In this article, the trends in the formation of ethnic enclaves in New York and Los Angeles were examined. In New York, a second Chinatown emerged as a result of the Taiwanese who were more skilled and educated and began a thriving commercial community in Flushing, Queens. In Sunset Park, as Chinese populations continued to increase, so did the number of ethnic businesses. In Los Angeles, a large number of Taiwanese immigrants brought with them their education and capital for opening businesses. As a result they were able to insert themselves directly into middle-class society. Later on, as more diverse immigrants came into the Monterery Park area, the Taiwanese dispersed to neighboring cities and created more Chinese ethnoburbs.

This article was interesting in its description of the population changes that occurred in the two communities. Flushing experienced a loss of manufacturing jobs and as a result whites moved out of the area leaving many vacancies for the incoming immigrants to take up. In Monterery Park, a 99.9 percent white population gradually decreased to 5 percent as more and more socially mobile immigrants moved in. It is interesting to see how these two areas both developed into a thriving Chinese community but in their owns way and on separate sides of the country.

It was also insightful to see how the two communities progressed in terms of politics. New York, when compared to Los Angeles, seems to have a significantly smaller number of Asians who gained political office. This was surprising because I thought New York was the most diverse, even in terms of politicians, but it was not so.

-Wendy Li