From The Peopling of New York City

Contents

Development

“New York’s Chinatown is one of the worst places to work in the United States. Nearly all employment opportunities are in the underground economy, where workers have no benefits, no security, and no rights” (Macawili). Much of the negative aspects of Chinatown’s underground economy developed during the “Bachelor’s Society” period. Certain behaviors that sprouted during this period still linger on today. Opium dens, prostitution, illegal trade, organized crime, piracy, and illegal gambling were some of the negative aspects of this period. Chinatown was considered the “Bachelor’s Society” during this time period because of the imbalance in the male-female ratio in Chinatown, which worsened after the Exclusion Act. “There where only 40-150 women for the upwards of 7,000 Chinese living in Manhattan” (Waxman)

Poverty Line

The imbalance between males and females was not the only problem that Chinatown faced. In fact, after the Exclusion Act was lifted in 1943, the ratio between genders became more reasonable, because China was given a small immigration quota, and the Chinese community in Chinatown continued to grow (Waxman). Another problem that surfaced was poverty. According to the 2000 Census analyzed by the Asian American Federation of New York Census Information Center, 31 percent of the total population living in Chinatown lived in poverty. The total population in Chinatown was 84,840 where Asians made up 66 percent (55,864) of the total population. That meant that 31 percent of the total population living in Chinatown lived on or below the poverty line. Compared to the rest of New York City, the percentage of Asians living in poverty in Chinatown was much more, about 11 percent more. To make matters worse, “68 percent of Chinatown households that paid more than 40 percent of income to rent earned less than $15,000 a year” (“Neighborhood Profile: Manhattan’s Chinatown” 1). With rising food costs and daily expenses, how was the majority of the Chinese population able to live on a meager salary of $15,000 a year per household? From this data, one can conclude that many of these undocumented Chinese immigrants worked “off the books,” and were able to produce more income than the census portrayed. Even the population that is portrayed is the 2000 Census did not clearly account for the total Asian population in Chinatown, because many of these immigrants lived in the shadows as undocumented immigrants. If the data in the Census did not truly represent the population of Chinese in Chinatown, then poverty rate is also not represented fully. If there was a larger population of Chinese in Chinatown, then the poverty percentage also would have been much higher. This in effect supports the idea that many of these undocumented Chinese workers worked in some form of underground economy.

Counterfeiting

Row of shops closed for selling counterfeit items. Make note of their proximity to each other.

After walking down Canal Street, I noticed something very interesting. On one or two blocks near the center of this stretch of road, the Bloomberg Administration closed a row of shops. On these closed shops were bright orange signs telling the reason why these stores were closed, sale of counterfeiting items. According to the New York Times 32 Shops were closed down with $1 million worth of counterfeit items confiscated. One thing that I found intriguing is the fact that only a row of shops in the Center of Canal Street was closed. Were these shops the only shops involved in the Underground Economy? The counterfeiting was definitely not limited to that small region of Canal Street. I believe the reason that these shops were closed were because the shops were in plain site and were used as examples of the consequences of illegal trade (Huaser).

Banking in Chinatown

The residents of Chinatown were not the only people that participated in the underground economy or encouraged it. The banking industry also took steps to adapt to the lucrative underground economy in Chinatown without participating directly in it. While walking down Canal Street, tourists and residents will notice the numerous amount of banks situated along this stretch of road. As of right now, there are more than 30 bank branches in Chinatown and the number is only increasing. An article in the New York Times by Glenn Collins, talks about how the new banks that will be opening in Chinatown “will have 7,500 safe deposit boxes, instead of the 500 in the average Commerce branch” (Collins). Why so many safe deposit boxes? Much of the money that undocumented Chinese immigrants make is either made illegally by selling counterfeit items, working “off the books”, or from other forms of underground economy. “Nearly all employment opportunities are in the underground economy, where workers have no benefits, no security, and no rights” (Macawili). In order to safeguard their money from the tax hunger government many of these Chinese immigrants did not open accounts at these local branches in Chinatown. Instead they rented a safe deposit box, which gave them “a sense of privacy” (Macawili). The need for privacy existed due to the participation of Chinese immigrants in some form of underground economy. Immigrants did not want the government to know how much they were really making. Also many of these immigrants wanted to save up money for a rainy day, and also to send back to family back in China. Banks are also benefiting immensely from this form of saving. According to the New York Times article, “there is a waiting list for safe deposit boxes in Chinatown” (Collins). If that is the case, then all the safe deposit boxes are in use and this gives more reason for new banks to open with much more priority given to safe deposit box installations. The safe deposit box can cost anywhere from $50 to $250 dollars a year, and for having all 7,500 safe deposit boxes in use, that is about a net profit of $1,875,000 for a bank each year. This is how the banking industry is taking advantage of the underground economy in Chinatown, and inadvertently promoting it.


Reference

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