Other UK Chinatowns are found in the English cities of Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle, and in the Scottish cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Manchester's Chinatown on Faulkner Street is the largest in Britain. The Chinese British population, many of whom are immigrants from former British-ruled Hong Kong, has especially settled in the Greater Manchester area. However, Hong Kong immigration to the United Kingdom has leveled off over the years and there has been a rise in Mainland Chinese immigration to the country.

According to the BBC, Newcastle's Chinatown is also undergoing redevelopment. A gateway costing £160,000 is being constructed by Mainland Chinese engineers as part of the plans.

Chinatowns in Australasia

Given its proximity to the Asian continent, Australia has and continues to witness a massive immigration of Chinese and other Asians. As with Canada, the majority of ethnic Chinese immigrants to Australia are from Hong Kong. Chinese from various places of mainland China, Macao, Taiwan, Korea, Southeast Asia - especially Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Philippines, and Indonesia - and Latin America also settled Australia.

Australia

Chinatowns are found in the Australian cities of Sydney, New South Wales, Melbourne, Victoria, Perth, Western Australia, and Fortitude Valley (a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland). Like their Chinese North American counterparts, Chinese Australians tend to live in many different suburbs.

Sydney's Chinatown is the third area to bear that name. Originally in the Rocks area of Sydney, it later moved to the area near Market Street at Darling Harbour and finally to its current location around Dixon Street. In the Sydney area, the Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants have settled in the suburban Chinatown of Cabramatta.

Melbourne's Chinatown is around Lonsdale Street, Little Bourke Street, and Russell Street.

New Zealand

Unlike its neighbor Australia, there has been little ethnic Chinese immigration to New Zealand. Several Chinatowns, however, exist in Auckland and Wellington.

Chinatowns in Africa

Madagascar

Madagascar has received some Chinese immigrants. In Madagascar, there are about 30,000 Chinese, the majority of them came from the Pearl River delta in Canton. A Chinatown, called Quartier Chinois, is located in Antananarivo.

South Africa

Johannesburg has an old Chinatown on Commissioner Street, whereas a newer Chinatown can be found in Cyrildene on Derrick Avenue. Another vibrant ethnic Chinese community is also in the suburb of Fordsburg. The Taiwanese have settled extensively in the country.

Chinatowns in Latin America

In the 19th century, many Chinese migrated to several Latin American countries as contract laborers (i.e., indentured servants) in the agricultural and fishing industries. Most Chinese came from Guangdong Province. The rest came from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea. They often times did not return to China. Hence, Latin American Chinatowns may include the descendants of original migrants—often of mixed Chinese and Hispanic parentage—and some recent immigrants.

In addition to the countries listed below, there are substantial numbers of ethnic Chinese living in many parts of Latin America and the Carribbean, in places such as Brazil, Jamaica, Panama, and Surinam.

However, unlike the Chinatowns of North America and Europe, the numbers of pure-blood Chinese is relatively few due to generally lower levels of Chinese immigration to some parts of Latin America. Residents of Latin American Chinatowns tend to speak a mishmash of Chinese and Spanish. Some Latin American Chinatowns (Spanish plural: barrios chinos) include those in Mexico City, Havana, and Buenos Aires. Some of these Chinatowns mainly serve as tourist attractions, rather than servicing any extant local Chinese-speaking population. However, some Latin American countries have experienced more Asian immigration than others.

Argentina

The Belgrano district of Buenos Aires, Argentina, contains the largest and most active barrio chino in Latin America. Its location is on Calle Arribeños, Calle Mendoza and Calle Montañeses. Large numbers of recent Taiwanese and Mainland Chinese immigrants have settled in the area. Also included are ethnic Chinese from other parts of Latin America. (barrio chino is somewhat a misnomer as other non-Chinese Asian immigrants such as ethnic Koreans and Vietnamese have also settled in the area, but the term is appropriate to other Asian citizens of Chinese descent.)

Cuba

Unlike Argentina, the Chinese-speaking population of Cuba was once large, but the now-diminished Chinese Cuban population is now clustered around the largely dying barrio chino of Havana. After the successful revolution of Fidel Castro in 1959, many Chinese Cuban entrepreneurs fled the country and entered the United States.[1] Nowadays, Cuba has only one Chinese-language newspaper, named Kwong Wah Po.

Dominican Republic

A new bustling Chinatown of the Dominican Republic is in the capital city of Santo Domingo on Avenida Duarte. While serving the local ethnic community, it is also promoted as a tourist attraction. The first Chinese, including other Spanish-speaking Chinese, came from other Carribean islands. Other Chinese immigrants came from Hong Kong and Macao in 1970's. Chinese became the second largest non-Latino community in the 1980s.

