I understand the allure of Chinatown from the point of view from an already wealthy businessman. It was obviously extremely easy to buy office or residential buildings and rent out in-demand space to immigrants of the lower socio-economic class. What I don’t understand is why these immigrants still chose to go to Chinatown, knowing that they would have to pay a great deal of money to live there.

As Peter Kwong stated, at some point in the 1970s-1980s, living in Chinatown was more expensive than the most elitist parts of Manhattan. Why then, did people choose to immigrate there? Why didn’t the masses of poorer Chinese immigrants opt for a cheaper neighborhood? Would the Chinese investors just follow them and their demand for housing?

On top of being expensive, many of these buildings were outdated, cramped, or even dilapidated. It’s obvious that these foreign investors couldn’t care less about their tenants. To an extent, I can understand these investors wanting to profit as much as possible. However, I don’t understand why they would allow tenants to live so horribly in return for so much money. Furthermore, I don’t understand why the tenants would put up with it.

Some investors bought these old buildings with the intent to create quality residential and commercial buildings. However, they also intended to kick out all the building’s previous tenants, and hike up the price even more so that only the upper-middle class could afford it. It’s disheartening to hear that only a few activist groups were able to expose these large, impersonal, and apathetic enterprises. I can only imagine what other tenants, and small business owners, who were unable to voice how unjustly they were being treated, had to endure.

It’s interesting how Chinatown thrived. It seemed to only thrive because of foreign investors and at the cost of those who lived there previously.

-Christina Torossian