A Chinese lion helps usher in the 2006 Chinese New Year

Cooks at a Mott Street restaurant taking a break outside a side entrance on Mosco Street

Meditation in a Chinatown plaza

Chinatown is home to many groceries

The Chinatown neighborhood of Manhattan — (Chinese: 紐約華埠) a borough of New York City — is an ethnic enclave with a large population of Chinese immigrants, similar to other Chinatown districts in American cities. Lion dance ( is a form of traditional Dance in Chinese culture, in which performers mimic a lion's movements in a lion costume Chinese New Year is the most important of the Traditional Chinese holidays. Manhattan Island, in New York Harbor, is much the largest part of the Borough of Manhattan, one of the Five Boroughs which form the City of New York In New York City, a borough is a unique form of government which administers the five fundamental constituent parts that make up the consolidated city The City of New York An ethnic enclave, or ethnic neighborhood is a neighborhood district or suburb which retains some cultural distinction from a larger surrounding area Han Chinese ( are an Ethnic group native to China and by most modern definitions the largest single Ethnic group in the world. A Chinatown is a section of an urban area with a large number of Chinese outside the majority-Chinese countries of Greater China. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the

By the 1980s, it had surpassed San Francisco's Chinatown to become the largest enclave of Chinese immigrants in the Western Hemisphere. San Francisco 's Chinatown is the oldest Chinatown in North America. The Western Hemisphere, also Western hemisphere or western hemisphere, is a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies West ^[1]

Contents 1 Location 2 History 2.1 Chinese exclusion period 2.2 Post-immigration reform 3 Economy 4 Demographics 5 Buildings 5.1 Housing 5.2 Landmarks 6 Street names in Chinese 7 Satellite Chinatowns 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

Location

Until the 1970s, the traditional borders of Chinatown were:

• Canal Street in the North (bordering Little Italy)
• The Bowery in the East (bordering the Lower East Side)
• Worth Street in the South
• Baxter Street in the West

Within this area, most tourists only see the older center of Chinatown, the intersections of Canal Street with Mott and Mulberry streets; the intersection of Pell and Doyers Streets. Canal Street is a major street in New York City, crossing lower Manhattan to join New Jersey in the west (via the Holland Tunnel Little Italy is a neighborhood in lower Manhattan, New York City, once known for its large population of Italians. Bowery (ˈbaʊɚi or /ˈbaʊri/ is the name of a street and a small neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Lower East Side is a Neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Worth Street is a bi-directional street in the Manhattan borough of New York City.

Currently, the approximate borders of Chinatown, despite its heavy overlap with other neighborhoods like the Lower East Side, are:

• Delancey Street in the North (bordering the East Village and SoHo sections of NYC)
• East Broadway in the East (stopping at Rutgers Street)
• Broadway in the West (encroaching the TriBeCa sections of NYC)
• Chambers Street in the South (encroaching the City Hall area)

It is an area of approximately one mile in the North-South direction of Manhattan Island by two miles in the East-West direction of the island. Delancey Street is one of the main thoroughfares of Manhattan 's Lower East Side, running east from the Bowery to connect to the Williamsburg Bridge The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. This article is about an area of Manhattan, New York City. For the area in London UK see Soho. East Broadway is a two-way east-west street in the Chinatown / Lower East Side neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan Broadway, as the name implies is a wide avenue in New York City. TriBeCa is a Neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York in the United States. Chambers Street is a bi-directional (two way street in the Manhattan borough of New York City.

History

Chinese exclusion period

Faced with increasing discrimination and new laws which prevented participation in many occupations on the West Coast, some Chinese immigrants moved to the East Coast cities in search of employment. Early businesses in these cities included hand laundries and restaurants. Chinatown started on Mott Street, Park, Pell and Doyers streets, east of the notorious Five Points district. Mott Street is a narrow but busy thoroughfare that runs in a north-south direction in the New York City borough of Manhattan, United States. Doyers Street in Chinatown, New York is called The Bloody Angle for its violent history Five Points (or The Five Points) was a notorious Slum centered on the intersection of Anthony (now Worth Orange (now Baxter Mulberry (still the same name Cross By 1870, there was a Chinese population of 200. By the time the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was passed, the population was up to 2,000 residents. The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law passed on May 6 1882 following revisions made in 1880 to the Burlingame Treaty of 1868 By 1900, there were 7,000 Chinese residents, but fewer than 200 Chinese women.