Mexico

Chinatown, Mexico City

Mexico City's small barrio chino is on Calle Dolores in Cuauhtémoc borough in the city center.

The border town of Mexicali, adjacent to the United States, contains the largest concentration of Chinese Mexicans in Mexico and its Chinatown, on Avenida Madero, is called La Chinesca. Mexicali itself was founded by early Chinese settlers who came to the United States and then eventually came south to Mexico to escape institutionalized anti-Chinese persecution in California. The largest number of new Cantonese-speaking Chinese immigrants to Mexicali came in 1919. At one time, the Chinese Mexican population outnumbered the Latino population.

Panama

The Panamanian Chinatown is located in Panama City, called "Barrio Chino de Ciudad Panamá". Many Taiwanese and Cantonese immigrants from Hong Kong and Guangdong Province have settled in the Barrio Chino.

Peru

The main Peruvian Chinatown is located in Lima and is called the Barrio Chino de Lima; it is one of the two earliest Chinatowns in the Western Hemisphere, along with Havana. In contrast to Cuba, although Peru has also experienced problems — including the dictatorial rule of Juan Velasco Alvarado (1968-1975), which forced many of his Chinese Peruvian opponents to flee (mainly to United States) — large numbers of Chinese Peruvians still remain. Historical Chinese immigration to the Amazonian region of Peru is intriguingly documented in a small village named Chino several miles outside of Iquitos which according to local memory was settled by Chinese. Though its inhabitants are clearly native Amazonians, many of them have markedly smoother facial structure, stereotypically Asian eyes, and straighter hair. This may mark the existence of a community of Chinese immigrants in the 19th or 20th century who intermarried and vanished, as mysteriously as they came, into the local majority.

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico boasts San Juan's Barrio Chino, called Barrio Chino de San Juan. Since Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, Chinese-Puerto Ricans are also called Chinese Americans. Because of poverty, several Chinese Puerto Ricans went to mainland United States.

Venezuela

Venezuela is also home to one of the largest concentrations of ethnic Chinese. The lively Barrio chino is on Avenida Principal El Bosque in the El Bosque district of Caracas. Cantonese Chinese is widely spoken among Chinese Venezuelans, but there has been recent Taiwanese immigration. Chinese from other places in the world also settled Venezuela, especially from The Philippines, where they were persecuted in 1972, and Cuba, where Fidel Castro claimed their businesses.

Social problems in Chinatown

Like many other communities, the older Chinatowns have their share of social problems. In the past and present, before Chinatowns were viewed and valued as tourist attractions, many Chinatowns have had reputations of being dilapidated ghettoes and slums. They were once the sites of brothels, opium dens, and gambling halls.

Gangs

In modern times, competing Asian street gangs and organized crime (such as the Tongs and the Hong Kong-based Triads) continue to plague the metropolitan Chinatowns worldwide where Triads have their operations, including London, San Francisco, New York City, Sydney, and Vancouver. Tongs are Chinese secret societies. There have been 'Tong wars' or 'civil wars', so to speak, between the Tong groups in the older Chinatowns. Initially, many Chinatown gangs were formed to supposedly defend the community from the lo fahn (Cantonese word and transliteration for "Caucasians") but later turned on members of their own ethnic community. For example, in North America, Chinese American street gangs often have connections with the tongs and triads. Examples of such street gangs include the Joe Boys and Jackson Street Gang (after the major street of San Francisco Chinatown).

Turf wars have been common in the older Chinatowns. Gang rivalry among Chinatown gangs has sometimes been high profile. As Chinatowns tend to be tourist attractions, tourists in Chinatowns have sometimes been victims of these gang warfare crimes. In 1977, a shoot-out in a San Francisco Chinatown restaurant (where the rival gang were normally based) occurred, in which two tourists and several waiters were murdered by stray gunfire in a botched assassination attempt on a Wah Ching gang member. This incident is notoriously known as the Golden Dragon Massacre and it mobilized the San Francisco Police Department to create an Asian crime unit.

Extortion

Racketeering against Chinese merchants (e.g., restaurants and shops) by the gangs is common in the older Chinatowns worldwide, especially during the Chinese New Year. Worldwide, Triad activity is usually suspect. In U.S. Chinatowns, many Triads and Chinese American teenage gangs - some are the younger to jee (approximate transliteration for the "American-born Chinese") and others are slightly older yee mun (Cantonese: foreign-born) - often perpetuate the crimes. During this time, many racketeering activities are often disguised as benign dragon and lion dance performances in front of the business establishments and money is "donated" in return. (However, not all performances are done for illegal purposes. Many dances are also performed by legitimate organizations from the local community; for example, Chinatown youth groups.) Failing to pay the "protection money" to the gangs often resulted in either vandalism (such as broken windows), kidnapping, murder, or arson to the Chinese establishment or bodily harm to its owner. For example, on January 24, 2001 around Chinese New Year, in the Richmond Chinatown district of San Francisco, two Chinese restaurants were firebombed almost simultaneously. Three teenagers were convicted of the crime and sentenced to six years each in prison.

