Throughout chapters 2 and 3 of The New Chinatown, Peter Kwong chronicles the economy of New York City’s Chinatown as it grew from a self-employing, small-business community to a high finance area. Kwong begins by describing the main reason behind why Chinese immigrants desired to come to America: to escape poverty. Here, they felt there would be a greater availability of jobs, and as the Chinese immigrants settled near each other, Chinatown was born. The most distinctive feature of Chinatown, however, – and one I find quite intriguing – is the local network among Chinese merchants and employers, allowing for the development of jobs that were entirely carried out step-by-step by Chinese immigrants, from production to consumption.

Kwong follows by highlighting the pivotal role Chinese women played in the further development of Chinatown. Though many did not speak English, Chinese women were eager to work and provide for their families. This particular section of Kwong’s discussion truly resonated with me. When my grandparents first arrived in New York City in 1960 they had only one child: my uncle. Within five years, however, the family grew to include my younger uncle, my mom, and my aunt. Struggling to support four children, my grandmother sought employment and became a garment worker – an occupation within the exact industry Kwong cites as having significantly aided in the transformation of Chinatown’s economy from one focused on small businesses, to one with a burgeoning manufacturing industry. Again, just as Kwong writes, though there were not many choices of work for women at that time, my grandmother did specifically choose to work as a seamstress in a factory because it offered full health insurance for her entire family and allowed her to have flexible work hours so that she would still be able to care for her children. My grandmother was even allowed to sometimes bring my aunt – the youngest – along with her to work with her, if she was not feeling well and had taken an absence from school. 

While local exchanges and labor such as my grandmother’s certainly impacted the growing economy of the neighborhood, as Kwong discusses in chapter 3, foreign capital emerged as an important factor as well. For many immigrants residing in parts of the world that faced economic uncertainty at the time, transferring their capital became the most logical first step before immigrating to America. Though most had relatives and friends store their capital in banks on their behalf, some also invested money into their family’s businesses or real-estate ventures – a decision that gave a “tremendous boost to the Chinatown economy and foreshadowed the beginnings of real estate speculation. Here, Kwong notes that “the intention is to move capital to the United States, profits are not returned to Asia but are reinvested in this country.” I found this particular statement, though not as pertinent to his central conversation, to be quite interesting as it directly correlates to our recent class discussion on citizenship. Although the definition of a “good citizen” varies from person to person, I wonder, here Chinese immigrants have and are clearly contributing to the American economy, are they thus considered good citizens? Moreover, Kwong draws attention to the varying roles capital plays within Chinatown. Just as Foner noted in her novel, foreign capital allowed for foreign organizations to maintain political holds on the Chinese community.

Finally, in describing the growth of Chinatown through real estate, Kwong cites the importance of ownership of land to Chinese individuals, as it represents stability and power. I also personally understood this statement, as both my parents have real estate ventures and have always taught the importance of owning a form of property. Unfortunately as the community grew physically, and the economy boomed, Chinatown itself became a more lucrative investment to those within and those outside of the actual neighborhood. Furthermore, there became a “crying need” for space and low-income residents were often displaced to make room for more profitable housing and commercial businesses. This reminded me immediately of a recent proposition to demolish a portion of Elizabeth Street in Chinatown to be replaced with a large hotel. Though I am not sure of the specifics of the proposal, this instantaneously unsettled me, as it seeks to permanently alter the fabric – the people and small businesses – of Chinatown. Thus, though Chinatown was and still is quite different from other traditional ethic enclaves in that the Chinese created their own employment opportunities and in turn built their own community, with their rising economy also came rising interest from those within and outside of the community to profit from its self-produced success.