The early days of Chinatown were dominated by Chinese "tongs" (now sometimes rendered neutrally as "associations"), which were a mixture of clan associations, landsman's associations, political alliances (Kuomintang vs Communist Party of China) and (more secretly) crime syndicates. In the United States, a tong (堂 Cantonese Yale: tong4 Pinyin: táng literal hall is the term used for a type of Secret society found The Communist Party of China ( CPC) ( also known as the Chinese Communist Party ( CCP) is the founding and ruling political party of the The associations started to give protection from harassment due to anti-Chinese racism. Each of these associations was aligned with a street gang. The associations were a source of assistance to new immigrants - giving out loans, aiding in starting business, and so forth.

The associations formed a governing body named the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association（中華公所). Though this body was meant to foster relations between the Tongs, open warfare periodically flared between the On Leong (安良) and Hip Sing (協勝) tongs. The On Leong Tong ( or the On Leong Merchant's Association ( is a tong society and criminal organization operating out of New York's Chinatown. Much of the Chinese gang warfare took place on Doyers street. Gangs like the Ghost Shadows (鬼影) and Flying Dragons (飛龍) were prevalent until the 1980s. Gangsters redirects here For the computer game see Gangsters (video game. The Ghost Shadows (鬼影幫 are a Chinese American Gang that was prominent in New York City's Chinatown from the late 1980s through the early 1990s The Flying Dragons ( are a well known Chinese street gang affiliated with the Hip Sing Tong, and are active in New York City 's Chinatown as well as having

The only park in Chinatown, Columbus Park, was built on what was once the center of the infamous Five Points neighborhood of New York. Five Points (or The Five Points) was a notorious Slum centered on the intersection of Anthony (now Worth Orange (now Baxter Mulberry (still the same name Cross During the 19th century, this was the most dangerous slum area of immigrant New York (as portrayed in the movie Gangs of New York). Gangs of New York is a 2002 Bildungsroman film set in the mid-19th century in the Five Points district of New York City.

Post-immigration reform

In the years after the United States enacted the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, allowing many more immigrants from Asia into the country, the population of Chinatown exploded. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 ( Hart-Celler Act, INS Act of 1965,) abolished the national-origin Quotas that had been in place in the Geographically, much of the growth was to neighborhoods to the north.

In the 1970s, Little Italy was absorbed. Little Italy is a neighborhood in lower Manhattan, New York City, once known for its large population of Italians. The only true remaining remnant of that ethnic enclave is Mulberry Street north of Canal, and the extent of the "neighborhood" is a number of Italian restaurants which cater mostly to tourists. In Manhattan, Mulberry Street, between Baxter and Mott Streets is the north/south Street along which Little Italy is centered and where it meets The section known as NoLIta is starting to be filled with Chinese residents as well, at least the Southern portion of it. "Nolita" redirects here For the Italian fashion designer see No

In the 1990s, Chinese people began to move into some parts of the western Lower East Side, which 50 years earlier was populated by Eastern European Jews and 20 years earlier was occupied by Hispanics. The Lower East Side is a Neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ There are today only a few remnants of Jewish heritage left on the Lower East Side, such as the famous Katz's Deli and a number of synagogues and other old religious establishments. Katz's Delicatessen, also known as simply Katz's Deli, is a Jewish Kosher style Delicatessen on the Lower East Side of New

Chinatown was greatly affected by the September 11, 2001 attacks. Being so physically close to Ground Zero, tourism and business has been very slow to return to the area. The term Ground Zero may be used to describe the point on the earth's surface where an explosion occurs Part of the reason was the New York City Police Department closure of Park Row - one of two major roads linking the Financial Center with Chinatown. for the former elevated train station see Park Row (BMT station Park Row is a street located in the Financial District of the A lawsuit is pending before the State Superior Court regarding this action.

Currently, the raising prices of Manhattan real estate and rents are also affecting Chinatown and it seems that the neighborhood is shrinking to its original borders. New and poorer immigrants cannot afford their rents and a process of relocation to the Queens Chinatown has started, many apartments particularly in the Lower East Side and Little Italy that used to be home for new Chinese immigrants are being bought and renovated by well-to-do Americans, including Chinese-Americans.

