laurahowardod

· 25 May 2021

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Chinatown Participatory Report

About the author: Laura Howard is a master in Literature at California University. She is currently working as a professional letter writer She also studies male psychology.
Chinatown in Manhattan, New York, is among the many Asian ethnic communities that have thrived in the United States of America. Tracing its origin back to the 1900s, the area has grown into a regional phenomenon (Ostrow, 2008). Presently, Chinatown blossoms as a massive tourist attraction and cultural center. Its history relates to the age of migration during the Gold Rush in California. There was a massive influx of Chinese workers in search of employment opportunities as well as a chance to make it in this emerging economy. As the mining activities diminished in the west, the Chinese began migrating towards the East Coast. They eventually found refuge in Mott Street, located in the lower parts of Manhattan. It could be argued that the establishment of the cohesive Chinese community was partly due to the radical opposition they faced from the locals who felt that they were taking away their jobs. As a result, the locals constantly acted violently against the Chinese. The latter reacted by moving in to form a cohesive unit to enhance their level of individual security. Further segregation laws enacted in the last century forced more Chinese to move into the area.
As the years went by, the population of these immigrants grew, and the area developed into a small town. The Chinese influence was apparent as a majority of the residents retained the conservative Chinese traditions. Today, Chinatown is home to around 70,000 immigrants forming the largest Chinese community outside China (Cedar Lake Ventures, Inc., 2015). This paper is a participatory report that discusses the population, language, and culture of Manhattan Chinatown which has developed for more than one hundred years. It conducts a community assessment of this minority area. Manhattan Chinatown illustrates the evolution of this migrant community by assimilating to the US culture while preserving the Chinese origins as evident from the spatial distribution, residential patterns, demographic information, language, and cultural landscapes of this ethic group from a historic perspective.
Spatial Distribution of Buildings and Residential Pattern
Chinatown is located near Little Italy on the Island of Manhattan. It is in Lower Manhattan and shares borders with Lower East Side towards its Eastern side, Tribeca in the West, Civic Center in the South, and Little Italy in the Northern part. The total area of the place amounts to two square miles. The borders of Kenmore and Delancey rest in the north-east of the town. Allen Street separates it with Lower East Side as Broadway marks its boundary with Tribeca (Ostrow, 2008).
Chinatown has established itself as a residential block for this community playing host to several housing units for the large population. The migration of other people into the area remains remarkably high. Chinatown has four main streets, namely, Canal, Bowery, East Broadway, and Mott streets. The intersection of Mott Street and Canal Street forms the epicenter of Chinatown. The latter is the busiest area with a string of businesses, restaurants, stores, and market places. Bowery Street is designed to fit the Chinese lifestyle with most of its iconic buildings styled in the Chinese architectural style. These include the Confucius Plaza and Chatham Square. The expansion of Chinatown has proven to be inevitable with the ever-growing population that has diversified over the recent years. In the present day, Chinatown has managed to grow into such areas as Flushing, Sunset Park, and parts of Queens as well as Brooklyn (Ostrow, 2008).
Demographic Information
Chinese immigrants account for the biggest portion of the population in the region. A large influx of this ethnic community had entered the USA in the 18th century on the pretext of working under the mining companies as a well as the railway corporations in the West. However, the decline of jobs in the West and agitation from the residents in these areas over outsourcing of professions led to them being pushed farther out East. The economic recession of 1880 increased the tensions to unsustainable levels forcing the Chinese to move into the East as they were willing to work under poor conditions and for lower wages than the residents (Lou, 2016). As such, they made the job market mostly uncompetitive. Based on these issues, the Chinese Exclusion Act was enacted forcing the immigrants to migrate to the East side of the country (Lou, 2016). Many of them ended up settling in New York. The need to protect themselves from the vicious attacks by the locals, who believed that their migration was an intrusion, saw them gathering in the area that has come to be known as Chinatown. The population grew over the next century making it the largest Chinese population in the Western hemisphere. They now form the most populous ethnic community in Chinatown.