However, the suburban Chinatowns are not entirely immune from the acts of extortion. In the so-called "HongKongTown" of Richmond, British Columbia, the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) arrested six male suspects in connection with extortion that involved assaulting a Chinese Canadian waiter and then vandalizing the restaurant in 1999.

Many Chinese victims in Chinatown are often reluctant to report any incidents of gang harassment to authorities because they fear possible retaliation. First-generation immigrants, who often speak limited English, may be in the country illegally, or have a general distrust of the police. Indeed, many immigrants came from countries where the police intimidated the population, such as with Communist China and Taiwan's martial law under President Chiang Kai-shek. In Hong Kong, until recently, the police were often corrupt and ineffective.

Smuggling of immigrants

The Triads are also primarily responsible for smuggling illegal immigrants into the Chinatowns of Australia, Europe, and North America, often from China and Vietnam. These Asian smugglers are called "snakeheads". In order to pay for their passage, many of these immigrants are indentured who will end up in "under the table" low-wage (often lower than the minimum wage) service jobs, e.g., as restaurant waiters or dishwashers, masseuses in massage parlors, prostitutes, and garment sweatshop.

Some of these social problems have been the subject for several Hollywood police films such as The Corruptor (set in New York Chinatown but filmed in Toronto's Chinatown), starring Hong Kong star Chow Yun-Fat, and Year of the Dragon with Mickey Rourke.

Decaying Chinatowns

Many older Chinatowns such as the ones in Houston and Vancouver have been declining over the years. Social ills such as homelessness and drug-related problems occur with some Chinatowns in urban areas. For example, Vancouver's Chinatown is in close proximity to the notorious drug-infested Downtown Eastside. Hence, many vagrants - oftentimes by non-Chinese - are seen aggressively panhandling and sometimes causing a nuisance on the streets of older Chinatowns making it unattractive for future investment. Also, being near the inner-city, the Los Angeles Chinatown and others have had a perception of being unsafe, especially at night, thus many Chinatown businesses close normally aronud 5 or 6 pm with only a handful of restaurants open. Some visitors and local Chinese business owners are often turned away from urban Chinatowns.

There have been programs between Chinatown community members and the local police working together to improve the safety and aesthestics of Chinatowns, such as graffiti removal. A notable improvement has been the Chinatown in Los Angeles with several revitalization plans that have failed to take off due to low funding. Police departments in other cities are developing Chinatown outreach programs.

The old Chinatowns now face heavy competition from the ethnic Chinese large supermarkets, shopping centers, and mini-malls found in the suburbs. Indeed, many old Chinatowns have experienced declining revenue. For example, the Chinatowns of San Francisco and Oakland compete with the shopping centers in Cupertino and Los Angeles's Chinatown squares off with the San Gabriel Valley (check out the Southern California section of this article for information) of California, and the gleaming suburban Chinese business district of Richmond compete with the old Vancouver Chinatown for business and revenue.

SARS Concerns

As previously stated, Toronto attracts the largest number of Hong Kong immigrants. Hence, many Chinese Canadians tend to travel to and from Hong Kong on a regular basis. In 2003, several deaths attributed to the outbreak of the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) virus in Toronto prompted a major scare as it was spread by a Chinese Canadian woman who had visited Hong Kong, managed to contract the virus during her visit, and died upon her return to Canada. The panic spread across cities with Chinatowns in Canada and in the United States as many Chinese businesses urged people who had recently been traveling in China (where SARS was first reported) or Hong Kong to stay away. In addition, many Chinese restaurants and shopping centers, especially in the Chinatowns of Toronto and Markham, saw a reduction in business because of the perceived SARS threat. Thus, many Chinese Canadians and even Chinese Americans faced an economic impact on their businesses. During the peak of the hype, several businesses in Chinatowns old and new even began capitalizing on the fear by selling face masks and SARS "survival kits". To allay some of the public fears in Canada and worldwide, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman had lunch in a Toronto Chinatown restaurant to show that the restaurants and Chinatown in general were safe for tourism.

Interestingly enough, there were rumors circulating around Chinese communities and the Internet (especially with e-mail chain letters) to avoid certain Chinese restaurants and supermarkets in many urban and suburban Chinatowns because there they could have allegedly contracted the virus. Some authorities have theorized these warnings were initiated by rival competing Chinese businesses. There was no factual basis found for these claims.