Economy

Much of Chinatown works in an underground economy, where wages are below the mandated minimum wage and transactions are done in cash to avoid paying taxes. This underground economy is responsible for employment of large numbers of new immigrants who lacked the language skills to seek better jobs. This system attracted the garment industry to use large-scale sweatshops in the Chinatown area. A sweatshop is a working environment with very difficult or dangerous conditions usually where the workers have few rights or ways to address their situation Tourism and restaurants are also major industries.

Chinese green groceries and fish mongers are clustered around Mulberry Street, Canal Street (by Baxter Street) and all along East Broadway (especially by Catherine Street). Canal Street is a major street in New York City, crossing lower Manhattan to join New Jersey in the west (via the Holland Tunnel East Broadway is a two-way east-west street in the Chinatown / Lower East Side neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan The Chinese jewelry shop district is on Canal Street between Mott and Bowery. Jewellery (also spelled jewelry, see spelling differences) is a personal Ornament, such as a necklace ring or bracelet made from Gemstones Due to the high savings rate among Chinese, there are many Asian and American banks in the neighborhood. Canal Street, west of Broadway (especially on the North side), is filled with Chinese street vendors selling imitation perfumes, watches, and hand-bags, which are largely purchased by tourists and non-Chinese. This section of Canal Street was previously the home of warehouse stores selling surplus/salvage electronics and hardware.

Besides the more than 200 Chinese restaurants in the area for employment, there are still some factories. The proximity of the fashion industry has kept some garment work in the local area though most of the garment industry has moved to China. The local garment industry now concentrates on quick production in small volumes and piece-work (paid by the piece) which is generally done at the worker's home. Much of the population growth is due to immigration. As previous generations of immigrants gain language and education skills, they tend to move to better housing and job prospects that are available in the suburbs and outer boroughs of New York.

See also: Chinatown bus lines

Demographics

Unlike most other urban Chinatowns, Manhattan's Chinatown is both a residential area as well as commercial area. This article refers to intercity bus travel For Chinese-owned public transit within a single city see Dollar Van. Most population estimates are in the range of 150,000 to 250,000 residents (some estimates go as high as 350,000 residents). It is difficult to get an exact count, as neighborhood participation in the U.S. Census is thought to be low due to language barriers, as well as large-scale illegal immigration. The United States Census is a decennial Census mandated by the United States Constitution.

Until the 1960s, the majority of the Chinese population in Chinatown emigrated from Guangdong province and Hong Kong, thus they were native speakers of Cantonese, especially the Guangzhou and Taishan dialects. Guangdong ( EFEO: Kouangtong; Pinyin Guǎngdōng; Postal map spelling: Kwangtung) is a province on the Hong Kong ( officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located on China 's south coast on the Pearl River Delta, and borders Standard Cantonese is the standard variant of the Cantonese (Yuet language A minority of Hakka was also represented. The Hakkas ( Hakka language: Hak-kâ; Mandarin Chinese: Kèjiā) are a subgroup of the Han Chinese people who live predominantly Mandarin was rarely spoken by residents even well into the 1980s. Most recent immigrants are from Mainland China, and hence speak Mandarin, the official spoken language of China. Mainland China, Continental China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term synonymous with the area that is under the jurisdiction Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES A significant portion are from Fuzhou, Fujian province, so they are native speakers of the Fuzhou dialect of Min. ( Foochow Romanized: Hók-ciŭ EFEO: Fou-Tcheou also seen as Foochow, Fuchow, Fuh-chau or Hokchew in earlier Western This article is about the People's Republic of China province

Although Mandarin is spoken as a native language among only ten percent of Chinese speakers in NYC's Chinatown, it is used as a secondary dialect among the greatest number of them and is on its way to replace Cantonese as their lingua franca. A lingua franca (from Italian, literally meaning Frankish language, see etymology under Sabir and Italian below is any Language widely ^[2] Although Min Chinese is spoken natively by a third of the Chinese population in the city, it is not used as a lingua franca because speakers of other dialect groups do not learn Min. ^[2]

Buildings

Housing

The housing stock of Chinatown is still mostly composed of cramped tenement buildings, some of which are over 100 years old. It is still common in such buildings to have bathrooms in the hallways, to be shared among multiple apartments.

