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Chinatowns

Chinatowns are urban enclaves of ethnic Chinese immigrants and their descendants. Although Chinatowns exist on six continents, they are particularly common in societies that have experienced a large volume of historic or contemporary immigration from China, such as the United States, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The oldest Chinatown in the world, known as Binondo, is a distinct neighborhood in Manila that dates to 1521. Easily discernible by their pagodas, temples, imperial Chinese architecture, and numerous signs written in Chinese scripts, Chinatowns are vibrant and historic locations that symbolize the social, cultural, and political influence of the Chinese diaspora throughout the world.

Chinatowns in the United States

Chinatowns in the United States date to the mid-19th century, when Chinese immigrants began to settle in the western states. Discriminatory attitudes, manifested in anti-immigrant and white supremacist sentiments, fostered the emergence of designated Chinese quarters in various cities throughout the West Coast. Chinatowns provided members of this ethnic community with housing, employment opportunities, businesses that catered specifically to Chinese clientele, recreational outlets, and a sense of social and linguistic familiarity.

Some of the key recreational and business establishments found in Chinatowns, serving to meet the cultural preferences and needs of Chinese residents, include restaurants, teahouses, theaters, banks, pharmacies, hospitals, grocery stores, temples, churches, schools, and cemeteries. The oldest and best-known Chinatown in the United States is found in San Francisco. Sacramento and Stockton (California) also boasted Chinatowns by the mid-1850s. Other notable Chinatowns today exist in New York City; Los Angeles; Philadelphia; Boston; Chicago; Seattle; Portland, Washington; and Washington, D.C.

Despite origins steeped in xenophobia, Chinatowns throughout the United States have become popular tourist destinations over the past 40 years, in addition to their important function as important centers for social and cultural life among Chinese Americans and, to a lesser extent, other Asian Americans. The transformation of Chinatowns from exclusionary ghettoes to tourist meccas reflects the nation's transition toward a pluralistic society that today more readily welcomes cultural diversity.

Overview of Chinese Immigration

The emergence of Chinatowns across the United States is directly related to the historical experiences of Chinese immigrant communities. The Chinese were the first Asian immigrants to arrive in the United States in the mid-19th century, lured to California by the Gold Rush and employment opportunities in the burgeoning railroad industry. The first recorded Chinese immigrants entered the United States in 1848; over the next three decades nearly 100,000 others followed, with most entering through the port of San Francisco. More than 60,000 Chinese migrants had settled in California alone by the end of the 1850s.

The growing Chinese population on the West Coast during the 1860s and 1870s placed them in direct competition with the larger white/Anglo population, who often viewed the Chinese with suspicion and resentment. Anti-Chinese sentiments particularly stemmed from white fears that the Chinese would displace them in the job market, but an estimated one-third of settlers in the San Francisco Bay area during the Gold Rush were white southerners who brought their racialized worldviews with them. The Chinese quickly became viewed as antithetical to American identity due to their physical appearance, language and customs, manner of dress, and religion.

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