Prominent Chinatowns worldwide

Main article: List of Chinatowns

• Chinatown, Chicago
• Chinatown, Las Vegas
• Chinatown, Houston
• Chinatown, Los Angeles
• Chinatown, Manhattan
• Chinatown, San Francisco
• Chinatown, Washington, DC
• International District, Seattle
• Chinatown, Toronto
• Chinatown, Vancouver
• Chinatown, London

Chinatown in film, television and the arts

• Big Trouble in Little China (1986), movie, Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall
• Blade Runner (1982), movie, Los Angeles Chinatown of 2019, Harrison Ford
• Chinatown (1974), movie
• Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993), movie, San Francisco
• Driver, video game, San Francisco Chinatown
• Flower Drum Song, musical, San Francisco
• Golden Gate (movie) (1994), movie, San Francisco, Matt Dillon and Joan Chen
• Hawaii Five-O (1978), TV series, "A Death in the Family" episode. Honolulu Chinatown
• Jackie Chan's First Strike (1996), movie, Brisbane (Australia) Chinatown, Jackie Chan
• Jade (1995), movie, San Francisco, with David Caruso, Linda Fiorentino
• The Joy Luck Club (1993), movie
• Long Life, Happiness & Prosperity (2002), movie, Vancouver
• Mr. Nice Guy (1997), movie, Melbourne (Australia) Chinatown, Jackie Chan
• Mr. Wong in Chinatown (1939), movie, Boris Karloff
• Mr. Wong in Phantom of Chinatown (1940), Boris Karloff
• Once Upon a Time in China and America (1997), movie, frontier Chinatown, Jet Li
• Romeo Must Die (2000), movie, Vancouver Chinatown, Jet Li and Aaliyah
• Rush Hour (1998), movie, Los Angeles Chinatown, Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker
• The Corruptor (1999), movie, set in Manhattan Chinatown but filmed in Toronto Chinatown, Chow Yun-Fat and Mark Wahlberg
• The Game (1997), movie, San Francisco, Michael Douglas and Sean Penn
• The X-Files (1996), TV series, "Hell Money" episode. Filmed in Vancouver Chinatown, set in San Francisco but appears less hilly!
• Time Machine: Chinatown: Strangers in a Strange Land (2000), TV documentary, The History Channel
• Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), movie, Pierce Brosnan, motorcycle chase scene supposedly set in Ho Chi Minh City's Cholon district (Vietnam) but actually filmed in Bangkok's Yaowarat (Thailand).
• Year of the Dragon (1985), movie, Manhattan Chinatown, Mickey Rourke.

See also

• Koreatown
• Little Saigon
• List of United States cities with a majority Asian American population
• List of named ethnic enclaves in North American cities

External links

• Article: Asian-themed centers quickly dotting the desert in Las Vegas - Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
• "Barrio chino" at the RAE dictionary (in Spanish).
• CBC News - Indepth: Chinese Migrants - History of Chinese immigration in Canada
• Chinatown für vietnamesische Händler (Chinatown for Vietnamese merchants) - Die Tageszeitung (The Daily Paper) article about the potential development of Berlin's (Germany) future "Chinatown" or "Asiatown" (German-language).
• Chinatown Online: British Chinatowns
• Chinatown Vancouver Online - British Columbia, Canada
• Chinese Cultural Center - A Chinatown-themed shopping center located in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
• CNN.com - Triad turf war in Sydney's (Australia) Chinatown
• Deadwood, South Dakota excavations - Remains of an old Chinatown
• Guide to Chinatown, Sydney, Australia
• Homepage for Chinatown, Los Angeles, USA
• Las Vegas Chinatown Plaza
• Library of Congress: The Chinese in California, 1850-1925
• Manchester Chinatown (United Kingdom) - BBC site
• The Chinese Beverly Hills - Asian Week article on the first Chinese American suburban community of Monterey Park, California, USA (Greater Los Angeles area).
• When Newark Had A Chinatown - A project researching the hidden history of a former Chinatown of a large American city, Newark, New Jersey
• Where the action is - Los Angeles Times article on the suburban Chinese business district of San Gabriel, California, USA (Greater Los Angeles area).
• Urban Legends and Folklore: SARS Infects Restaurant Workers in Asian Neighborhoods - Lists Chinatown SARS hoaxes that were distributed online.
• Yamashita's Web Site - Pictures of Chinatowns worldwide.

Further reading

• The First Suburban Chinatown: The Remaking of Monterey Park, California, Timothy P. Fong, 1994
• San Gabriel Valley Asian Influx Alters Life in Suburbia Series: Asian Impact (1 of 2 articles), Mark Arax, Los Angeles Times, 1987