A gigantic federally subsidized housing project, named Confucius Plaza, was completed on the corner of Bowery and Division streets in 1976. Subsidised housing (aka social housing) is government supported accommodation for people with low to moderate incomes Confucius Plaza Apartments is a limited-equity Housing cooperative in Chinatown Manhattan. Bowery (ˈbaʊɚi or /ˈbaʊri/ is the name of a street and a small neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan. This 44-story residential tower block gave much needed new housing stock to thousands of residents. A tower block, block of flats, or apartment block, is a multi-unit High-rise Apartment building. The building also housed a new public grade school, P.S. 124 (or Yung Wing Elementary). Since new housing is normally non-existent in Chinatown, many apartments in the building were acquired by wealthy individuals through under-the-table dealings, even though the building was built as affordable housing. Affordable housing is a term used to describe dwelling units whose total housing costs are deemed " affordable " to a group of people within a specified

Landmarks

For much of Chinatown's history, there were few unique architectural features to announce to visitors that they had arrived in the neighborhood (other than the language of the shop signs). In 1962, at Chatham Square the Lt. Chatham Square, or Kimlau Square as it is now officially known is a major intersection in Chinatown. Benjamin Ralph Kimlau Memorial archway was erected in memorial of the Chinese-Americans who died in World War II. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including This memorial, which bears calligraphy by the great Yu Youren 于右任 (1879—1964), is mostly ignored by the residents due to its poor location on a busy car thoroughfare with little pedestrian traffic. Yu Youren ( April 11, 1879 － November 10, 1964) was an educator and politician of the Republic of China. A statue of Lin Zexu, also known as Commissioner Lin, a Fuzhou-based Chinese official who opposed the opium trade, is also located at the square; it faces uptown along East Broadway, now home to the bustling Fuzhou neighborhood and known locally as Fuzhou Street (Fúzhóu jiē 福州街). Lin Zexu ( Styled: Yuanfu (元抚 ( August 30, 1785 &ndash November 22, 1850) was a Chinese scholar and official during In the 1970s, New York Telephone, then the local phone company started capping the street phone booths with pagoda-like decorations. The New York Telephone Company (NYTel was organized in 1896, taking over the New York City operations of the American Bell Telephone Company. A pagoda is the general term in the English language for a tiered Tower with multiple Eaves common in China, Japan, Korea In 1976, the statue of Confucius in front of Confucius Plaza became a common meeting place. Confucius ( lit " Master Kung " September 28, 551 BC - 479 BC) was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher In the 1980s, banks which opened new branches and others which were renovating started to use Chinese traditional styles for their building facades.

Street names in Chinese

^{[3] [4]}

Allen Street - 亞倫街 Baxter Street - 巴士特街 Bayard Street - 擺也街 Bowery - 包厘 Broadway - 百老匯 Broome Street - 布隆街 Canal Street - 堅尼街 Catherine Street - 加薩林街 Centre Street - 中央街 Chambers Street - 錢伯斯街 Chatham Square - 且林士果 Chrystie Street - 企李士提街 Delancey Street - 地蘭西街 Division Street - 地葳臣街 Doyers Street - 宰也街 East Broadway (Little Fuzhou) - 東百老匯 (小福州)

Eldridge Street - 愛烈治街 Elizabeth Street - 伊利沙白街 Grand Street - 格蘭街 Henry Street - 軒利街 Hester Street - 喜士打街 Madison Street - 麥地遜街 Market Street - 市場街 Mosco Street - 莫斯科街 Mott Street - 勿街 Mulberry Street - 茂比利街 Orchard Street - 柯察街 Park Row - 柏路 Pell Street - 披露街 Pike Street - 派克街 Worth Street - 窩夫街

