NYC’s Chinatown: Past to Present
New York City’s Chinatown, the largest Chinatown in the United States and home to the largest concentration of Chinese in the western hemisphere is located on the lower east side of Manhattan. Its two square miles are bounded by Kenmore and Delancey streets on the north, East and Worth streets on the south, Allen street on the east, and Broadway on the west. With a population between 70,000 and 150,000 people, Chinatown is the favored destination point for Chinese immigrants, though in recent years the neighborhood has also become home to many other ethnic immigrants.
The rise of Chinatown began in the mid eighteenth century with Chinese sailors and traders trickling into the United States. In the mid nineteenth century, there was a significant increase in the number of Chinese immigrants pulled into the west coast. This was due to stories of the “Gold Mountain” in California during the gold rush of the 1840’s and 1850’s. The Chinese were also brought by many labor brokers to build the Central Pacific Railroad. Most Chinese arrived expecting to spend a few years working, hoping to earn enough money where they could return to China, build a house, get married, and have children.
As the gold mines began yielding less gold and the railroad was coming to completion, the wide availability of cheap and willing Chinese labor became a source of tension for white laborers. This was especially prevalent in industries such as cigar-rolling and textiles. The white American’s feared that the Chinese were coming over to take over their jobs and threatening their lifestyle. Violence from mobs and discrimination from nativists on the west coast drove the Chinese into larger cities. These cities offered more job opportunities where the Chinese could blend more easily into the already diverse culture. By 1880, the growing area of Chinatown became home to between 200 and 1,100 Chinese, sparking an abundance of laundries in the area.
Since the beginning of Chinatown’s birth, immigrants were often found in clusters as a result of racial discrimination and self-segregation. Different from many ethnic immigrant enclaves in New York, Chinatown was mainly self-supporting. It offered a wealth of governing associations and businesses which supplied jobs, economic aid, social services, and protection for the community. Chinatown continued to grow until the end of the nineteenth century where living space became limited. Often living arrangements consisted of 5 – 15 people in a two room tenement divided into multiple segments.
The Chinese Exclusion Act was a federal law enacted by the American government as a reaction to the rising anti-Chinese sentiment. This hate was mainly a result of Chinese laborers willing to work for far less money under far worse and more dangerous conditions compared to those of white laborers. White nativists also disliked the fact that the Chinese were unwilling to “assimilate properly” but rather “just took over the country.” The Act forbade any Chinese national already living in the United States to become naturalized and become an American citizen. It also prevented the immigration of any Chinese person not given a special work permit such as merchant or diplomatic status. Worst of all, the Act prohibited the immigration of families of Chinese nationals already living in the United States. The Exclusion Act was becoming a more serious issue in the following decades and was finally lifted during World War II.
Chinatown consisted of a highly imbalanced male-female ratio that became much worse as a result of the Chinese Exclusion Act. In 1900, there were between 40 – 150 women compared to the total population of around 7,000 Chinese in Manhattan. This affected the social landscape in Chinatown leading it to become known as the “Bachelor’s Society.” There were often rumors of opium dens, prostitution, and slavery causing increased hatred from the white nativists towards the Chinese. In order to keep with Chinese tradition and to protect against the United States government’s hostility towards the immigrants, the Chinese of Chinatown formed their own associations and societies to protect their own interests. An underground economy was developed allowing undocumented immigrants to work illegally without leaving small area of Chinatown.
Chinatown developed its own political structure comprising of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association and other fraternal organizations. Some of their responsibilities included managing business operations, making funeral arrangements, and mediating disputes between members of the community. The organizations also created their own constitution and imposed their own tax on the Chinese. The CCBA ruled Chinatown throughout the early and mid twentieth century and represented the elite of the community.
After the removal of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1943, China was given a small immigration quota and the community of Chinatown continued to grow, slowly expanding throughout the 1940’s and 1950’s. The garment industry which was a booming industry employed many Chinese internally. Restaurants and laundry businesses were also paying less than minimum wage under the table to thousands of Chinese. Despite the growing population of Chinatown, the community also faced segregation between its members. Many of the newly arriving Chinese immigrants came from mainland China and were viewed as the “downtown Chinese”, while the Taiwan and Hong Kong educated were called the “uptown Chinese.” This distinction between “downtown” and “uptown” resulted in a hierarchy where an elite class emerged.
In 1968, when the quota for immigrants was raised, the Chinese flooded into the country from their homeland and the population of Chinatown peaked. Chinatown expanded into Little Italy, often purchasing buildings to be turned into garment factories or office buildings. While many of the buildings in Chinatown are tenements that are a century old, the rents in the area are some of the highest in the city competing with apartments in midtown and the Upper West Side.
During my visit to Chinatown in the last week, I met with my aunt whose apartment is located on Monroe street and has been living there for over 30 years. Her apartment was built in the late nineteenth century and is on the third floor of the building above a busy supermarket. Inside the apartment, there lies a clawfoot tub in the middle of the living room with steel bars covering the windows. Separating the living space are thin walls and clothes on clotheslines. I ask my aunt in Chinese “how are you able to afford to live in this apartment?” despite the skyrocketing rents in Chinatown. She responds “the apartment is rent-stabilized and that’s the only way I’m still here.”
My aunt later takes me to her favorite Cantonese restaurant where we have dim sum. The restaurant is fairly empty with a few tables being served despite being a Sunday afternoon. I ask the waiter who has been working there since the restaurant opened in the 1980’s about its vacancy. He tells me about the declining business due to people moving out in the area. He says “the rent is simply too high” informing me of many new restaurants and business taking over ones that have been open for decades. I ask him how he deals with the slow business and increasing rent. He points to the section of the menu labeled “specials” and tells me how he significantly lowered the prices in order to attract customers. He also tells me how he relies on regular customers to keep the business alive. “The owner is happy if we break even or take just a small loss”, the waiter says. My aunt and I then leave happily leaving a generous tip for the courteous waiter.
My next stop was Roosevelt Avenue in Flushing Queens where my cousins live. From my first impression, this area was very busy, making it hard to walk on the sidewalk without bumping into other people. There were many cars honking through the busy traffic and vast amounts of people entering and leaving the subway station. I approach an elderly woman sitting on the footsteps in front of her house. I ask her in Chinese, “what it’s like to live in the area?” and she tells me that the area is quickly getting more busy with new buildings and construction to account for the growing population. She then tells me how she used to work at a garment factory on Lafayette Street in Chinatown 25 years ago and moved to Flushing after she lost her job. “Machines have taken our jobs” she says, with new technology being used that is cheaper and more efficient than human labor.
According to Wei Leng Chang, a 60 year old resident of Flushing, “I lived in Chinatown before, but the apartments there are too small and expensive.” Another Queens resident said “Flushing is convenient. We have lots of buses and the subway and the shopping is cheaper here.” Owning a car is almost impossible in Chinatown with busy congested traffic and narrow roads with expensive parking. This makes it hard for new immigrants with families to live in Chinatown and often flock to the outer boroughs instead.
Through my experience traveling through Manhattan’s Chinatown and learning about its history, the once busy enclave for Chinese immigrants is slowly dying. With the rise of new “Chinatowns” in Flushing, Queens and Sunset Park, Brooklyn offering more space for a lower price, these areas are attractive to many people. Today, as the number of immigrants continue to grow, downtown Chinatown no longer remains as the most populated and favored destination for the Chinese.
