Reports of Chinatowns’ death exaggerated

By Rong Xiaoqing Source:Global Times Published: 2016-4-28 19:58:01

Illustration: Liu Rui/GT



 Just a few years ago, there were worries among Asians that Chinatowns in the US would soon be history.

At the end of 2011, Bonnie Tsui, the California-based author of the book American Chinatown: A People's History of Five Neighborhoods, wrote an article in the Atlantic Monthly titled "The End of Chinatown." "In the past five years, the number of Chinese immigrants to the US has been on the decline, from a peak of 87,307 in 2006 to 70,863 in 2010," she wrote, predicting that "Because Chinatowns are where working-class immigrants have traditionally gathered for support, the rise of China - and the slowing of immigrant flows - all but ensures the end of Chinatowns."

Two years later, a report released by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund affirmed the concern by pointing out that the Asian populations in the Chinatowns in New York's Manhattan, Boston and Philadelphia, the three biggest Chinatowns on the East Coast, had dropped about half between 2000 and 2010.

The bleeding of the traditional Chinatowns has been continuing. In New York, for example, the Chinatown located in lower Manhattan has been too expensive for new immigrants from China to settle in like their predecessors who came here decades ago. The mom and pop shops, some of which had been operating in this neighborhood for decades, have also been going belly up as rents soar.

"I have never seen so many empty street-front spaces on East Broadway," said Xian Qiu Zeng, a community leader in Chinatown, referring to one of the busiest streets in Chinatown that used to be a haven for immigrants from Fujian Province.

However, the worries about the end of New York's main Chinatown already sound stale. It seems now that not only is Chinatown not dying but it is revitalizing. And then there are the other Chinatowns in New York City.

What brings new life to Chinatown is the number of immigrants from China. The influx didn't go into a downward spiral as it seemed it could a few years ago. Rather, it has bounced back.

According to research released by the US Census Bureau in May 2015, China sent 147,000 immigrants to the US in 2013, 23,000 more than the previous year, overtaking Mexico to become the top source for legally recognized immigrants to the US.

In New York, though, they are no longer settling in the traditional Chinatown. New Chinese immigrants have turned to other neighborhoods like Sunset Park in Brooklyn and Flushing in Queens - making them very large Chinatowns. Indeed, the authorities in the Sunset Park Chinatown are looking at constructing a traditional gate. Manhattan's Chinatown doesn't have such a structure.

And a recent survey by the Asian American Federation found that 11 out of the 51 City Council districts in New York are more than a quarter Asian.

The development of China, the accumulated wealth there and the keen passion of the Chinese for investing in the US may make the big difference. This has instilled an urge in local governments to build or rebuild their Chinatowns to attract immigrants and investment from China.  

Even in non-traditional Chinese areas like Long Island, an increasing Chinese population has made building a Chinatown a hot topic in recent few years. Nassau County on the island, for example, has been looking to acquire land for such a plan.

Newark, the biggest city in New Jersey, is also considering revitalizing its Chinatown, which was vibrant in the 1920s and now hardly anything more than rubble and debris.

In a forum dedicated to the project, Ugo Nwaokoro, a deputy mayor of Newark, said, "Newark welcomes Chinese immigrants and investors from China. If any investor is interested in the project of revitalizing Chinatown, we'd like to work with you."

Even the 130-year-old Chinatown in Manhattan is looking for opportunities to take a ride on the China bandwagon. This Lunar New Year, the Chinatown Business Improvement District (BID) decorated two double-deck buses with ceremonial banners, and also took groups of lion dancers and marched from Madison Street in Chinatown to the glamorous Madison Avenue in midtown Manhattan. They performed in some high-end shops along the way and celebrated the Lunar New Year with onlookers. And then they joined a ceremony that saw a memo signed between the Madison Avenue BID and the Bund Association for Promotion of Commerce and Trade from Shanghai.

Wellington Chen, the head of the Chinatown BID, told me this was the first time Chinatown, in Lower Manhattan, connected itself with midtown Manhattan to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Chen said the luxury shops along Madison Avenue have attracted many Chinese tourists and, therefore, a lot of attention from the media in recent years. By participating in the celebration, he hoped to attract some attention to Madison Street and bring more mainstream tourists to Chinatown.

Instead of disappearing, it looks like the east coast's Chinatowns are multiplying and expanding. They certainly won't die as long as China keeps striding forward.

The author is a New York-based journalist. rong_xiaoqing@hotmail.com Follow us on Twitter @GTopinion

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