Satellite Chinatowns

Main articles: Flushing, Queens and Sunset Park, Brooklyn

Other New York City area Chinese communities have been settled over the years, including that of Flushing in Queens, which in recent years has actually surpassed the community in Lower Manhattan. Allen Street is a street which runs north-south through the Lower Manhattan neighborhood of Chinatown, and the Lower East Side, and is continued Bowery (ˈbaʊɚi or /ˈbaʊri/ is the name of a street and a small neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Broadway, as the name implies is a wide avenue in New York City. Canal Street is a major street in New York City, crossing lower Manhattan to join New Jersey in the west (via the Holland Tunnel Centre Street runs north-south in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Chambers Street is a bi-directional (two way street in the Manhattan borough of New York City. Chatham Square, or Kimlau Square as it is now officially known is a major intersection in Chinatown. Delancey Street is one of the main thoroughfares of Manhattan 's Lower East Side, running east from the Bowery to connect to the Williamsburg Bridge Division Street is a one way street in the Lower East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Doyers Street in Chinatown, New York is called The Bloody Angle for its violent history East Broadway is a two-way east-west street in the Chinatown / Lower East Side neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan Grand Street is a street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. Henry Street is a street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Hester Street is a street in the Lower East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Madison Street is a two-way Thoroughfare in the Lower East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan that begins under the Mott Street is a narrow but busy thoroughfare that runs in a north-south direction in the New York City borough of Manhattan, United States. In Manhattan, Mulberry Street, between Baxter and Mott Streets is the north/south Street along which Little Italy is centered and where it meets Orchard Street is a street in Manhattan which covers the eight City blocks between Division Street in Chinatown and East Houston Street for the former elevated train station see Park Row (BMT station Park Row is a street located in the Financial District of the Worth Street is a bi-directional street in the Manhattan borough of New York City. Flushing, founded in 1645 is a neighborhood in the north central part of the City of New York borough of Queens, ten miles (16 km east of Manhattan Sunset Park is a Neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA Flushing, founded in 1645 is a neighborhood in the north central part of the City of New York borough of Queens, ten miles (16 km east of Manhattan Another community is located in Sunset Park in Brooklyn, particularly along 8th Avenue from 40th to 65th Streets. Sunset Park is a Neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA Brooklyn (named after the Dutch town Breukelen) is one of the five boroughs of New York City. New York's newest Chinatown has recently sprung up on Avenue U in the Homecrest section of Brooklyn. Homecrest is a neighborhood situated in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Outside of New York City proper, a growing suburban Chinatown is developing in Edison, New Jersey, which lies 30 miles (48 km) to the southwest. Edison Township (usually known as Edison) is a township in Middlesex County New Jersey, United States.

While the composition of these satellite Chinatowns is as varied as the original, the political turmoils in the Manhattan Chinatown (Tongs vs. In the United States, a tong (堂 Cantonese Yale: tong4 Pinyin: táng literal hall is the term used for a type of Secret society found Taiwan loyalist vs. Taiwan ( Taiwanese: Tâi-oân/Tāi-oân (historically 大灣/台員/大員/台圓/大圓/台窩灣 is an Island in East Asia. In general a loyalist is one who maintains loyalty to an established government political party or sovereign especially during war or revolutionary change Communist China loyalist vs. In general a loyalist is one who maintains loyalty to an established government political party or sovereign especially during war or revolutionary change Americanized) has led to some factionalization in the other satellites. The Flushing Chinatown, for example, was spearheaded by many Chinese fleeing the Communist retaking of Hong Kong in 1997 as well as Taiwanese who used their considerable capital to buy out land from the former Mormon residents. Flushing, founded in 1645 is a neighborhood in the north central part of the City of New York borough of Queens, ten miles (16 km east of Manhattan Hong Kong ( officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located on China 's south coast on the Pearl River Delta, and borders TalkMormon#Latter Day Saint vs Latter-day Saint --> Mormon The Brooklyn Chinatown located in Sunset Park however, is mostly immigrant and populated by both Cantonese and Fukienese newcomers to America. Brooklyn (named after the Dutch town Breukelen) is one of the five boroughs of New York City. Sunset Park is a Neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA Cantonese people ( Jyutping: gwong2 dung1 jan4 broadly speaking are persons originating from the present-day Guangdong province in southern China This article is about the People's Republic of China province More culturally assimilated Chinese have moved outside these neighborhoods into more white or Hispanic neighborhoods in the city while others move to the suburbs outright.

See also

• Shuang Wen School - a dual-language elementary school on the Lower East Side. Shuang Wen School, a Public school in New York City also known as P
• Chinatown
• Chinatowns in North America

References

External links

• Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of New York
• Explore Chinatown-official tourism site
• Historical Photos of American Chinatowns
• Museum of Chinese in the Americas
• A Photo Journey through Chinatown
• Chinatown: A Neighborhood Plan
• Chinatown Neighborhood Interactive Map: MondoMap

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